Key Stage 2 · Years 5 and 6 · ages 9 to 11
Years 5 and 6 English: what your child learns
In Years 5 and 6 children read and discuss books more critically, compare themes, learn poems by heart and write for different audiences. Grammar and punctuation extend to passive verbs, relative clauses, modal verbs, parenthesis, colons and semi-colons, and spelling covers tricky endings, silent letters and a statutory word list. Writing is teacher-assessed, while the Key Stage 2 reading and grammar, punctuation and spelling tests are in May of Year 6.
Guides for parents
Years 5 and 6 English
Drafting: grammar, narrative and précis
How Year 5 and Year 6 children draft writing: choosing grammar and vocabulary for effect, describing settings and characters, using dialogue and writing a précis.
Years 5 and 6 English
Cohesion and organisational devices
How Year 5 and Year 6 children link ideas within and between paragraphs and use headings, bullet points and other devices to structure their writing for the reader.
Years 5 and 6 English
Editing for effect, tense, agreement and register
How Year 5 and Year 6 children evaluate and edit writing: improving word choice, keeping tense consistent, checking agreement and choosing formal or informal register.
Years 5 and 6 English
Proofreading and performing writing
How Year 5 and Year 6 children learn to proofread their own spelling and punctuation, then read their writing aloud with clear expression. Includes a worked example.
Years 5 and 6 English
Planning for audience and purpose
How Year 5 and Year 6 children plan their writing by thinking about audience and purpose, choosing a form, using model texts and developing ideas from reading.
Years 5 and 6 English
Handwriting and speed
How Year 5 and Year 6 children develop fluent, legible handwriting at speed, decide when to join or not join letters, and choose the right pen or pencil for each task.
Years 5 and 6 English
Themes, comparisons and poetry
How Years 5 and 6 children identify themes, compare characters and texts, learn poems by heart and perform poems and plays aloud, with a worked example and home ideas.
Years 5 and 6 English
Inference, prediction and summarising
What Years 5 and 6 children learn about inferring feelings and motives, predicting, asking questions and summarising across paragraphs, with an example and home ideas.
Years 5 and 6 English
Figurative language, fact and opinion
How Years 5 and 6 children analyse authors’ language, tell fact from opinion and find information in non-fiction, with a worked example, common mistakes and home ideas.
Years 5 and 6 English
Discussing and debating books
How Year 5 and Year 6 children discuss books, challenge views courteously, present and debate what they have read and justify their opinions, with a worked example.
Years 5 and 6 English
Reading widely and recommending books
How Years 5 and 6 children are encouraged to read many kinds of book and to recommend them to others with reasons, plus a worked example and easy ideas for home.
Years 5 and 6 English
Dictionaries and thesaurus
How Year 5 and Year 6 children use a dictionary to check spelling and meaning, find words from their first letters, and use a thesaurus to choose better words.
Years 5 and 6 English
Spelling list: queue to yacht
The Year 5 and 6 spelling words from queue to yacht: why each one is tricky, common mistakes and easy ways to practise them at home without worksheets.
Years 5 and 6 English
Endings -ant, -ance, -ent, -ence
How Years 5 and 6 children choose between -ant and -ent, -ance and -ence, -ancy and -ency, with clues, a worked example, common mistakes and ideas for home.
Years 5 and 6 English
Endings -able, -ible, -ably, -ibly
How Years 5 and 6 children decide between -able and -ible, and between -ably and -ibly, with clues, exceptions, a worked example and simple ideas for home.
Years 5 and 6 English
-fer words and hyphens
Why referred has two rs but reference has one, how Years 5 and 6 children use the stress rule for -fer words, and when a hyphen helps, with a worked example.
Years 5 and 6 English
ei after c and ough words
How children in Years 5 and 6 learn to spell receive and ceiling (ei after c) and the tricky ough words such as tough, though, through and thorough, with tips for home.
