Phase 1 (seven aspects)
Working on: Showing awareness of rhyme and alliteration, distinguishing between different sounds in the environment and phonemes, exploring and experimenting with sounds and words and discriminating speech sounds in words. Beginning to orally blend and segment phonemes.
Phase 2
Working on: Using common consonants and vowels. Blending for reading and segmenting for
spelling simple CVC words. Working on: Knowing that words are constructed from phonemes and that phonemes are represented by graphemes.
Letter progression: Set 1: s, a, t, Set 2: i, n, m, d Set 3: g, o, c, k Set 4: ck, e, u, r Set 5: h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss
Phase 3 (Reception)
Working on: Knowing one grapheme for each of the 43phonemes
Working on: Reading and spelling a wide range of CVC words using all letters and less frequent consonant
digraphs and some long vowel phonemes.
Letter progression: Set 6: j, v, w, x Set 7: y, z, zz, qu
Working on: Reading and spelling CVC words using letters and short vowels.
Consonant digraphs ch, sh, th, ng
Working on: Reading and spelling CVC words using a wider range of letters, short vowels, some consonant
digraphs and double letters.
Graphemes: ear, air, ure, er, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ai, ee, igh, oa, oo / Phase 4 (Year Reception/Year 1)
Working on: Segmenting adjacent consonants in words and apply this in spelling.
Working on: Blending adjacent consonants in words and applying this skill when reading unfamiliar texts
Early Learning Goals:
At the end of reception children use their knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.
Year 1 (All pupils must be taught these things)
Spelling / Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation
Revision of Reception work
The boundary between revision of work covered in Reception and the introduction of new work may vary according to the programme used, but basic revision should include:
- all grapheme-phoneme correspondences which have been taught
- the process of segmenting spoken words into sounds before choosing graphemes to represent the sounds
- words with adjacent consonants;
- rules and guidelines which have been taught
- vowel digraphs which have been taught
The /ŋ/ sound spelt n before k
Division of words into syllables
The /v/ sound at the end of words
Adding the endings –ing, –ed and –er to verbs where no change is needed to the root word
Vowel digraphs and trigraphs
ai, oi, ay, oy, a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e, ar, ee, ea, er, ir, ur, oo, oa, oe, ou, ow, ue, ie, igh, or, ore, air, ear, are,
Words ending –y (/i:/ or /ɪ/ depending on accent)
New consonant spellings ph and wh
Using k for the /k/ sound
Compound words
Phase 5 (Year 1)
Working on: Reading phonically decodable two syllable and three-syllable words.
Working on: Using alternative ways of pronouncing and spelling the graphemes corresponding to the long vowel phonemes. (More able)
Working on: Spelling complex words using phonically plausible attempts
First 100 high frequency words
Pupils should be taught to spell:
- words containing each of the 40+ phonemes already taught
- common exception words
- the days of the week
- name the letters of the alphabet:
- naming the letters of the alphabet in order
- using letter names to distinguish between alternative spellings of the same sound
- add prefixes and suffixes (most able):
- using the spelling rule for adding –s or –esas the plural marker for nouns and the third person singular marker for verbs
- using the prefix un– (most able)
- using –ing, –ed, –erand –estwhere no change is needed in the spelling of root words (e.g. helping, helped, helper, eating, quicker, quickest)
- apply simple spelling rules and guidelines, as listed in Appendix 1
- write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that include words taught so far.
Suffixes that can be added to verbs where no change is needed in the spelling of root words (e.g. helping, helped, helper)
How the prefix un– changes the meaning of verbs and adjectives [negation, for example, unkind, or undoing: untie the boat]
Sentence / How words can combine to make sentences
Joining words and joining clauses using and
Text / Sequencing sentences to form short narratives
Punctuation / Separation of words with spaces
Introduction to capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences
Capital letters for names and for the personal pronoun I
Terminology for pupils / letter, capital letter
word, singular, plural
sentence
punctuation, full stop, question mark, exclamation mark
Year 2 (All pupils must be taught these things)
Spelling / Spelling Cont.
