Understanding prior key stages is key to ensuring appropriate pitch of curriculum, assessment and pedagogy. These resources are widely available, but not always used by secondary teachers; they provide really useful information to inform curriculum at KS3, particularly in Year 7.
In order to build on the learning from primary schools, it is important to understand the National Curriculum for KS1 and KS2. The documents here are useful guides to what is taught and at what stages of the primary curriculum. Use these documents to inform your own curriculum and progression planning for KS3, considering how to revise what has been taught and ensure that it is secured and embedded across KS3 English (and other subjects in school).
Due to the pandemic, Year 6 pupils have not taken KS2 SATs in 2020 and 2021. However, it may be useful when thinking about task design and assessments in Year 7 to have an idea about the forms of test questions and task that pupils are likely to have been taught to access at KS2. Look through the test materials and mark schemes to familiarise yourself with these and to support transition conversations with primary colleagues.
The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) publish details of expectations and exemplification of pupils' work in relation to the expected standards for KS2. Explore these documents to understand the KS2 expectations in writing in order to inform your KS3 curriculum planning and the pitch for teaching in Year 7. Bear in mind that pupils have achieved the standards at a key point in their school career and that primary teachers work extremely hard to support their pupils to meet the standard. This does not mean that once a standard has been met, pupils continue to work at that pitch of excellence in every piece of writing without prompting. Pupils in Year 7 often require reminders and support to ensure that they continue to produce written work that matches the standards they have already achieved in primary school, and it is their secondary teachers' job to ensure that pupils understand exactly what is expected of them in each piece of work, that they are given sufficient time, and that the necessary scaffolds are in place to support pupils to produce their best work.