Years 5 and 6 English
Silent letters and confused words
How Years 5 and 6 children learn silent letters (doubt, island, lamb) and often-confused words such as advice and advise, affect and effect, and who’s and whose.
Years 5 and 6 English
Spelling words: accommodate to convenience
The first quarter of the Years 5 and 6 statutory spelling list, from accommodate to convenience: committee, conscience, cemetery and more, with tips for home.
Years 5 and 6 English
Spelling words: correspond to hindrance
The second quarter of the Years 5 and 6 statutory spelling list, from correspond to hindrance: government, environment, embarrass, definite and more, with ideas for home.
Years 5 and 6 English
Spelling list: identity to pronunciation
The Year 5 and 6 spelling words from identity to pronunciation: the tricky parts explained, common mistakes and simple ways to learn them at home.
Years 5 and 6 English
Endings -cious, -tious, -cial and -tial
How children in Years 5 and 6 learn to spell words ending -cious, -tious, -cial and -tial, with root-word clues, exceptions, a worked example and ideas for home.
Years 5 and 6 English
Prefixes, suffixes and silent letters
How Year 5 and Year 6 children learn spelling: further prefixes and suffixes, silent letters, words that are often confused, and the curriculum word list.
Years 5 and 6 English
Arguing, hypothesising and evaluating
How Year 5 and Year 6 children learn to build a spoken argument, explain, hypothesise and weigh different viewpoints fairly, with a worked example and home ideas.
Years 5 and 6 English
Public speaking, performance and register
How Years 5 and 6 build confident public speaking: Standard English, presentations, debate, performance, holding an audience and choosing formal or informal speech.
Years 5 and 6 English
Active listening and discussion
How Year 5 and Year 6 children learn to listen for meaning, ask probing questions, use abstract vocabulary and lead group discussions, with an example and home ideas.
Years 5 and 6 English
Noun phrases, modal verbs, relative clauses
How Year 5 and Year 6 children pack detail into expanded noun phrases and relative clauses and show how certain they are with modal verbs, plus grammar terms to know.
Years 5 and 6 English
Semicolons, colons, hyphens and brackets
What Year 5 and Year 6 children learn about commas for clarity, hyphens, brackets, dashes, semicolons, colons and bullet points, with a worked example and home ideas.
Years 5 and 6 English
Formal language, passive and perfect forms
How Year 5 and Year 6 children learn formal vocabulary, the subjunctive, passive verbs and the perfect form, with a worked example, common mistakes and home ideas.
Years 5 and 6 English
Roots, prefixes and suffixes in reading
How Years 5 and 6 children use root words, prefixes, suffixes and word origins to read and understand unfamiliar words, with a worked example and ideas for home.
Everything in the Years 5 and 6 English curriculum
The National Curriculum topics for Years 5 and 6, in the order the National Curriculum lists them.
Spoken language
Reading – word reading
Reading – comprehension
Writing – transcription (spelling)
Writing – handwriting and presentation
Writing – composition
Writing – vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation – English Appendix 2
- Making verbs with suffixes and prefixes (Year 5)
- Relative clauses and degrees of possibility (Year 5)
- Cohesion within and across paragraphs (Year 5)
- Parenthesis and commas for clarity (Year 5)
- Formal and informal vocabulary and structures; synonyms and antonyms (Year 6)
- Active and passive voice (Year 6)
- Cohesive devices and layout (Year 6)
- Semi-colons, colons, dashes, bullet points and hyphens (Year 6)
Spelling – English Appendix 1
- Endings –cious, –tious, –cial and –tial
- Endings –ant, –ance, –ancy, –ent, –ence, –ency
- Endings –able, –ible, –ably and –ibly
- Adding suffixes to –fer words; using hyphens
- ei after c and the letter-string ough
- Silent letters, homophones and often-confused words
- Statutory word list years 5 and 6: accommodate to convenience
- Statutory word list years 5 and 6: correspond to hindrance
- Statutory word list years 5 and 6: identity to pronunciation
- Statutory word list years 5 and 6: queue to yacht