Key Stage 3 English Literature
Prose · Drama · Poetry
A journey through the classic and contemporary English Literature, built around whole novels, extracts, plays and poetry chosen to inspire every reader.
Units centre on carefully chosen ‘driver’ texts that develops literary knowledge, analytical skills and an appreciation of prose, drama and poetry.
Year 1
| Genre & Unit | Unit overview | |
|---|---|---|
| ProseSkellig by David Almond | A magical story of friendship, healing and a belief in the impossible – with intriguing links to science, art and philosophy. Reading their first whole novel of Key Stage 3, students learn to spot clues and make predictions, read between the lines, and look closely at an author’s language to understand characters, before writing their own summary of the novel. | |
| ProseAl Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko | Set on Alcatraz Island in 1935, this warm and vivid novel follows Moose Flanagan, whose family lives and works alongside the famous prison. Full of moral dilemmas and memorable characters, it invites rich discussion about family, loyalty and fairness. Students explore how a historical setting shapes a story, follow characters’ motivations, back up their opinions with quotations, and compare the novel with the one they studied before. | |
Year 2
| Genre & Unit | Unit overview | |
|---|---|---|
| DramaStep by Wicked Step by Anne Fine | Award-winning author Anne Fine brings her keen comic insight to family life in this play adapted from her novel. Exploring the relationships between family members and growing friendships, students learn how playscripts work – from stage directions to the playwright’s intentions – and will plan and act out a scene of their own as part of a group. | |
| PoetryNarrative Poetry, including The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes | Some poems tell a story just like a novel – with a plot, characters and a setting. Through classic narrative poems such as The Highwayman, students discover how rhyme, rhythm, similes and metaphors bring a story to life, form and express their own ideas about a poem’s meaning, and create a piece of original writing inspired by what they have read. | |
| ProseSinister Stories | Three contemporary short stories with a deliciously dark edge. Students make predictions built on suspense, spot familiar characters and plots appearing in new guises, and analyse how writers use setting, symbolism and narrative voice to create mood and atmosphere – then borrow those same techniques, including the classic “show, don’t tell”, in their own writing. | |
Year 3
| Genre & Unit | Unit overview | |
|---|---|---|
| ProseA Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens | Dickens’ classic tale is very much a product of its time, yet its seemingly simple plot opens up a complex study of society, its philosophies and its famous characters. Studying the entire text, including its context and themes, students develop an informed personal response, support their interpretations with quotations, and practise writing the style of answer expected in GCSE English Literature. | |
| Prose, Drama & PoetryInto the Unknown | A grand tour of classic pre-1914 literature in extract form – from Frankenstein, The Hound of the Baskervilles and Wuthering Heights to ‘Jabberwocky’, ‘Ozymandias’ and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Students meet the authors and the times they wrote in, compare texts across prose, drama and poetry, and learn to read increasingly challenging literature with confidence. | |
Additional Units
| Genre & Unit | Unit overview | |
|---|---|---|
| PoetryPoisonous Poetry | Poems from Shakespeare to the present day, from a wide variety of poets – all unified by dark and disturbing themes! Students compare how different poets present their ideas, investigate the form of the sonnet, and explore how atmosphere, tension and even humour are created in poetry. | |
| DramaFace by Benjamin Zephaniah | By contemporary award-winning writer and poet Benjamin Zephaniah, and linked to the Drama department’s work on the play version, Face follows a strong young protagonist coming to terms with a life-changing physical change – and how society reacts to it. Exploring themes of identity, belonging, friendship and resilience, students examine how an author builds characters, creates different tones, and hooks the reader from the very first page. | |
Looking Ahead