The return to school in September is always a funny thing: there’s a mix of nerves and excitement about meeting your students, as well as the stress of sorting lessons. And this year, back to school will be even more strange than usual: thanks to COVID, it will be the first time in six months we’ve seen many of our students face-to-face. However, as we reach the end of this year, there’s at least one thing you can tick off your list for September: KS3 planning. Beyond has created a KS3 English Curriculum Map to do all the hard work for you…

Introducing the KS3 English Curriculum Map

Beyond’s KS3 English Curriculum Map is essentially a plan for every KS3 class, for every lesson, all year. It features the best of Beyond’s KS3 resources, covering every one of the aims in the National Curriculum for English. In short, it’s your KS3 planning, sorted. Which means you have the headspace to focus on being outstanding.

Resources to cover every aspect of the KS3 English curriculum

Each half term on the KS3 Curriculum Map suggests a scheme of work from Beyond which can be downloaded at a click. Each scheme is differentiated and includes engaging, challenging lessons, a homework pack, an assessment pack and a unit overview so you can see what you’re teaching and when. The map includes schemes of work on classics such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Moonfleet, as well as contemporary literature such as Of Mice and Men and Blood Brothers. There are units on Pop and Poetry and Dystopian Fiction, as well as a Whodunnit-themed non-fiction unit and a series on Non-Fiction Reading. There’s a wealth of exciting, innovative lessons to explore.

The map includes an overview for the whole of KS3, more detailed summaries for each year group, and a table which shows exactly which National Curriculum for English aims are being met in which schemes.

And of course, like all of our resources, everything on the map has been written by qualified, experienced teachers and designed and illustrated by professionals. You’re an outstanding teacher, so you deserve outstanding resources.

Stock-cupboard favourites

We’re aware that school budgets are tighter than ever before, so wherever possible, we’ve included copies of the texts being used – for example, you’ll find that all of our literary heritage texts are included in the schemes of work. For more modern plays, novels and poems that are still under copyright, we’ve opted for texts that we know many schools will have already, or we’ve highlighted suggested short extracts that could be used. So, for example, our Seminal World Literature unit, Black American Experiences in Literature, will include a suggested extract from the modern bestseller, The Hate U Give.

KS3? Sorted…

At the start of every year, there’s a short reading and writing scheme with assessments, so that you can establish baseline levels for your students. And if you wanted to record those levels and monitor progress throughout KS3, there’s also a Performance Indicators Sheet, so you can measure pupil progress against National Curriculum objectives.

The KS3 Curriculum Map doesn’t just include schemes of work, either. There are also SPaG resources for each half term, and Library Skills booklets covering every week of KS3 (that’s 108 lessons!), developing skills such as research, note-taking and independent learning. There are even suggestions for seasonal resources for events such as Black History Month and World Book Day, so you never have to scrabble around for topical activities the night before!

We hope teachers everywhere find this map useful. We’d love to hear feedback, and we know there are always more resources we can create to make it even better! Our aim is to create the headspace for you to be outstanding. Whether you use just one resource or decide to use the whole map for your KS3 curriculum, we’re glad we could help to reduce the stress a little bit, as September looms closer. Everyone knows teachers are superheroes, but even superheroes need a sidekick sometimes…

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