Spelling
amateur
embarrass
privilege
ancient
exaggerate
profession
apparent
existence
queue
appreciate
foreign
recognise
attached
government
recommend
available
guarantee
average
harass
awkward
hindrance
conscience*
identity
conscious*
interfere
controversy
interrupt
convenience
leisure
correspond
marvellous
curiosity
mischievous
definite
nuisance
desperate
prejudice
rhyme
rhythm
sacrifice
secretary
sufficient
suggest
thorough
vehicle
yacht
Literacy Curriculum
Leaflet
Year 6
Year 1
Reading
By the end of Year 6 children should be able to:
 Apply knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes to read and understand the
meaning of new words
 Identify and investigate synonyms and antonyms
 Read and discuss a wide range of fiction (including myths, legends and traditional
stories, modern fiction, fiction from our literary heritage, and books from other
cultures and traditions), poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books
 Recommend books to their peers, giving reasons for their choices
 Identify technical examples (e.g. metaphor, simile, analogy, imagery, style, effect)
 Identify and discuss themes in a wide range of writing (e.g. loss, heroism,
gratefulness, victimisation)
 Identify and discuss conventions in a wide range of writing (e.g. first and third person)
 Make comparisons within and across books (e.g. characters, viewpoints on events,
moods, settings, themes)
 Prepare poems and plays to read aloud and to perform, using intonation, tone and
volume so that the meaning is clear to an audience
 Check that the book makes sense, discussing their understanding
 Draw inferences and justify them with evidence (e.g. inferring characters’ feelings,
thoughts and motives from their actions)
 Predict what might happen from details stated and implied
 Summarise the main ideas from more than one paragraph, identifying key details to
support this
 Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning
 Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language,
considering the impact on the reader
 Distinguish between fact and opinion
 Retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction
Help at home by:
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Checking that your child reads every night to themselves or to you
Talking to your child about what they have read— ask them about the plot, characters,
key facts, predictions, themes and authors word choices
Encouraging them change their book regularly
Taking your child to Bretton library so they can borrow books. Try reading non-fiction
books, plays, comics, magazines, reference books and poetry together too
Encouraging children to try out new authors to develop favourite authors or series of
books and read lots of them e.g. Anthony Horowitz, David Almond, Phillip Pullman, J.K.
Rowling, Malorie Blackman
Reading for real reasons e.g. recipes, instructions for playing games, newspapers,
websites, emails, TV guide
Writing
By the end of Year 6 children should be able to:
 Write for a specific audience and purpose using similar writing as a model for planning
their own
 Create and develop plans for writing, noting and developing initial ideas, drawing on
reading and research
 Use the styles of familiar authors to develop character and setting
 Select appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can
change and enhance meaning
 Structure their text for an audience (e.g. headings, subheadings, bullet points, columns,
tables)
 Use cohesive devices to link ideas within paragraphs (e.g. repeated words, adverbials,
ellipsis)
 Proof read their work for consistent and correct use of tenses, correct subject and verb
agreement when using singular and plural, spelling and punctuation errors
 Know how formal and informal speech and vocabulary differs
 Present information in the passive form, not the active form (e.g. The window was
broken, not I broke the window) and use passive verbs to change how information
sounds
 Use the perfect form of verbs to show time and cause
 Use expanded noun phrases to make complicated information easier to understand
 Use modal verbs or adverbs to show possibilities
 Use relative pronouns for relative clauses
 Avoid ambiguity by using commas to separate clauses and phrases in sentences and
hyphens (e.g. man-eating shark not man eating shark)
 Use brackets, commas or dashes for parenthesis, semi-colons, colons and dashes
correctly to separate clauses, a colon to introduce a list and semi-colons within to
punctuate each bullet point accurately
 Find and spell synonyms and antonyms of known vocabulary
 Use hyphens to join prefixes to root-words where vowels sit
 To use dictionaries to check the spelling and meaning of words
 Use a thesaurus
 To write legibly, fluently and with speed
Help at home by:
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Reading and telling lots of stories in English or in your home language
Supporting children with home learning and revision activities
Encouraging children to write for a range of purposes e.g. notes and messages, emails,
letters, diaries, menus, stories, instructions
Practising spelling
Encouraging neat, legible handwriting whenever children are writing