ASSESSMENT AND SUPPORT

Skill Check assessment criteria and WAGOLL

2026-27

Below you will find links to the assessment criteria for all of the Skill Checks, updated for 2026-27. For each skill you will also find at least one example of what a good one looks like (WAGOLL) to make the assessment criteria a bit clearer.

Essay writing Skill Checks

Foundation skills (Year 7 onwards)

  1. Writing paragraph points

  2. Identifying relevant, meaningful evidence

  3. Embedding and contextualising evidence

  4. Explaining evidence

Intermediate skills (Year 8 onwards)

  1. Analysing language, form and structure

  2. Explaining big ideas and context — big ideas and context versions of this task

Advanced skills (Year 9 onwards)

  1. Creating a conceptualised response

Creative writing Skill Checks

Fiction writing skills (Year 7 onwards)

  1. Creating a character

  2. Describing a setting in vivid detail

  3. Writing direct speech

  4. Using 3rd person limited narrative voice

  5. Controlling time in a story, including using timeshifts — slow-time and timeshift versions of this task

Non-fiction writing skills (Year 9 onwards)

  1. Writing an opening and matched closing

  2. Writing a body paragraph

Planning skills (Year 9 onwards)

  1. Creating an effective structure (non-fiction)

  2. Creating an effective structure (fiction)