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English

Grammar that holds up under pressure, comprehension that finds the answer in the text, writing with a shape to it, and spoken fluency without the self-consciousness.

IBCambridge (IGCSE/A-level)US Diploma + APCBSECISCE (ICSE/ISC)NIOS
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The curriculum, grade band by grade band

This is what actually gets taught. The order adapts to your child’s assessment, but the scope does not shrink.

  1. Grades 1–3

    Reading fluency and sentence sense

    • Phonics, decoding and reading aloud
    • Sight words and spelling patterns
    • Sentence structure and basic punctuation
    • Vocabulary building from reading
    • Retelling a story in the right order

  2. Grades 4–5

    From sentences to paragraphs

    • Parts of speech through use, not lists
    • Commas, apostrophes and speech marks
    • Reading for meaning, answering in full sentences
    • Telling a story with a beginning and an end
    • Writing simple letters and descriptions

  3. Grades 6–7

    Structure and control

    • Tenses, agreement and the common error patterns
    • Active and passive, direct and reported speech
    • Paragraphing and the topic sentence
    • Descriptive, narrative and letter writing
    • Reading longer texts and summarising them

  4. Grade 8

    Writing with a purpose

    • Comprehension: inference versus retrieval
    • Complex sentences and varied openings
    • Persuasive and opinion writing
    • Reading poetry and plays for meaning
    • Editing your own writing for accuracy

  5. Grades 9–10

    Board foundations

    • Formal and informal letters, notices, reports
    • Article and speech writing to a brief
    • Unseen comprehension technique
    • Prose and poetry: theme, character, device
    • Editing, omission and gap-fill accuracy

  6. Grades 11–12

    Argument and analysis

    • Discursive and argumentative essays
    • Literary analysis with textual evidence
    • Comparative and critical response
    • Précis, note-making and summary
    • Interview and presentation technique

Four different subjects wearing one name

“English” on a timetable covers at least four separable skills, and a child can be strong at one and weak at another.

  • Strong here, weak there

    A voracious reader may still write shapeless essays. Flawless grammar can sit beside no idea what a poem implies, and a confident speaker can fall apart in written comprehension.

  • Each skill tested on its own

    The trial assessment tests reading, writing, comprehension and speaking separately.

  • Effort where the grade is lost

    The term plan targets whichever skill is actually holding the grade down, rather than spreading effort evenly across everything.

Grammar that survives contact with writing

Being able to name a past perfect continuous is not the goal; using tenses consistently across a two-page essay is.

  • Taught through their own writing

    Grammar is worked on in the student’s own essays, not in a textbook’s running order.

  • A running list of their errors

    I keep a list of the specific errors each child repeats, and we work through that list.

  • Usually fewer than ten

    Most students have fewer than ten habitual errors. Naming them and hunting them is far faster than covering grammar comprehensively.

Comprehension is a searchable skill

Most comprehension marks are lost to two habits, and both can be trained out quickly.

  • Answer from the passage

    Not from memory of it. We practise annotating, and finding the line that actually holds the answer.

  • Answer the question asked

    Not the one next to it. Reading the question twice is a habit, not a talent.

  • Match length to marks

    A two-mark question wants two points — not a paragraph, and not a phrase.

Literature without the summary trap

For set texts, the difference between a middling answer and a strong one is almost always evidence.

  • A small bank of quotations

    A handful of quotations per text, chosen so that each can be redeployed across several likely questions.

  • Technique and effect

    We practise writing about how the writer does it and what it does to the reader.

  • Never retell the plot

    Summary earns almost nothing: the examiner has already read the book.

Spoken fluency

For children who are fluent but hesitant, or preparing for an interview or presentation, part of each class can be given over to speaking.

  • Unprepared topics

    Talking about something with no notes, which is what interviews and real conversations ask for.

  • Structured argument

    A point, a reason and an example, said out loud and in order.

  • Camera on, no audience

    Usually exactly the amount of pressure required to get comfortable with the sound of your own voice explaining something.

Other subjects

Try a English class, free

Thirty minutes with your child, a written assessment, and a term plan for this subject specifically. No card details.

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