Curriculum
Literacy For Life (L4L) at Thorns Collegiate Academy
Literacy for Life (L4L) is at the heart of our Key Stage 3 curriculum. Students explore a broad range of themes with the humanities at their core. Each theme has disciplinary literacy woven through it to ensure learners are confident readers, writers and thinkers.
Students are taught by specialist L4L teachers who know them well and intelligently adapt lessons to ensure all students can experience success.
Thematic, rich and rigorous. Every theme is carefully designed to make knowledge stick. Themes are rooted in our students’ own context and connected by an overarching narrative, so each new topic builds on what came before.
Interdisciplinary, with each subject’s integrity protected. Subjects are brought together with purpose, never for convenience. Within every theme, the rigour of each discipline stays visible: students know when they are thinking as a historian, a geographer or a theologian, and learn to read, write and speak in the way each subject demands.
Inclusion built in. Teaching starts from what students need. Teachers remove barriers to learning, then build students’ independence so they can succeed on their own.
What is literacy for life?
Literacy for Life (L4L) was created in 2008 to tackle two long-standing problems: the difficult move from primary to secondary school, and the low priority given to Years 7 to 9. Hese concerns were later highlighted at a national level by Ofsted’s 2025 report, ‘Key Stage 3: the wasted years?’.
L4L is shaped around our community. It places far greater emphasis on Key Stage 3 as a distinct and critical phase of education.
A carefully managed transition. Moving to secondary school is not a short administrative process. L4L treats it as a period of continuity, relationship-building and support that lasts well beyond the first weeks of Year 7.
Strong relationships. Students spend extended time with their L4L teacher. This builds strong relationships and consistent routines, and supports both academic progress and personal development.
A thematic curriculum. These relationships are combined with a thematic curriculum that builds knowledge and disciplinary thinking in History, Geography and RE, with disciplinary literacy running through every theme. Where they add genuine educational value, themes also draw on Maths, Science, Computing, Art, Drama and Design and Technology.
Specialist L4L teachers. L4L is taught by teachers who specialise in the L4L curriculum model. They develop expertise in disciplinary literacy and are supported by subject specialists through continuous professional development.
Part of a wider curriculum. L4L sits alongside other subjects taught discretely across Key Stage 3. Together, they ensure full coverage of the National Curriculum and give students breadth across the wider curriculum.
| Year | L4L hours per week |
|---|---|
| Year 7 | 14 |
| Year 8 | 13 |
| Year 9 | 5 |
Why do we teach this way?
Every student is entitled to the knowledge and literacy that open up the rest of the curriculum. L4L is built to deliver that entitlement from the first day of Year 7.
Disciplinary literacy. Each subject has its own way of reading, writing and arguing. A historian weighs sources; a geographer reads data and maps. L4L teaches students these ways of thinking explicitly, so they can use them independently at GCSE.
Connected knowledge. Teaching the subjects in one sequence lets students see how ideas link. Knowledge learned in one subject is revisited and built on in another, which helps it stick.
How is the programme structured
Each year is made of themes, lasting three to four weeks in Year 7 and 8 and around a half term in Year 9.
- A disciplinary core. History, Geography and RE form the humanities core of every theme.
- Disciplinary literacy throughout. Reading, writing, speaking and listening are taught explicitly in every theme, in the way each subject demands.
- Subject integrity. Each subject keeps its own key concepts, methods and standards within the theme.
- Purposeful links. Other subjects continue where they strengthen the theme.
- Learning that builds together. Each theme develops knowledge, literacy and disciplinary thinking at the same time.
Built on chronology. Themes are sequenced broadly chronologically from Year 7 to Year 9. This helps students build a connected picture of the world; how it came to be, how it has changed over time, and how it is still changing today.
- History shows how societies, ideas and events developed, and why they changed.
- Geography shows how places and environments were shaped, and the processes reshaping them now.
- RE shows how beliefs have shaped people and communities, in the past and in the present.
Each theme adds to this picture, so new knowledge always has somewhere secure to fit.
See what students study each year:
What does L4L aim to achieve?
- Organise learning into coherent enquiries that connect knowledge across subjects.
- Build disciplinary literacy through reading, writing, speaking and listening.
- Teach both core knowledge (what students need to know) and disciplinary knowledge (how each subject investigates, explains and argues).
- Strengthen the move into secondary school through consistent routines and relationships.
- L4L is taught by specialist teachers, trained in thematic curriculum, disciplinary literacy and our whole-school Learning Cycle.
How is l4l taught
All L4L teaching follows our whole-school Learning Cycle, so learning is consistent across every class.
- Practice, retrieval, checking for understanding and Learning Checks support learning throughout every theme.
- Teachers combine disciplinary thinking with thematic enquiry, so each theme builds a clear learning narrative.
- Quality assurance looks at how the Learning Cycle and curriculum design work in practice in the classroom.
Disciplinary literacy is built through four routines used in every theme:
- Big Reads: students read challenging, high-quality texts closely, including fiction, non-fiction and historical sources.
- Big Writes: extended writing where students show what they know and how well they can explain and argue it.
- Scaffolded writing: clear structures that model how to think, speak and write, gradually removed as students grow in confidence.
- “Say it again better”: students rehearse answers aloud and improve them before they write, so every student practices speaking with precision.
How do we check what students have learned?
