The persuasive piece spread out on the table might be about something your child cares about a lot, like a lunch break they're sure is too short. There may be a task sheet beside it, a planning page full of arrows and a first draft that says “it's unfair” in a few different ways.
Year 8 English asks your child to argue a view like this one and back it up, and also to work out how other writers try to win their readers over. You don't need to be an English expert to help with either. A persuasive piece is written to convince someone, and you can be that someone.
What the persuasive piece is asking for
Victoria's curriculum for English, set by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, describes what students learn at each level, and Level 8 is the one written for Year 8. It lists persuasive writing among the kinds of texts students create, along with stories, reports, reviews and analyses of novels and other texts. At this level the curriculum asks your child to support their claims with evidence and quotations, and to choose their words deliberately for the reader they have in mind.
One paragraph for a longer lunch, before and after revising
The same argument, revised with evidence and more precise wording
First draft
Lunch should be longer. It is way too short and everyone hates it. Please make lunch longer because it would be better for everyone.
After revising
Lunch should be ten minutes longer. In a survey of our Year 8 class, most students said they spend half of lunch in the canteen queue, which leaves little time to eat. Ten more minutes would give everyone a proper break before two hours of sitting still.
What changed
- “ten minutes longer”says exactly what should change, so the reader knows what they're agreeing to
- “most students said…”gives evidence where the draft said everyone hates it
- “two hours of sitting still”chooses words that help the reader picture why it matters
Each sentence in the revision gives the reader a reason to agree. If a task sheet came home with your child's piece, it may list what their own work will be marked on, which is a better guide than any example because each school sets its own tasks.
Reading how other writers try to convince
Your child will also read persuasion. They will learn to analyse how a writer's language presents a point of view on an issue, and how they use quotations and sources, which means noticing whose words they've chosen to include and why. Homework might be a newspaper opinion piece, an ad or a speech, with a question like “How does the writer try to persuade the reader?”
What comes home can look like a printout covered in underlining and notes in the margins, or a paragraph that quotes a few of the writer's words and explains what each one does to a reader. Once your child has spotted a technique in someone else's writing, they can try it in their own.
Two invented timetable headlines
Students lose ten minutes of lunch
New timetable gives every class more time
Being the reader your child wants to convince
Every persuasive piece is written for someone, such as the principal, the school council or readers of the school newsletter. You can ask your child who they're writing for, then ask them to read it to you as if you were that person. You don't need to judge the writing. Saying honestly whether it convinced you, and what you'd still want to ask, gives your child the response a real reader would give.
An analysis task works the other way round. You can ask which word your child finds most persuasive, and why. Their answer may show how they're interpreting the writer's choices.
The rest of Year 8 English
Persuasive writing is one part of a full year. Across Year 8 your child will read, watch and write about a mix of texts, which the curriculum says may include novels, poetry, plays, non-fiction and media and online texts. Stories chosen for this level may explore relationships and ethical dilemmas, or show several perspectives on one issue. The curriculum doesn't set a book list, so the school chooses the texts and the order they come in.
Talking is part of English too. Your child will take part in class discussions where they support or challenge different readings of a text, and give structured talks in formal or informal language to suit the audience. In their writing they'll review and edit their own work and their classmates', and the curriculum names punctuation such as semicolons and dashes, along with the more academic words used in essays and reports.
Where to turn if English gets hard
When the same thing keeps coming up, such as a draft that never gets past the first paragraph or the same comment on every piece, your child's English teacher is the first person to talk to. You can bring one piece of work and explain what you've noticed at home. Asking what the piece was marked on, and which part to work on next, turns a general worry into a specific next step.
The school library is free help as well. Library staff can help your child find books they'll want to read, and you can ask whether they help students find sources for a research or persuasive task. You can also ask the school whether it runs homework or writing support for Year 8 students.
One-to-one tutoring is another option when your child would like more time on their writing. Our Years 7 to 10 English tutors work from the texts, tasks and feedback your child gets at school, at home or online. In Years 7 and 8 that covers analytical, persuasive and imaginative tasks, and a tutor can help your child talk through their ideas and turn them into a clear structure.
Whether or not the school agrees to a longer lunch, the draft on the table is practice in making a case and in noticing how other people make theirs. Your child can use both long after the piece is handed in.
Other questions about Year 8 English
Is there NAPLAN in Year 8?
No. NAPLAN runs in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, so your child's next NAPLAN tests will be in Year 9.
Does my child have to agree with the side they're arguing?
Not always. A task can set the side, or ask students to argue a view they don't hold, as practice in how persuasion works rather than a statement of what they believe. The task sheet or the teacher can tell your child whether they can choose.
What changes in Year 9 English?
Year 9 builds on the same skills. The Level 9 curriculum asks students to compare their first and later impressions of a text, to analyse how language represents values, beliefs and attitudes, and to adjust how formally they speak for different audiences. Our guide to Year 9 English explains what that year brings.
Where to check the details
We checked these official sources on 6 November 2026.
