The Demon Headmaster | Year 3 English Unit | 15 Complete Lessons + Resources

A 3-week, fully resourced primary literacy unit based on The Demon Headmaster by Gillian Cross. KS2 Fiction. National-Curriculum-aligned grammar, WT/ARE/GD differentiation, and ready to teach.

What’s inside (35 files)

This complete English unit gives you everything for three weeks of high-quality teaching, designed to match the standard of leading primary schemes (Literacy Tree, Write Stuff, Power of Reading).

• 15 lesson PowerPoints — illustrated cover slides, success criteria, vocabulary previews, modelled writing, “big questions” (Bloom’s-laddered), differentiation tiers, plenary, and reflection.
• 15 differentiated resource sheets — Working Towards, Age-Related Expectations, and Greater Depth, with sentence frames, word banks, and writing frames.
• Complete teacher unit plan — unit overview, key themes, model texts (WT/ARE/GD), full session-by-session plans, key questions, assessment focus, and vocabulary focus.
• Child-friendly marking rubric — “I can…” success criteria for the final writing piece, ready for self- and peer-assessment.
• 3 weekly exit tickets — 5 multiple-choice questions per week, with teacher answer keys.

Final writing outcome

A multi-paragraph narrative featuring a sinister authority figure and a group of children who resist his control, including dialogue using inverted commas, fronted adverbials of manner and time, and the present perfect tense to show the effects of his influence.

Grammar features (Year 3 NC-aligned)

• Fronted adverbials of manner and time (e.g. ‘Silently, he crossed the room.’ / ‘By Friday, every child had changed.’).
• Inverted commas for direct speech — punctuating the Headmaster’s controlling dialogue accurately (e.g. ‘You will obey,’ he said quietly.).

Themes explored

Power and control, Resistance and courage, The importance of thinking for yourself, Friendship and loyalty.

Key vocabulary

Hypnotise, obedient, sinister, authority, resist, expressionless, commanding, suspicious.

Format & compatibility

• Editable PowerPoint (.pptx) and Word (.docx) files.
• UK English spelling.
• One printer-friendly A4 page per resource sheet.
• Compatible with Literacy Tree, Write Stuff, and Power of Reading planning approaches.

Year groups & key stage

• Year 3 (KS2).
• 15 sessions over 3 weeks (≈45–60 minutes per lesson).

Tags

KS2, Year 3, English, fiction, Gillian Cross, reading and writing, complete unit, differentiated, NC-aligned, lesson plans, resources, the demon headmaster