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Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Intent 

Our core aims for SPAG curriculum are to ensure that all children: 

  • Have a secure understanding of the spelling, punctuation and grammar rules which underpin our written and spoken language 

  • Are able to apply these rules in a variety of situations and lessons 

  • Are able to communicate their ideas, needs and feelings in a clear and accurate way  

  • Feel confident in their use of written and spoken language  

This links with our vision that every pupil can be the best version of themselves regardless of background. Poor grammar is often attributed to lower income families. By teaching our pupils correct spoken and written grammar, we can prevent them being judged by the way the speak.  

Implementation 

We believe that the following are key ingredients in developing effective SPAG learning at Sayes Court: explicit teaching of spelling rules, building on the phonics skills developed in EYFS and Year 1; opportunities for pupils to apply spelling rules and explore exceptions; opportunities for pupils to correct spellings with previously taught rules in writing sessions; regular assessment; explicit teaching of grammar rules; opportunities for pupils to explore and apply grammar rules; writing objectives which have a clear grammar focus; correct, technical vocabulary is used at every stage.  

What this looks like in practice: 

  • Years 2 – 6 have at least 3 explicit spelling lessons per week, with a clear focus on rules. 

  • Pupils use a look, cover, write check approach to practise their spelling, alongside varied opportunities to apply and explore exceptions to rules.  

  • Pupils take spelling home to learn and are tested on spellings weekly.  

  • Spelling groups are differentiated where needed. If pupils have not passed the phonics screening test, they may still have spelling lessons with a phonics focus and therefore different spellings to learn.    

  • Pupils have free access to dictionaries to support their spellings, including dual language and dyslexia friendly dictionaries where appropriate. 

  • Grammar is taught through explicit timetabled lessons across KS2, and then applied in writing lessons. 

  • Grammar skills are taught in conjunction with writing to ensure that pupils are able to apply these skills and can see how they work in writing, not just in isolation.  

  • Teachers and pupils use the correct, technical vocabulary in both grammar and spelling lessons. 

Schemes, programmes and resources used to support SPAG: 

  • Spellings follow the Spelling Shed scheme.

  • Classroom Secrets 

  • Bug Club spelling and grammar 

Impact 

The impact of our SPAG curriculum is: 

  • Pupils attain well in KS2 SPAG assessments, with results at least in line with national 

  • A significant proportion of pupils achieve GD in KS2 SPAG assessments 

  • Pupils attain well in SPAG in other year groups and make good progress 

  • The skills learned in SPAG sessions support pupils to attain well in writing 

SMSC in SPAG 

Many spelling and grammar sessions have elements of group work and collaborative learning, promoting good social skills.   

Progression of Skills and Knowledge

 

 

Year 1 

Year 2 

Year 3 

Year 4 

Year 5 

Year 6 

Week 1 

Capital letters at the start of sentences 

Add capital letters and full stops 

Correct capital letters 

 

CL and FS 

 

CL and FS 

 

CL and FS including run on sentences 

 

Week 2 

CL at beginning and FS at end of sentence(not including names or I) 

 

Identify whether each sentence is the is the past or present 

A or an 

 

Was or were 

 

Underline the relative pronoun (who, which, where, when, whose, that) 

 

Question, statement, command, exclamation 

 

Week 3 

Capital letters for names 

 

Identify the nouns 

Add in correct conjunction (when, before, after, while, so, because) 

 

Did or done 

 

Add in the missing commas to show parenthesis 

 

Standard English (them/ those, good/ well, did/ done, was/ were) 

 

Week 4 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Week 5 

Combine words to make sentences 

Choose . ? ! to end sentences 

 

Forming the past tense 

 

Saw or seen 

 

Underline the relative clause in each sentence 

 

Identify the subject and the object in sentences 

 

Week 6 

Capital letters for days of the week 

 

Identify the adjectives 

 

Change simple past to present perfect 

 

Add in commas after fronted adverbials 

 

Add in the missing brackets to show parenthesis 

 

Write a synonym and an antonym for each word 

 

Week 7 

Joining words with and 

 

Circle two words that need a capital letter 

 

Add in correct preposition (before, after, during, in, at on) 

 

Identify the expanded noun phrase 

 

Add in commas to change meaning 

 

Circle two words that are synonyms of each other 

 

Week 8 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Week 9 

Question marks for questions 

 

Identify Statement, question, exclamation, command 

 

Add in inverted commas 

 

Add in expanded noun phrase 

 

Add in the missing dashes to show parenthesis 

Change sentence from active to passive 

 

Week 10 

Identify nouns 

 

Change from simple present to simple past 

Identify the conjunctions 

 

Add in comma to speech punctuation 

 

Circle the modal verb in each sentence 

 

Add a semi-colon in to this sentence 

 

Week 11 

Adding s for plurals 

 

Add the correct word in co-ordination (and, or, but) 

Simple past or present perfect? 