Assessment in L4L is mainly about helping teachers teach better and students learn more, not just about producing grades.
| When | What | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Start of Year 7 | Baseline reading test: GL Assessment New Group Reading Test | To understand each student’s starting point in reading. |
| Through Years 7 to 9 agreed testing points | Reading analysis: GL reading tests repeated and analysed by reading level, student group and class | To track reading progress against the national picture and target support where is is needed. |
| Three times per theme | Learning checks: short tasks on the key knowledge and skills just taight | To spot gaps quickly, followed by whole-class feedback so every student knows how to improve. |
| Each theme | Extended writing: in which students explain amd argue what they have learned | To show depth of understanding and disciplinary writing. |
| End of each theme | Theme assessment with an inclusive structure to allow all students to experience success | To check what students have learned across the theme and allow teachers to address gaps. |
| Twice a year | Subject examinations in History, Geography and RE. | To check knowledge is secure over time and confirm progress in each discipline. |
Teachers also review work in students’ books regularly. Progress is shared with families through the school’s reporting cycle.
How do we support every student?
Every student follows the same ambitious L4L curriculum in mixed-attainment classes. We adapt how students reach it, never what they are entitled to learn.
We start from what each student needs. We use KS2 results, GL assessments and SEND information from the first weeks of Year 7. Because L4L teachers spend so much time with their class, they also know each student as a person and can adjust support lesson by lesson.
We remove barriers to learning.
- Reading: key vocabulary is taught before students meet it, texts are adapted where needed, and students who need extra help with reading receive targeted support.
- Writing: scaffolded structures show students how to organise their ideas the way each subject expects.
- Speaking: “say it again better” gives every student time to rehearse and improve an answer before sharing it.
- SEND: teachers use adaptive teaching, working closely with our Inclusion team, so students with special educational needs learn the same curriculum as their peers.
We build independence. Scaffolds are planned to be removed. As students grow in confidence, support is reduced step by step until they can read, write and argue on their own.
This approach is making a difference: our weakest readers make good progress, and students with SEND are supported to become more independent learners.
How is the key stage 3 national curriculum covered?
L4L and our discretely taught subjects together cover the full Key Stage 3 National Curriculum. History, Geography and RE are taught through L4L in every year, and RE also has a weekly discrete lesson. English is taught through L4L in Year 7, then in discrete lessons in Years 8 and 9, with disciplinary literacy continuing through every L4L theme.
| National Curriculum Subject | Year 7, covered within LIteracy for Life | Year 7, covered in discrete lessons | Year 8, covered within LIteracy for Life | Year 8, covered in discrete lesssons | Year 9, covered within Lteracy for Life | Year 9, covered in discrete lessons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | = | — | ◑ | = | ◔ | = |
| Maths | ◔ | = | ◔ | = | — | = |
| Science | ◑ | = | ◑ | = | — | = |
| Geography | = | — | = | — | = | — |
| History | = | — | = | — | = | — |
| RE | ◑ | ◑ | ◑ | ◑ | ◑ | ◑ |
| Computing | = | — | = | — | = | — |
| Drama | ◔ | = | ◔ | = | — | = |
| Languages | — | = | — | = | — | = |
| PE | — | = | — | = | — | = |
| DT | ◔ | = | ◔ | = | — | = |
| Art | ◔ | = | ◔ | = | — | = |
| Music | ◔ | = | ◔ | = | — | = |
| = | Full coverage | ◔ | Partial coverage | — | Incidental coverage |
|---|
Where they add genuine value, L4L themes also link to Science, Art, Computing, Drama and Personal Development.
L4L themes, 2026/27
| Year | Themes, in teaching order |
|---|---|
| Year 7 | Citizen Me . Journey to the Centre of the Earth . In Days of Old . Fairy Tales . Journeys . Water . Off With Your Head . Growing . iRobot . Silent Movies |
| Year 8 | Pudding Lane . Da Vinci . Coming and Going . India . Freedom . Please Sir . Coast . Over the Top |
| Year 9 | Whose Earth is it Anyway? . Tragedy . Made in China . America . Britain |
Each theme is built around a driving question, such as ‘Did life in England turn upside down between 1485 and 1700?’ (Year 7) or ‘What impact has the Industrial Revolution had on living conditions today?’ (Year 8). Full details are on the theme pages for each year.
How are staff trained to teach l4l?
L4L is taught by a dedicated team of teachers who specialise in the L4L curriculum model. Their professional development focuses on three areas:
- Thematic curriculum: how each theme is designed, sequenced and connected to the wider curriculum.
- Disciplinary literacy: how historians, geographers and theologians read, write and argue, and how to teach this explicitly.
- The Learning Cycle: our whole-school approach to retrieval, checking for understanding and feedback.
Subject specialists support the team, so that each discipline keeps its rigour within every theme.
What difference does l4l make?
L4L builds reading, writing, discussion and disciplinary thinking through regular practice in every theme. We check its impact through reading tests, theme assessments at the end of each unit, and subject examinations in History, Geography and RE twice each year.
Reading across Key Stage 3
- On average, students’ reading improved faster than the national rate. Scores are age standardised.
- Our weakest readers make the most progress.
Humanities assessments
- Students who join us with lower KS2 results make the strongest gains relative to their primary starting points.
- Disadvantaged students in Year 7 moved up within their year group, while their peers held steady.
- Students with SEND hold or improve their position relative to their KS2 starting points in every year group.
We use the same evidence to decide where to improve next, including how we stretch our strongest readers.
For parents and carers
Your child’s L4L teacher is usually the best first contact for questions about their learning or how they are settling in.
You can help at home by:
- asking your child what they are studying in L4L and what they found surprising.
- reading with them, or encouraging them to read every day.
- asking them to explain an idea to you in full sentences, then explain it again even better.
Our theme overviews include additional learning opportunities.
Meet the L4L Team
Mr M Cusworth-Yafai
Mrs L O'Gorman
Please email us at info@tca.shirelandcat.net or call us on 01384 987973 if you would like to speak to one of our L4L team members.