YEAR GROUP QUICK LINKS
Key website content for Year 8
There’s a lot of content on the website now, so we’ve created these pages to give an overview of the key content for each year group. They’re not the only pages that are relevant, but they’re the ones you’ll want to see multiple times this year.
Key information for your Knowledge Checks
Glossary of terminology
You should look at this regularly to revise for your Knowledge Checks.Assessments in the current round
This page tells you what assessments are coming up soon; it also tells you exactly what terminology you need to learn for your next Knowledge Check.List of all the Year 8 terminology
This is just a reproduction of the list in your Progress Book, in case you need to check it when you don’t have your book.
Key information for your Skill Checks
These two pages provide short summaries that will help remind you what all the key skills are, including the new ones for this year.
Essay writing skill guides — this will be your focus at the start of the year
You should have some understanding from Year 7, so the focus for Year 8 will be on these skills in particular.
Embedding and contextualising evidence guide 2 — 2nd guide in the 2-part series
You should be comfortable with the 1st guide in the series after Year 7.Making an argument guide 2 — 2nd guide in the 3-part series
You should be comfortable with the 1st guide in the series on, on PEA, after Year 7.Analysing language, form and structure guide 1 — 1st guide in the series — NEW FOR YEAR 8!
Analysing language, form and structure guide 2 — 2nd guide in the series — NEW FOR YEAR 8!
You don’t really need to worry about the 3rd or 4th guides in the series until you’re in Year 9 or 10 so we’ve not linked to them here.Linking analysis to big ideas guide — NEW FOR YEAR 8!
Creative writing skill guides - you’ll move onto this around Christmas
The skills will be the same ones that you did in Year 7, but you’re likely to be a bit rusty, so it’s worth re-reading all the guides, especially before you do a Skill Check or one of your creative writing assessments.
Controlling time in a story guide 1 — 1st guide in the 2-part series
Controlling time in a story guide 2 — 2nd guide in the 2-part series
Assessment criteria and WAGOLL
Skill Check assessment criteria and WAGOLL
This area shows you what you need to do to get equals, plus and star for each skill. Alongside the assessment criteria there is an example of what a good one looks like (WAGOLL). You should check this before each Skill Check to make sure you know what you need to do to succeed.
Other useful pages for assessments
Key Skill quizzes
This page has a link to all the quizzes for each key skill. You can take them to check your understanding before each Skill Check.Year 8 assessment schedule for 2025-26
This page shows you what assessments are coming up in the future so you can can make sure you are always prepared.
Other useful pages for Year 8 students
Our grammar and punctuation guides
Useful to help you with style and accuracy in your creative writing assessments.Our vocabulary building resources
Useful for expanding your vocabulary for both creative and essay writing.