RECEPTION NON-NEGOTIABLES
Talk in full sentences to
explain or describe
things
Listen when others are
talking, take turns and
repeat if asked to
Hold a pencil correctly
Correct formation of lower
case letters, upper case
letters and numbers
Match upper and lower
case letters
Orally
segment
words
Write Phase
phonetically Write Phase 2 and Phase
plausible
2 words
3 tricky
words
correctly
words
correctly
Write
Recite the alphabet
Know the name and
sound of each letter
Write full name with
capital letters in correct
place
Leave
spaces
between
words
Write labels
and
captions
that can be
read by
adults
YEAR 1 NON NEGOTIABLES
Correct formation of lower case letters,
upper case letters and numbers
Write full name with capital
letters in correct place
Match lower and upper case letters.
Write simple
Compose a
sentences with Use capital letter Leave spaces
Present work
sentence orally
capital letter at
for ‘I’ and the
between words
neatly & write
before writing it
the start and full names of people
on the lines
stop at the end
Write
Spell
Phase 4
suffixes
Recite the
Write
and
correctly
alphabet
Orally
Write
Phase 3 Phase 5
: ing,
Correctly
Use s
segment phonetically
and
tricky
ed, er,
Know which
spell
or es to
words
plausible
Phase 4
words
est
letters are
days of
show
words
words
correctly
vowels and the week
plurals
correctly
and
Spell
which are
common
prefixes
consonants
exception
correctly
words
: un
Hold a pencil
correctly
YEAR 2 NON NEGOTIABLES
Correctly use verbs in 1st
and 3rd person
Write in consistent
person
Understand
commands,
questions,
statements and
explanations
Spell Phase 5
words
correctly,
selecting
correct
grapheme
Use verbs correctly in
present, past and
future tenses,
E.g. I am walking/I
walked/I will walk
Use capital letters
for ‘I’ and the
names of people,
places, days and
months.
Spell
common
exception
words
correctly
Spell
months
and
numbers
correctly
Write with grammatical
agreement (matching
verbs to nouns/personal
pronouns)
E.g. I was, we were
I am/she is/the children
are
I go/she goes
Use full stops,
exclamation
marks and
question marks
Use commas in a
list
Correctly use
Use
homophone apostrophe
s and nearfor
homophone contractions
s, e.g.
and singular
our/are
possession
Present work neatly
Write compound
sentences, using
coordinating
conjunctions.
Spell
suffixes:
ment, –
ness, ful ,
less, ly and
y
Apply rules
when using
suffixes: ing,
ed, er, est
YEAR 3 NON NEGOTIABLES
Use correct
Write
with
Use verbs correctly
comparative/
Correctly use
grammatical
in
present,
past
verbs in 1st,and and future tenses,
agreement
I can use
3rd person
(matching verbs
including irregular
superlative forms
to nouns/personal
E.g. I am catching/I
for irregular
caught/I will catch
Write in
pronouns)
adverbs/adjectives.
E.g. I was, we were
consistent
I.e.
when er and est cannot
Write in consistent I am/she is/the children be used:
person
far, badly/bad/ill,
are
tense
much/many,
good/well,
I go/she goes
Correct use of
the articles: a
and an
Present work
neatly
little…
Vary sentence
structure using
Use paragraphs
Use full stops,
Use capital
coordinating
to signal
exclamation
Use commas
letters for ‘I’
and
Use inverted
change of
marks and
in lists
and proper
subordinating
commas
topic, time,
question
nouns
conjunctions,
place or new
marks
adverbs and
speaker
prepositions.
Apply rules
Spell Phase 5
when using
Use
words
Correctly use
Correctly
suffixes: ing,
apostrophes for
correctly,
homophones
Correctly spell
spell
ed, er, est, y
contractions
selecting the
and nearletter strings:
irregular
and
correct
homophones, sure, ture, ous
plurals
Spell prefixes
singular/plural
grapheme
e.g. our/are
correctly:
possession
un, dis, mis, re
Proof – read
for SPaG
errors
Correctly spell
the words
from the Y3
list
YEAR 4 NON NEGOTIABLES
Correctly use
verbs in 1st, 2nd
and 3rd person
Write in
consistent person
Write with
Use verbs correctly
grammatical
in present, past
agreement
and future tenses,
(matching verbs to
including irregular
nouns/personal
E.g. I am catching/I
pronouns)
caught/I will catch
Write in consistent
tense
E.g. I was, we were
I am/she is/the children
are
I go/she goes
I did/I have done
Correct use of
auxiliary verbs:
be/have/do,
e.g. should have
(not should of)
he doesn’t (not:
he don’t)
Correct use of
the articles: a
and an
Present work
neatly
Use commas in lists.
