My Functional Skills English resources are designed to make the demands of reading and writing qualifications clearer and more manageable. They break larger skills into smaller stages, provide explicit models and give learners repeated opportunities to practise before they are expected to work independently.
The collection covers Entry Level through to Level 2 and includes reading practice papers, writing resources, progression materials and longer structured programmes. The resources can be used for qualification preparation, intervention work and one-to-one tuition, particularly with learners who benefit from clear routines and carefully scaffolded tasks.
Functional Skills Writing
Progression of Skills in Functional Skills Writing – Entry Level 1 to Level 2
A clear overview of how Functional Skills writing develops from Entry Level 1 through to Level 2.
The resource helps make progression visible by showing how expectations increase across the levels. It can be useful for planning teaching, identifying gaps and helping learners understand how the skills they are practising connect with the next stage of their qualification.
View Progression of Skills in Functional Skills Writing on TES →
Writing Sentences – Entry Level Practice for Functional Skills
A free resource giving learners structured practice in constructing sentences for Functional Skills writing.
It is designed for learners who need to become more secure with sentence construction before moving on to longer pieces of writing. The activities provide a manageable starting point for developing accuracy, clarity and confidence.
English Functional Skills – Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Writing: Sentence Types
A focused resource for developing greater control and variety in writing.
Learners work with different sentence types and consider how sentence choices can make writing clearer and more effective. The resource can be used as a discrete teaching activity or as preparation for longer Functional Skills writing tasks.
English Functional Skills – Level 2 Writing: Audience and Purpose
A structured resource for helping learners understand how writing needs to change according to its audience and purpose.
Functional Skills writing tasks require learners to make deliberate choices about tone, vocabulary, organisation and level of formality. This resource makes those choices more explicit and gives learners a framework for thinking about them before beginning a task.
Functional Skills Writing Bundles
Functional Skills Writing Bundle
A collection of writing resources that can be used together to develop Functional Skills writing progressively.
The bundle brings together materials covering areas such as progression, sentence construction and the choices learners need to make when producing different forms of writing. It is suited to tutors and teachers who want a sequence of resources rather than a single isolated activity.
Functional Skills Reading
My reading resources provide practice with the kinds of texts, questions and decisions learners encounter in Functional Skills English assessments.
The emphasis is on developing a repeatable approach to reading tasks. Practice papers allow learners to become familiar with retrieving information, interpreting texts and selecting evidence while also building confidence with the format of the assessment.
Entry Level 3 Reading Practice
Entry Level 3 Functional Skills English – Reading Practice Papers
A series of six reading practice papers designed for learners working towards Entry Level 3 Functional Skills English.
The papers provide repeated practice with assessment-style reading tasks while allowing learners to become familiar with the structure and expectations of the qualification. Having several papers available also makes it possible to revisit the same underlying skills using different texts and contexts.
Entry Level 3 Functional Skills English – Reading Practice Paper Bundle
A collection of Entry Level 3 reading practice papers for learners who need a broader bank of assessment-style material.
The bundle can be used across a programme of tuition or teaching, allowing learners to practise the same core reading skills repeatedly while working with different source material.
View the Entry Level 3 Reading Practice Paper Bundle on TES →
Level 1 Reading Practice
English Functional Skills – Level 1 Reading: Practice Paper 1
An assessment-style reading paper for learners preparing for Level 1 Functional Skills English.
It provides practice in applying reading skills across a complete paper and can be used to identify areas that need further teaching as well as to build familiarity with the demands of the qualification.
English Functional Skills – Level 1 Reading: Practice Paper 2
A second Level 1 reading paper providing further practice with Functional Skills assessment-style questions.
Using more than one paper allows learners to apply the same reading strategies to unfamiliar material, helping to establish whether a skill has become secure rather than simply familiar within one particular text.
Building Functional Skills Progressively
Functional Skills learners can arrive at the same qualification level with very different starting points. Some need support with sentence construction, while others can write fluently but find audience and purpose difficult to interpret. Reading difficulties can similarly arise from vocabulary, processing, locating information or understanding what a question is asking.
My resources are designed so that individual skills can be taught separately before they are brought together in complete assessment-style tasks. This makes it possible to select materials according to the learner’s current needs and then reduce the level of support as those skills become more secure.
Related Book
Kate Coldrick’s Guide to Functional Skills Level 1 Writing
For learners who need a more complete programme of support, Kate Coldrick’s Guide to Functional Skills Level 1 Writing provides a structured route through the writing skills required at Level 1.
The book is organised into 25 units and uses clear explanations, models and guided practice to help learners understand how to approach Functional Skills writing tasks. It can be used for independent study, one-to-one tuition or alongside a wider Functional Skills course.
View Kate Coldrick’s Guide to Functional Skills Level 1 Writing →
More English Resources
You can also explore my GCSE English Language and literacy resources, or visit my full TES shop to see all currently available materials.
Browse GCSE English Language resources →