Phase 6 (Year 2)
Working on: Recognising phonic irregularities. and becoming more secure with less common grapheme-phoneme correspondences.
Working on: Applying phonic skills and knowledge to recognise and spell an increasing number of complex words.
words with different phonemes
suffix ed for past tense and ing for present tense (intro drop e and double consonant)
compound words
common suffixes (s es ful y less ed ing)
common prefixes un dis
discriminate syllables in multisyllabic words (consolidate compound, suffixes, prefixes words)
ew, aw, au, ure, -tch
Adding s and es to words (plural of nouns and the third person singular of verbs)
Adding –er and –est to adjectives where no change is needed to the root word
Adding the prefix –un
Common exception words
apostrophes for contractions
In Year 2 Pupils should be taught to:
spell by:
- segmenting words into phonemes and representing these by graphemes, spelling many correctly
- learning new ways of spelling phonemes for which one or more spellings are already known, and learn some words with each spelling, including a few common homophones
- learning to spell common exception words
- learning to spell more words with contracted forms
- distinguishing between homophones and near-homophones
- add suffixes to spell longer words, e.g. –ment, –ness, –fuland –less
- apply spelling rules and guidelines, as listed in Appendix 1
- write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that include words and punctuation taught so far.
As words with new GPCs are introduced, many previously-taught GPCs can be revised at the same time as these words will usually contain them.
The /dʒ/ sound spelt as ge and dge at the end of words, and sometimes spelt as g elsewhere in words before e, i and y
The /s/ sound spelt c before e, i and y
The /n/ sound spelt kn and (less often) gn at the beginning of words
The sound spelt wr at the beginning of words
The sound spelt –le at the end of words
The sound spelt –el at the end of words
The sound spelt –al at the end of words
Words ending –il
The sound spelt –y at the end of words
Adding –es to nouns and verbs ending in consonant letter –y
Adding –ed, –ing, –er and –est to root words ending in consonant-letter–y
Adding the endings –ing, –ed, –er, –est and –y to words ending in vowel-letter–consonant-letter–e
Adding –ing, –ed, –er, –est and –y to words of one syllable ending in a single consonant letter after a single vowel letter
The /ɔ:/ sound spelt a before l and ll - all; ball
The /ʌ/ sound spelt o – other, mother
The /i:/ sound spelt –ey – key, donkey / The /ɒ/ sound spelt a after w and qu – want, watch
The /ɜ:/ sound spelt or after w – word, work
The /ɔ:/ sound spelt ar after w – war, warm
The /ʒ/ sound spelt s – television,usual
The suffixes –ment, –ness, –ful and –less
Contractions
Words ending in –tion
Homophones and near-homophones
Common exception words
Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation
Word / Formation of nouns using suffixes such as –ness, –erand by compounding [for example, whiteboard, superman]
Formation of adjectives using suffixes such as –ful, –less
(A fuller list of suffixes can be found on page 46 in the year 2 spelling section in English Appendix 1)
Use of the suffixes –er, –estin adjectives and the use of –ly in Standard English to turn adjectives into adverbs
Sentence / Subordination (using when, if, that, because) and co-ordination (using or, and, but)
Expanded noun phrases for description and specification [for example, the blue butterfly, plain flour, the man in the moon]
How the grammatical patterns in a sentence indicate its function as a statement, question, exclamation or command
Text / Correct choice and consistent use of present tense and past tense throughout writing
Use of the progressive form of verbs in the present and past tense to mark actions in progress [for example, she is drumming, he was shouting]
Punctuation / Use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences
Commas to separate items in a list
Apostrophes to mark where letters are missing in spelling and to mark singular possession in nouns [for example, the girl’s name]
Terminology for pupils / noun, noun phrase
statement, question, exclamation, command
compound, suffix
adjective, adverb, verb
tense (past, present)
apostrophe, comma
Year 3 ARE (All pupils must be taught these things)
Spelling / Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation
le words
common prefixes (un de dis re pre)
use prefixes to generate antonyms
adding y
adding s and es to nouns
irregular plurals (words ending in f ff and nouns which don’t add s)
silent letters knee gnat wrinkle
compound words common suffixes ly ful less er able
use suffixes to generate new words (ship, ful, ness, ment, hood, less, er, est, ly, ish, dom, like)
short words within longer words
prefixes mis non ex co anti
contractions (pronouns)
homonyms
regular verb endings (incl single consonant, end in y, in e, hissing, buzzing)
Also irregular verb endings link to tense change
nouns adding s, es, ies nouns adding s, es, ies
The possessive apostrophe (singular nouns)
Pupils should be taught to:
- use further prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them (Appendix 1)
- spell further homophones
- spell words that are often misspelt (Appendix 1)
- use the first two or three letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary
- write from memory simple sentences, dictated by the teacher, that include words and punctuation taught so far.