Use capital
letters for ‘I’ and
proper nouns
Apply rules
when using
suffixes: ing,
ed, er, est, y
Use full stops,
exclamation
marks and
question marks
Correctly use
homophones
and nearhomophones,
e.g. our/are
Use inverted
commas and
other speech
conventions
Use fronted
adverbials and
subordinating
clauses.
Use apostrophes
for contractions Correctly spell
and
letter strings:
singular/plural
tion, sion,
possession,
ssion, cian
including
irregular plurals
Use commas to
mark fronted
adverbials and
subordinating
clauses.
Use prefixes
correctly: in/il/im/ir
Spell correctly: sub,
inter, super, anti,
auto
YEAR 5 NON-NEGOTIABLES
Proof – read for
SPaG errors
Correctly
spell
irregular
plurals
Correctly
spell the
words from
the Y4 list
Use verbs
correctly in
present, past and
future tenses,
including irregular
Correctly use
verbs in 1st, 2nd
and 3rd person
Write in
consistent person
Use capital
letters for ‘I’
and proper
nouns
Apply rules
when using
suffixes: ing,
ed, er, est, y
E.g. I am catching/I
caught/I will catch
Write with
grammatical
agreement
(matching verbs to
nouns/personal
pronouns)
Write in
consistent tense
E.g. I was, we were
I am/she is/the children are
I go/she goes
I did/I have done
Use commas
Use full stops, Use inverted
to mark
exclamation
commas
fronted
marks and
and other
adverbials and
question
speech
subordinating
marks
conventions
clauses.
Correctly use
homophones
and nearhomophones,
e.g. our/are
Use
apostrophes for
contractions
and for
singular/plural
possession,
including
irregular plurals
Correct use of
the articles: a
and an
Use commas to
avoid ambiguity
E.g.
the teacher said the
boy is mad vs. the
teacher, said the boy,
is mad.
Spell
unstressed
vowels in
polysyllabic
words letters
Correct use of
auxiliary verbs:
be/have/do, e.g.
should have (not
should of)
he doesn’t (not:
he don’t)
Present work
neatly
Use brackets,
dashes or
commas to
indicate
parenthesis (using
Proof – read
for SPaG
errors
words such as
who, which, where,
when, whose, that, or
pronouns)
Spell words
ending in:
Spell words
containing
the letter
string: ough
Spell silent
letters in
words.
YEAR 6 NON NEGOTIABLES
ant/ance/ ancy,
ent/ ence/ency,
able & ible,
ably & ibly
Spell words
with the suffix:
ary, ic
Correctly spell
the words from
the Y5 list
Correctly
use verbs in
1st, 2nd and
3rd person
Write in
consistent
person
Use verbs correctly in
present, past and
future tenses, including
irregular
E.g. I am catching/I caught/I will
catch
Write in consistent
tense
Use capital letters for
‘I’ and proper nouns
Use full stops,
exclamation marks
and question marks
Write with grammatical
agreement (matching
verbs to nouns/personal
pronouns)
E.g. I was, we were
I am/she is/the children are
I go/she goes
I did/I have done
Correct
use of
the
articles:
a and an
Use commas to mark fronted
clauses
Use inverted
commas and Use brackets, dashes or commas to
other speech
indicate parenthesis (using words
conventions
such as
who, which, where, when, whose,
that, or pronouns)
Use
Spell unstressed
Correctly use apostrophes for
Apply rules when
vowels in
homophones
contractions
using suffixes:
polysyllabic
and other
and for
ing, ed, er, est,
words letters
commonly
singular/plural
y
confused
possession,
Spell silent
words
including
letters in words.
irregular plurals
Present
work
neatly
Correct use of auxiliary
verbs: be/have/do,
e.g. should have (not should of)
he doesn’t (not: he don’t)
Use semicolons to
mark
boundaries
between
independent
clauses
Revise
and recall
previous
KS2 letter
strings
NON-NEGOTIABLES – AN EXPLANATION
Use
hyphens
to avoid
ambiguity
Apply rules for
adding suffixes
starting with a
vowel to words
ending in –fer
Spell prefixes:
trans, tele,
circum
Proof –
read for
SPaG
errors
Correctly
spell the
words from
the Y6 list
These offer a summary of the key writing skills expected from pupils by the end of each year group– they
are based on the National Curriculum and pitched at the ‘average’ pupil for that age-group.
Teachers will also set individual/group targets which may be taken from previous/future year groups, so
that all children are challenged appropriately according to their level.