The 7-Year Journey — English Disciplinary Progression

1 Reading for Understanding

Y7-8

Decode

follow the story with support for challenging language

Y9

Navigate

tackle older texts and poetry; cope when things aren’t clear

Y10-11

Sustain

handle set texts and unseens independently; read across periods without routine support

Y12-13

Command

move fluently between any period, register, or tradition with full independence — understanding is the student’s responsibility

2 Reading for Meaning

Y7-8

Infer

spot what’s implied; texts work on more than one level

Y9

Layer

hold literal, metaphorical, and thematic meaning at once

Y10-11

Evaluate

judge how well a writer creates meaning; understand how texts position the reader; sit with ambiguity

Y12-13

Interpret

build personal, well-grounded readings that embrace contradiction and complexity; read against the grain when it reveals something

3 Analytical Reading

Y7-8

Identify

name methods and explain what they do, not just spot them

Y9

Integrate

show how language, structure, and form work together in a sustained close reading

Y10-11

Track

trace motifs across whole texts; compare how different poets handle similar themes at word, sentence, and text level

Y12-13

Synthesise

weave language, form, context, and critical tradition into one reading; evaluate a writer’s achievements, not just their techniques

4 Writer’s Purpose & Context

Y7-8

Recognise

writers choose deliberately; ask why, not just what

Y9

Analyse

connect choices to movements and traditions; use authorial intent as an analytical tool

Y10-11

Deploy

context sharpens analysis rather than replacing it; a writer’s convictions shape every choice in the text

Y12-13

Evaluate

use feminist, historicist, and formalist lenses to illuminate texts; see the literary canon as a living, contested conversation

5 Analytical Writing

Y7-8

Structure

build paragraphs with evidence; begin using tentative language

Y9

Extend

sustain a thesis across an essay; consider alternatives and counter-readings

Y10-11

Refine

write with a developing critical voice; precise evidence, close analysis, and supported judgements

Y12-13

Synthesise

extended thesis-driven essays that draw on multiple texts and periods with scholarly confidence and genuine independent thinking

6 Creative & Transactional Writing

Y7-8

Craft

describe and narrate with accuracy; choose words on purpose

Y9

Control

shape structure and mood; argue from multiple angles with growing independence

Y10-11

Command

find a distinctive voice; write with rhetorical flair and fluency across narrative and transactional forms under timed pressure

Y12-13

Conceive

conceive, research, and execute independent critical projects with genuine authorial agency

7 Vocabulary & Grammar

Y7-8

Build

learn literary terms; see grammar as choice, not rules

Y9

Consolidate

name forms and traditions; use syntax deliberately for effect in both reading and writing

Y10-11

Command

deploy a broad analytical vocabulary with confidence; grammatical choices become a conscious tool of craft

Y12-13

Master

command the full critical and linguistic vocabulary; use language with the precision and confidence of a developing scholar