- Revision of work from Years 1 and 2
- Pay special attention to the rules for adding suffixes.
Yr 3 - The /ʌ/ sound spelt ou
Yr 3 - The suffix –ly
Yr 3 - Words with endings sounding like /ʒə/ or /tʃə/
Yr 3 - Endings which sound like /ʒən/
Yr 3 - Words with the /k/ sound spelt ch (Greek in origin)
Yr 3 - Words with the /ʃ/ sound spelt ch (mostly French in origin)
Yr 3 - Homophones or near-homophones / Word / Formation of nouns using a range of prefixes [for example super–, anti–, auto–]
Use of the forms a or an according to whether the next word begins with a consonant or a vowel [for example, a rock, an open box]
Word families based on common words, showing how words are related in form and meaning [for example, solve, solution, solver, dissolve, insoluble]
Sentence / Expressing time, place and cause using conjunctions [for example, when, before, after, while, so, because], adverbs [for example, then, next, soon, therefore], or prepositions [for example, before, after, during, in, because of]
Text / Introduction to paragraphs as a way to group related material
Headings and sub-headings to aid presentation
Use of the present perfect form of verbs instead of the simple past [for example, He has gone out to play contrasted with He went out to play]
Punctuation / Introduction to inverted commas to punctuate direct speech
Terminology for pupils / preposition, conjunction
word family, prefix
clause, subordinate clause
direct speech
consonant, consonant letter vowel, vowel letter
inverted commas (or ‘speech marks’)
Year 4 ARE (All pupils must be taught these things)
Spelling / Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation
two syllable words containing a double consonant
regular verb endings s ed ing (link to tenses)
irregular tense changes irregular plurals
suffixes al aryic
nouns and adjectives in to verbs by use of suffix ate ify en ise tion ity ness
adding suffixes to words ending in f
common endings ight tion ious ial ough
prefixes ad af al a
explore occurrence of certain letters within words eg v and k
explore occurrence of certain letter strings within words wa wo ss (also 00 ch sc)
common letter strings with different pronunciations (ough ear ight ou au ice)
collect and classify common roots (tele, aqua, dec)
extend compounding words (full y ivetionicist)
suffixes ible able ive tion sion
diminutives (mini ette ling micro )
links between meaning and spellings of prefixes and suffixes
dis re ed auto circum tele trans ette mini micro ling ive tion ic istmis ex bi trans
plurals s es ies
common letter strings
apostrophe in contracted words
Pupils should be taught to:
- use further prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them (Appendix 1)
- spell further homophones
- spell words that are often misspelt (Appendix 1)
- use the first two or three letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary
- write from memory simple sentences, dictated by the teacher, that include words and punctuation taught so far.
- Revision of work from Years 1, 2 and 3
- Pay special attention to the rules for adding suffixes.
