Key Stage 1 · Year 2 · ages 6 or 7
Year 2 English: what your child learns
In Year 2 children read longer words and common suffixes more fluently, and learn new ways to spell sounds, plus contractions and the single-owner apostrophe. They write for different purposes, plan before writing and check their work, using noun phrases, past and present tense, commas in lists and joining words such as because and but. The end-of-year tests are optional for schools.
Guides for parents
Year 2 English
Planning before we write
How Year 2 children plan their writing by saying ideas aloud, noting key words and new vocabulary, and holding each sentence in mind before they write it down.
Year 2 English
Revising and reading aloud
How Year 2 children check and improve their writing: rereading for sense and verb tense, proofreading spelling and punctuation, and reading aloud with expression.
Year 2 English
Writing for different purposes
How Year 2 children write stories about real and imagined experiences, accounts of real events and poems, and how to build their stamina and confidence at home.
Year 2 English
Sentence types, noun phrases and joining
How Year 2 children learn to spot a statement, question, exclamation or command from its grammar, and to use noun phrases and joining words such as because, if and but.
Year 2 English
Past and present tense
How Year 2 children learn to choose and keep to past or present tense, use the progressive form such as she is drumming, and spot tense slips in their own writing.
Year 2 English
Commas in lists and apostrophes
How Year 2 children use capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks, then commas in lists and apostrophes for missing letters and one owner.
Year 2 English
Suffixes: nouns, adjectives and adverbs
How Year 2 children use suffixes such as -ness, -er, -ful, -less, -est and -ly to build nouns, adjectives and adverbs, plus compound words, with a worked example.
Year 2 English
Letter size, spacing and joining
What Year 2 children learn in handwriting: letters of the right size, capitals and digits that fit, even spacing between words and the first joins, with ideas for home.
Year 2 English
Favourite words and poems by heart
How Year 2 children build vocabulary: noticing story language and repeated phrases, working out new word meanings, choosing favourite words and learning poems by heart.
Year 2 English
Understanding what we read
How Year 2 children learn to understand books: using what they know, checking it makes sense, inferring, asking questions and predicting what happens next.
Year 2 English
Discussing books and poems
How Year 2 children discuss books and poems: taking turns, listening, explaining ideas with reasons and evidence, and exploring characters through role play.
Year 2 English
Stories, poems and non-fiction
How Year 2 children explore stories, traditional tales, poems and information books: sequence, cause and effect, retelling and how non-fiction is organised.
Year 2 English
Apostrophes and suffixes
How Year 2 children spell contractions such as can’t and it’s, use the apostrophe for one owner (the girl’s book) and add suffixes like -ful, -less, -ly and -ness.
Year 2 English
Endings -le, -el, -al, -il and -y
How Year 2 children choose between -le, -el, -al and -il for the final l sound, and spell the y at the end of words like cry and fly, with a worked example.
Year 2 English
Changing y, dropping e, doubling
How Year 2 children add -es, -ed, -ing, -er, -est and -y to root words, changing y to i, dropping the final e or doubling the last letter, with a worked example.
Year 2 English
a before l, o, -ey and s spellings
How Year 2 children spell the aw sound in all and walk, the uh sound in mother and Monday, the ee sound in key and donkey, and the zh sound in television and treasure.
Year 2 English
Spellings after w and qu
Why the letters after w change their sound in want, squash, word, work, war and warm, and how Year 2 children learn to spell these three patterns, with a worked example.
Year 2 English
Suffixes -ment, -ness, -ful, -less, -ly
How Year 2 children spell words with the endings -ment, -ness, -ful, -less and -ly, when y changes to i, and how to spell words ending in -tion, with a worked example.
Year 2 English
Contractions and apostrophes
How Year 2 children learn to spell contractions such as didn’t and I’ll, and to use the apostrophe for one owner (Megan’s coat), with common mistakes and ideas for home.
Year 2 English
Homophones and tricky words
How Year 2 children learn homophones such as there, their and they’re, near-homophones like quite and quiet, and common exception words such as because and could.
Year 2 English
Soft c, soft g, kn, gn and wr
How Year 2 children spell the j sound as ge, dge or g, the s sound as c, and silent-letter starts such as kn, gn and wr, with a worked example and ideas to try at home.
Year 2 English
Spelling sounds and homophones
How Year 2 children learn to spell: breaking words into sounds, new spellings for familiar sounds, exception words, homophones and sentences from dictation.
Year 2 English
Noun phrases, tenses and joining words
How Year 2 children build noun phrases, use past and present tense including the -ing form, and join ideas with and, or, but, when, if, that and because.
Year 2 English
Punctuation and types of sentence
What Year 2 children learn about full stops, question and exclamation marks, commas in lists, apostrophes and the four sentence types, with a worked example.
Year 2 English
Tricky words and fluent reading
How Year 2 children learn more common exception words, read familiar words at a glance, read aloud smoothly from well-matched books and build fluency by rereading.
Year 2 English
Longer words and suffixes
How Year 2 children use phonics to read longer words: splitting words into syllables, trying alternative sounds and reading endings such as -ful, -less, -ly and -ment.
Everything in the Year 2 English curriculum
The National Curriculum topics for Year 2, in the order the National Curriculum lists them.
Spoken language
- Listening, asking questions and joining in conversations (Key Stage 1)
- Explaining, describing and sharing ideas (Key Stage 1)
- Speaking clearly to an audience (Key Stage 1)
Reading – word reading
Reading – comprehension
Writing – transcription (spelling)
Writing – handwriting
Writing – composition
Writing – vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation – English Appendix 2
Spelling – English Appendix 1
- Soft g, soft c, kn, gn and wr
- Endings –le, –el, –al, –il and –y
- Adding suffixes: changing y, dropping e and doubling
- a before l, o for /ʌ/, –ey and s for /ʒ/
- Spellings after w and qu
- Suffixes –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –ly and words ending –tion
- Contractions and the singular possessive apostrophe
- Homophones, near-homophones and common exception words