Australian Primary English & Literacy: Year 1–7

What does your child learn in English at school?

English is a core learning area from Foundation to Year 10 in the Australian Curriculum. As students move from Year 1 to Year 7, they progress from foundational reading, spelling and sentence skills to increasingly sophisticated comprehension, analysis, persuasive writing, literature, speaking and multimodal communication.

YEAR 1 — Building Strong Foundations

📖 Reading & Comprehension

• Phonics and decoding

• Letter–sound relationships

• High-frequency words

• Reading fluency

• Reading simple fiction and nonfiction

• Identifying characters, settings and events

• Sequencing events

• Making simple predictions

• Answering literal comprehension questions

• Making connections between text and personal experiences
  

✏️ Writing

• Writing complete sentences

• Personal recounts

• Simple narratives

• Descriptive writing

• Informative writing

• Sequencing ideas

• Beginning, middle and end

• Handwriting and letter formation

• Editing simple writing
  

🔤 Grammar, Spelling & Vocabulary

• Nouns

• Verbs

• Adjectives

• Pronouns

• Simple sentence structure

• Capital letters

• Full stops

• Question marks

• Common spelling patterns

• Building everyday vocabulary
  

🗣️ Speaking & Listening

• Listening carefully

• Following instructions

• Asking and answering questions

• Sharing experiences

• Speaking clearly

• Participating in classroom discussions
  

YEAR 2 — Developing Fluency & Expression

📖 Reading & Comprehension

• Reading increasingly complex texts

• Reading fluency and expression

• Fiction and nonfiction

• Main ideas and supporting details

• Character and setting

• Sequencing

• Predicting

• Making inferences

• Vocabulary in context

• Comparing texts
  

✏️ Writing

• Narrative writing

• Recounts

• Informative texts

• Descriptive writing

• Paragraph development

• Sentence expansion

• Beginning and concluding sentences

• Editing and proofreading
  

🔤 Grammar, Spelling & Vocabulary

• Common and proper nouns

• Verbs and verb tense

• Adjectives and adverbs

• Pronouns

• Conjunctions

• Sentence punctuation

• Apostrophes

• Spelling patterns

• Prefixes and suffixes

• Synonyms and antonyms
  

🗣️ Speaking & Listening

• Oral presentations

• Retelling stories

• Expressing opinions

• Asking relevant questions

• Listening and responding appropriately
  

YEAR 3 — Expanding Literacy Skills

📖 Reading & Comprehension

• Literal comprehension

• Inferential comprehension

• Main idea

• Supporting details

• Summarising

• Making predictions

• Identifying author's purpose

• Character analysis

• Comparing texts

• Understanding vocabulary in context

• Reading information texts

  
  

✏️ Writing

• Narrative writing

• Recounts

• Informative reports

• Procedures

• Persuasive writing introduction

• Paragraph structure

• Topic sentences

• Linking ideas

• Descriptive language

• Editing and revising

  
  

🔤 Grammar, Spelling & Vocabulary

• Parts of speech

• Simple and compound sentences

• Verb tense

• Adverbs

• Conjunctions

• Prepositions

• Pronouns

• Direct speech

• Apostrophes

• Prefixes and suffixes

• Word families

• Homophones

• Dictionary and thesaurus skills

  
  

🗣️ Speaking & Listening

• Presenting information

• Group discussions

• Giving explanations

• Expressing opinions

• Listening for key information

• 
  

YEAR 4 — Developing Independence

📖 Reading & Comprehension

• Literal and inferential comprehension

• Main ideas and supporting evidence

• Summarising

• Drawing conclusions

• Author's purpose

• Text structure

• Comparing viewpoints

• Understanding figurative language

• Analysing characters

• Understanding information in tables, diagrams and digital texts

  
  

✏️ Writing

• Narrative writing

• Informative writing

• Persuasive writing

• Explanations

• Reports

• Paragraph cohesion

• Topic sentences

• Supporting evidence

• Introduction and conclusion

• Editing and publishing

• 
  

🔤 Grammar, Spelling & Vocabulary

• Complex vocabulary

• Word origins

• Prefixes and suffixes

• Compound words

• Synonyms and antonyms

• Homophones

• Sentence types

• Complex sentences

• Punctuation

• Direct speech

• Figurative language

• Similes and metaphors

• 
  

🗣️ Speaking & Listening

• Formal presentations

• Group discussions

• Explaining ideas

• Supporting opinions with reasons

• Listening and responding to different viewpoints

  
  