Yr 4 - More prefixes
Yr 4 - The suffix –ation
Yr 4 - The suffix –ous
Yr 4- Endings which sound like /ʃən/, spelt –tion, –sion, –ssion, –cian
Yr 4 - Words ending with the /g/ sound spelt –gue and the /k/ sound spelt –que (French in origin)
Yr 4 - Words with the /s/ sound spelt sc (Latin in origin)
Yr 4 - Words with the /eɪ/ sound spelt ei, eigh, or ey
Yr 4 - Possessive apostrophe with plural words / Word / The grammatical difference between plural and possessive –s
Standard English forms for verb inflections instead of local spoken forms [for example, we were instead of we was, or I did instead of I done]
Sentence / Noun phrases expanded by the addition of modifying adjectives, nouns and preposition phrases (e.g. the teacher expanded to: the strict maths teacher with curly hair)
Fronted adverbials [for example, Later that day, I heard the bad news.]
Text / Use of paragraphs to organise ideas around a theme
Appropriate choice of pronoun or noun within and across sentences to aid cohesion and avoid repetition
Punctuation / Use of inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech [for example, a comma after the reporting clause; end punctuation within inverted commas: The conductor shouted, “Sit down!”]
Apostrophes to mark plural possession [for example, the girl’s name, the girls’ names] Use of commas after fronted adverbials
Terminology for pupils / determiner
pronoun, possessive pronoun
adverbial
Year 5 ARE (All pupils must be taught these things)
Spelling / Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation
properties of words ending in vowels other than e
spelling patterns in pluralisation s es ies
patterns in pluralisation f to ves and irregular plurals
prefixes auto bi trans tele circum
identify root words and derivations
explore spelling patterns of consonants and formulate rules ll becomes l as suffix
change y to I when add full
explore spelling patterns of consonants and formulate rules
words which have common letter strings but different pronunciations
possessive pronouns
suffixes cian sion ssion tion ation etion ition otion ution
unstressed vowels in polysyllabic words
spelling rules e.g. modifying e
spelling rules e.g. words ending in y
transform words change tense ed ing
negation un im il
comparative er est ish
verbs to nouns ion ism ology
nouns to verbs ise ify en
explore less common prefixes and suffixes in im ir il
unstressed vowels in polysyllabic words (ary ery ory ence)
common letter strings with different pronunciations (ight ear oo ough ie our cian sion tion ssion)
explore spelling patterns of consonants and formulate rules
spelling rules for adding suffixes to words ending in e, y, ie (ing, est, er, ed, able, ish, ful, less, ly, ment, ness, ous)
identify word roots, derivations and spelling patterns
Pupils should be taught to:
- use further prefixes and suffixes and understand the guidelines for adding them
- spell some words with ‘silent’ letters, e.g. knight, psalm, solemn
- continue to distinguish between homophones and other words which are often confused
- use knowledge of morphology and etymology in spelling and understand that the spelling of some words needs to be learnt specifically, as listed in Appendix 1
- use dictionaries to check the spelling and meaning of words
- use the first three or four letters of a word to check spelling, meaning or both of these in a dictionary
- use a thesaurus
- Revise work done in previous years
Yr 5 - Adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words ending in –fer
Yr 5 - Use of the hyphen
Yr 5 - Words containing the letter-string ough
Yr 5 - Homophones and other words that are often confused / Word / Converting nouns or adjectives into verbs using suffixes [for example, –ate; –ise; –ify]
Verb prefixes [for example, dis–, de–, mis–, over– and re–]
Sentence / Relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that, or an omitted relative pronoun
Indicating degrees of possibility using adverbs [for example, perhaps, surely] or modal verbs [for example, might, should, will, must]
Text / Devices to build cohesion within a paragraph [for example, then, after that, this, firstly]
Linking ideas across paragraphs using adverbials of time [for example, later], place [for example, nearby] and number [for example, secondly] or tense choices [for example, he had seen her before]
Punctuation / Brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis
Use of commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity