Official syllabus: 2027–2029 · version 1. Read the authoritative syllabus. Summary checked against its assessment overview on 5 October 2026. Administrative zone and centre-specific entry options remain unconfirmed.
Paper 1 Reading: 2 hours, 80 marks, 50%. Choose Paper 2 Directed Writing and Composition (2 hours, 80 marks, 50%) or Component 3 Coursework Portfolio (80 marks, 50%, externally moderated). Component 4 speaking/listening is optional and separately endorsed. This review plan uses written practice and does not activate a coursework route.
For each proposed week: one 50-minute guided lesson, one 40-minute supported practice session and approximately 60 minutes of independent work. The appointed teacher must adjust pace from the initial diagnostic, map the complete syllabus and confirm accommodations before delivery. This sample is only the opening six-week sequence.
Each guided lesson uses: 5 minutes retrieval; 10 minutes explicit modelling; 15 minutes guided practice; 15 minutes independent response; 5 minutes exit check. Keep a plain-text copy and accept agreed low-bandwidth work. Collect only authorised learner records; no live learner records are included here.
Before week one, use the first unit’s questions without grading for certification. Record the method as well as the result. Identify a specific gap, teach one smaller example and retry a parallel question. After two unsuccessful supported attempts, the future teacher refers the learner to the academic coordinator with the work sample and the support tried. This is a proposed workflow; named staff are not yet appointed.
Distinguish explicit information from a supported inference.
Original stimulus: ‘At six, the library lights went out. Zanele stood under the awning with the book against her coat. The bus display said DELAYED. She checked the folded timetable, then moved her bag away from the dripping edge.’ Read aloud once, then silently. Model identifying directly stated details before interpreting behaviour. Explain that an inference needs a textual reason and may have alternatives.
State two explicit details. Infer one possible concern and support it with a detail. Identify one conclusion the passage does not establish.
Two accurate details (2 marks). Plausible concern plus supporting reference (2 marks). Unsupported conclusion identified with explanation, e.g. why the bus is delayed (2 marks).
Offer a plain-text stimulus and vocabulary explanation; extend by proposing a second defensible inference.
Retain the authorised work sample, annotate the specific criterion met or missed, give one actionable feedback point and check a parallel response. A mark alone does not demonstrate improvement. Log the next lesson’s adaptation.
Select relevant facts, combine them and avoid invented causes.
Original notice: ‘The library will open from 10 to 4 on Saturday. The entrance on Market Street is closed for repairs; use the side door. Borrowing remains available. The reading room is closed. Returns can be left in the secure box until 6.’ Model sorting facts by the reader’s purpose: a visitor planning to borrow and return books needs different information from a contractor.
Write a 45–60 word summary for a Saturday visitor. Explain why you included the entrance change and omitted speculation about the repair cost.
Relevant hours/access/services/return facts selected (4 marks), own wording and coherent order (2), no invented information or distracting detail (2).
Use a fact-selection grid; extend by writing a shorter summary for a different audience.
Retain the authorised work sample, annotate the specific criterion met or missed, give one actionable feedback point and check a parallel response. A mark alone does not demonstrate improvement. Log the next lesson’s adaptation.
Connect a language choice to a precise interpretation.
Original sentence: ‘The queue curled around the building while the clerk’s clock seemed to crawl.’ Model selecting ‘curled’ and ‘crawl’, explaining their literal associations and how they shape the experience of waiting. Avoid a label-only response such as ‘this is imagery’. A device name does not explain its effect.
Analyse two word choices in 100–140 words. For each, identify the choice, explain an association and connect it to the scene’s presentation of waiting.
Two precise selections (2 marks); plausible meaning/association for each (4); supported links to effect rather than generic praise (4).
Provide choice→association→effect frames; extend by rewriting the sentence to make waiting feel brief and comparing the effect.
Retain the authorised work sample, annotate the specific criterion met or missed, give one actionable feedback point and check a parallel response. A mark alone does not demonstrate improvement. Log the next lesson’s adaptation.
Adapt a letter’s information and register to a specific reader.
Original scenario: a neighbourhood study room closes at 4 pm, while several fictional adult users finish work at 5. The organiser has limited staffing and has not agreed to longer hours. Model a respectful request that acknowledges that limit, states a need and proposes a trial rather than claiming an entitlement or inventing support.
Write a 180–220 word letter requesting one evening trial. Include a reason, a realistic proposal, a limitation and a way to review the trial.
Purpose and audience clear (3 marks), relevant developed points and acknowledged limit (4), coherent organisation (3), appropriate tone (3), accurate language (3).
Offer planning headings; extend with a reasoned response from the organiser.
Retain the authorised work sample, annotate the specific criterion met or missed, give one actionable feedback point and check a parallel response. A mark alone does not demonstrate improvement. Log the next lesson’s adaptation.
Shape a short scene through sequence, viewpoint and selective detail.
Original prompt: a character reaches a locked gate just as a light switches on inside. Model planning a desire, an interruption and a choice without resolving the whole life story. Draft two versions of an opening, one overloaded with adjectives and one using action and a precise detail. Discuss how pacing changes.
Write a 250–300 word fictional scene with a consistent viewpoint and purposeful ending. Add a brief explanation of one revision.
Development and deliberate sequence (4 marks), viewpoint and selected detail (4), controlled vocabulary/sentences (4), accuracy (4). This is an EF Legacy practice rubric, not a Cambridge mark scheme.
Allow a visual or verbal plan; extend by shifting viewpoint and explaining what the reader can now know.
Retain the authorised work sample, annotate the specific criterion met or missed, give one actionable feedback point and check a parallel response. A mark alone does not demonstrate improvement. Log the next lesson’s adaptation.
Revise against criteria and make marking decisions explainable.
Use the previous letter and scene. Teacher models a criterion-based comment: ‘The proposal is clear, but the review method is missing; add what evidence the trial would collect.’ Show the difference between a mark, a reason and a next step. Have learners revise one paragraph and explain why the revision meets a criterion.
Submit one original passage, its revision and a 100-word change note. In a future taught class, two staff independently score anonymised samples and resolve differences using the rubric.
Original/revised passage supplied (2 marks), meaningful criterion-linked revision (4), reasoned change note (4). Do not award marks for length alone.
Permit typed or handwritten drafts under an agreed accommodation; extend with comparison of two justified interpretations.
Retain the authorised work sample, annotate the specific criterion met or missed, give one actionable feedback point and check a parallel response. A mark alone does not demonstrate improvement. Log the next lesson’s adaptation.
For the six-week review sample, combine one task from weeks 1–2, one from weeks 3–4 and one from weeks 5–6. State the purpose and local rubric before use. These are original practice tasks, not Cambridge examination questions, grade thresholds or official mark schemes.
All four remain required before formal teaching opens. School admissions and fees remain launch-gated.