🖋️Grade 8 English: Academic Writing

The extended essay at the end of this course is the most demanding single piece of work in the Fayferz curriculum, and deliberately so. Fifteen hundred words on a self-chosen question, properly referenced, is a genuine step up from anything in Grade 7.

Students who complete it arrive at IGCSE, GCSE or high school having already done the thing that most of their classmates will be attempting for the first time.

What your child will be able to do

By the end of this course, a learner working at the expected pace will be able to:

• Evaluate a source for reliability, bias and relevance
• Reference quotations and paraphrases consistently
• Build a multi-section argument with signposting
• Write with an appropriately formal academic register
• Produce and revise a 1,500-word researched essay

How the course is structured

Grade 8 English: Academic Writing is organised into 6 units covering 120 lessons in total, designed to run across 32 weeks at roughly 4 hours a week. The unit outline below shows 25 representative lessons.

Sources and evidence

• Primary and secondary sources
• Evaluating reliability and bias
• Searching effectively
• Note-making from academic text

Referencing

• Why referencing exists
• In-text citation basics
• Building a bibliography
• Paraphrase vs plagiarism

Argument architecture

• Thesis statements that commit
• Section-level planning
• Signposting and transitions
• Conclusions that add something

Academic style

• Formal register and hedging
• Nominalisation and precision
• Cutting 30% without losing meaning
• Reading your own prose aloud

The extended essay

• Choosing a workable question
• Research log and timeline
• First full draft
• Peer and parent review
• Final revision and submission

Exam writing

• Planning in five minutes
• Writing to a word count
• Unseen text analysis under time
• Proofreading in the last three minutes

How it is taught

The essay is built in seven staged submissions — question, source list, outline, two sections, full draft, final — each with feedback before the next. Nobody writes 1,500 words in one sitting, and nobody should be asked to.

What is included

• 120 lessons including eight full essay screencasts
• Source evaluation and referencing templates
• Three annotated exemplar essays at different standards
• 24 quizzes and a full marking rubric for the extended essay

Who this course suits

This course sits in the Grade 8 track and follows a oxford-aligned sequence. It suits families who want a complete, sequenced english year rather than a set of loose practice activities, and it assumes no teaching experience — every lesson includes a short method note for the adult. If your child is comfortably ahead or behind the advanced level described here, use the placement check in lesson one and start at the recommended point instead of lesson one.