YEAR 5 — Building Academic Literacy

📖 Reading & Comprehension

• Advanced comprehension

• Literal, inferential and evaluative questions

• Identifying main ideas

• Summarising information

• Author's purpose

• Author's viewpoint

• Bias and perspective

• Comparing texts

• Evaluating information

• Analysing language choices

• Understanding visual and multimodal texts

  
  

✏️ Writing

• Narrative writing

• Persuasive writing

• Informative writing

• Explanations

• Reports

• Arguments

• Paragraph cohesion

• Evidence and examples

• Formal vocabulary

• Editing and revising

• Writing for different audiences

  
  

🔤 Grammar, Spelling & Vocabulary

• Complex and compound sentences

• Sentence variety

• Clauses

• Subject and predicate

• Verb forms

• Modal language

• Punctuation

• Spelling conventions

• Greek and Latin word roots

• Prefixes and suffixes

• Figurative language

• Academic vocabulary

  
  

🗣️ Speaking & Listening

• Presentations

• Debates

• Group discussions

• Persuasive speaking

• Expressing and defending viewpoints

• Adjusting language for audience and purpose

  
  

YEAR 6 — Preparing for Secondary School

📖 Reading & Comprehension

• Advanced reading comprehension

• Inference

• Analysis

• Evaluation

• Summarising complex texts

• Identifying author's perspective

• Comparing perspectives

• Identifying bias

• Analysing evidence

• Interpreting visual information

• Analysing multimodal texts

• Evaluating sources

  
  

✏️ Writing

• Narrative writing

• Persuasive writing

• Argumentative writing

• Informative writing

• Analytical responses

• Reports

• Explanations

• Paragraph cohesion

• Evidence-based writing

• Audience and purpose

• Editing and publishing

  
  

🔤 Grammar, Spelling & Vocabulary

• Complex sentences

• Clauses

• Cohesive devices

• Pronoun reference

• Tense and modality

• Formal and informal language

• Punctuation

• Spelling rules

• Word origins

• Greek and Latin roots

• Figurative language

• Advanced vocabulary

  
  

🗣️ Speaking & Listening

• Formal presentations

• Debates

• Structured discussions

• Persuasive speaking

• Responding to questions

• Presenting evidence

• Adjusting language for different audiences

  
  

YEAR 7 — Transition to Secondary English

Year 7 marks an important transition. Students are expected to engage with more complex literary, informative, persuasive and multimodal texts and increasingly analyse how language and text structures create meaning. The Year 7 achievement standard includes creating imaginative, reflective, informative, persuasive and analytical texts for particular audiences and purposes.

📖 Reading & Text Analysis

• Complex comprehension

• Inference and interpretation

• Analysis of texts

• Synthesising information

• Author's purpose

• Author's perspective

• Audience

• Context

• Bias and representation

• Comparing texts

• Analysing evidence

• Analysing language features

• Analysing visual features

• Literary devices

• Evaluating texts

  
  

📚 Literature

• Poetry

• Short stories

• Novels

• Narrative structure

• Characterisation

• Setting

• Theme

• Point of view

• Symbolism

• Metaphor

• Simile

• Imagery

• Personification

• Irony

• Analysing the effect of literary techniques

  
  

✏️ Writing

• Narrative writing

• Persuasive writing

• Argument

• Informative writing

• Analytical writing

• Reflective writing

• Reports

• Explanations

• Structured paragraphs

• Evidence and elaboration

• Cohesive devices

• Formal academic language

• Editing and proofreading

• Writing for audience and purpose

  
  

🔤 Grammar, Vocabulary & Language

• Complex sentence structures

• Clauses

• Sentence variation

• Cohesion

• Modality

• Evaluative language

• Subject-specific vocabulary

• Word origins

• Greek and Latin roots

• Prefixes and suffixes

• Spelling patterns

• Punctuation

• Formal vs informal language

• Language choices for audience and purpose

  
  

🗣️ Speaking & Multimodal Literacy

• Oral presentations

• Debates

• Group discussions

• Persuasive speeches

• Formal speaking

• Tone and voice

• Body language

• Visual communication

• Digital texts

• Multimodal presentations

• Adapting communication to audience

  
  

The Year 7 curriculum specifically expects students to work with language features, literary devices, text structures and visual features, and to create written and multimodal texts for different purposes and audiences.

At ASKON Education, we use these curriculum expectations as a guide to help students build literacy skills, strengthen confidence and prepare for the increasing demands of school English.