S – Spelling
P – Punctuation
a – and
G – Grammar
Grammar, punctuation and spelling are
key areas in the teaching of English.
No longer a written test.
Prior to 2011, children at the end of KS2 had to sit tests in
writing, reading and maths. The writing test analysed
children’s spelling and grammar abilities, creativity and
capacity to structure texts.
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Now writing is teacher assessed.
Children no longer sit a writing test. Instead teachers collect
writing that children complete over the course of the year
and decide on the final outcome from this.
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In 2012, the SPaG test was introduced.
‘...we want to make sure that when children leave primary
school they are confident in grammar, punctuation and
spelling. This test will ensure that primary schools place a
stronger focus of these skills than in previous years.
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The revised National Curriculum for English
(from September 2014) places an emphasis
on vocabulary development, grammar,
punctuation and spelling.
Expectations have been raised for each group
with many aspects being taught at least a
year earlier now than in the previous
curriculum.
Pupils are expected to recognise and use the
grammatical terminology appropriate to their
year group.
We invite you to try some examples of SPaG
activities that we are currently teaching your
children.
Relative clauses/relative pronouns
Subordinate clauses
Modal verbs
Adverbials
Determiners
Ellipsis
Layout devices (sub-headings, columns, bullet points)
Semi-colon, colon, dashes, hyphens
Synonyms and Antonyms
Informal and formal speech and writing
Passive / active voice
‘Progress measures in 2016 will work in a similar
way to current primary value-added measures or
Progress 8 in secondary schools. A school’s score
will be calculated by comparing their pupils’ KS2
results against those of all pupils nationally who
had similar starting points.
The department will confirm what score a school
would need to get to have made ‘sufficient
progress’ after the tests have been sat.
More detailed guidance on how the new measures
will be constructed is expected to be published
early in 2016.’
(DfE, 15th January 2016)
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SPaG taught in discrete and cross-curricular
lessons
LSAs are deployed for core subject lessons,
including SPaG lessons
Regular assessment of pupils
Targeted intervention groups tailored to
pupils’ individual needs
SPaG test practise during lesson time
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Educating yourselves on new curriculum via
attending workshops or visiting websites
Extra work at home
Letts, CGP, Scholastic, Rising Stars etc.
Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling
workbooks
Practise spellings with your child
Please refer to the school website...
www.thorpedene.southend.sch.uk/
...for additional information.