 

Add in fronted adverbials 

 

 

Choose which suffix (ate, ise, ify) 

 

Add a colon in to this sentence 

 

Week 12 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Week 13 

Adding suffixes where no change is needed (ing) 

 

Change to past progressive 

 

Underline the coordinating conjunctions in each sentence 

 

Replace underlined word with pronoun 

 

Speech punctuation 

 

Change sentence from passive to active 

Week 14 

Capital letters for months of the year 

 

Add the correct word in  (when, if, that, because) 

 

Underline the subordinating conjunctions in each sentence 

 

Move adverbial to start of sentence 

 

Adjective or adverb? The spring garden looks lovely. The clothes are folded neatly. 

 

Add a dash into this sentence 

 

Week 15 

Adding es for plurals 

 

Identify the verbs 

 

Underline the prepositions in each sentence. 

 

Add in speech punctuation 

 

Complete the sentence with a relative clause. 

 

Is this sentence active or passive? 

 

Week 16 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Week 17 

Adding suffixes where no change is needed ( ed) 

Change to present progressive 

 

Underline the adverbs (including then, next, soon) 

 

identify determiners 

 

Word class of the underlined word (covering all) 

Add colons and semi-colons in to list 

 

Week 18 

Exclamation marks and question marks 

 

Identify Statement, question, exclamation, command 

 

Word class of underline word (noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction) 

 

Complete each sentence with a possessive pronoun 

 

Choose the correct prefix for these words (dis, de, mis) 

 

Formal or informal? 

 

Week 19 

Combine words to make question 

 

Identify the adverbs 

 

Underline the subordinate clause 

 

apostrophes for singular possession 

 

Identify verb form (past/ present/ perfect/ progressive) 

 

Add in hyphens 

 

Week 20 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Week 21 

Adding suffixes where no change is needed (er) 

What word class is the underlined word? (adjectives, nouns, verbs, adverb) 

 

Underline the main clause 

 

apostrophes for plural possession 

 

Change verbs to past perfect progressive 

 

Changing tenses 

 

Week 22 

Adding s or es for plurals 

 

Add a suffix to the underlined word to change it to an adverb 

 

Is the main or the subordinate clause underlined? 

 

past perfect or present perfect 

 

Change verbs to present perfect progressive 

 

Identify whether underlined word is used as a verb or a noun 

 

Week 23 

Capital letters for I and names 

 

Rearrange words to make a question 

 

Apostrophes for singular possession 

 

word class of underlined words (noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction, determiner, pronoun) 

 

Underline word classes (covering all) 

Identify whether underlined word is used as an adjective or adverb 

 

Week 24 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Week 25 

CL and FS  (including names) 

 

Apostrophes for possession. 

Apostrophes for contraction 

 

apostrophes for singular or plural possession 

 

Underline the subordinate clause in each sentence (including relative clauses) 

 

Write sentence using words as a noun and as a verb 

 

Week 26 

Add un to change meaning of verbs 

 

Commas in a list 

 

Add in inverted commas 

 

Correct speech punctuation mistakes 

 

Apostrophes for plural possession 

 

Word class of underlined words (all covered) 

 

Week 27 

Separate words with spaces 

 

Tick to show whether each noun is singular or plural 

 

Change simple past to past perfect 

 

 

 

 

plural or possessive s. Add in apostrophes 

 

Speech punctuation 

Identify verb form (all covered) 

 

Week 28 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Week 29 

CL and FS (including days and months) 

 

Apostrophes for contraction 

 

Word families 

 

Change verbs to past perfect and present perfect 

 

Decide whether the main or subordinate clause is underlined (including relative clauses) 

 

Main or subordinate clause underlined 

 

Week 30 

Joining clauses using and 

 

Add ness or ment to form nouns (kind, enjoy, tired) 

 

Word class of underline word (noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction) 

 

Word class of underline word (noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction, determiner, pronoun) 

 

Apostrophes for singular and plural possession 

 

Contractions and expanded form 

 

Week 31 

Add un to change meaning of words 

 

Underline the expanded noun phrase 

 

Prefixes –dis, -mis, -in 

 

add in missing speech punctuation 

 

Identify verb form (inc. perfect progressive forms) 

 

Circle the different word classes 

 

Week 32 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Week 33 

Capital letters (including names, I, days and months) 

 

Add ful and less to form adjectives 

 

Using –ly to change an adjective to an adverb 

 

verb inflections (mix) 

 

All missing apostrophes 

 

 

 

Insert missing punctuation into sentence 

 

Week 34 

FS ? or ! 

Insert apostrophes (contraction and possession) 

 

Prefixes –in, -il, -im, -ir 

 

Using a and an 

 

Standard English (verb inflections) 

 

Word families 

 

Week 35 

Adding suffixes where no change is needed (ing, ed, er) 

 

Circle one word to show that the sentence is in the past tense 

 

Simple past or past perfect 

 

 

 

apostrophes for singular or plural possession 

 

Add in missing punctuation (all covered) 

 

Phrases or clauses? 

 

Week 36 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 

Mixture of previous 3 weeks 
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