English in Year Five and Year Six

Spoken Language (in all years)

Pupils should be taught to:

• listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers
• ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge
• use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary
• articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions
• give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings
• maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations, staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments
• use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas
• speak audibly and fluently with an increasing command of Standard English
• participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates 
• gain, maintain and monitor the interest of the listener(s)
• consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others
• select and use appropriate registers for effective communication. 

Writing - Transcription

For spelling, please visit the 'Supporting Learning' area in the main site (link below).

Handwriting and presentation 

Pupils should be taught to:  

• write legibly, fluently and with increasing speed by: 
  • choosing which shape of a letter to use when given choices and deciding whether or not to join specific letters
  • choosing the writing implement that is best suited for a task.

Writing Composition

Pupils should be taught to: 

• plan their writing by: 
  • identifying the audience for and purpose of the writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for their own 
  • noting and developing initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary 
  • in writing narratives, considering how authors have developed characters and settings in what pupils have read, listened to or seen performed 
• draft and write by:  
  • selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning 
  • in narratives, describing settings, characters and atmosphere and integrating dialogue to convey character and advance the action 
  • précising longer passages 
  • using a wide range of devices to build cohesion within and across paragraphs 
  • using further organisational and presentational devices to structure text and to guide the reader [for example, headings, bullet points, underlining] 
• evaluate and edit by: 
  • assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing
  • proposing changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning 
  • ensuring the consistent and correct use of tense throughout a piece of writing 
  • ensuring correct subject and verb agreement when using singular and plural, distinguishing between the language of speech and writing and choosing the appropriate register
• proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors
• perform their own compositions, using appropriate intonation, volume, and movement so that meaning is clear.

Writing - vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

Pupils should be taught to: 

• develop their understanding of the concepts set out in English Appendix 2 by: 
  • recognising vocabulary and structures that are appropriate for formal speech and writing, including subjunctive forms 
  • using passive verbs to affect the presentation of information in a sentence 
  • using the perfect form of verbs to mark relationships of time and cause 
  • using expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely 
  • using modal verbs or adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility 
  • using relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that or with an implied (i.e. omitted) relative pronoun 
  • learning the grammar for years 5 and 6 in English Appendix 2 
• indicate grammatical and other features by: 
  • using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing 
  • using hyphens to avoid ambiguity 
  • using brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis 
  • using semi-colons, colons or dashes to mark boundaries between independent clauses 
  • using a colon to introduce a list 
  • punctuating bullet points consistently 
• use and understand the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 accurately and appropriately in discussing their writing and reading.