Spelling, punctuation and grammar for primary pupils: a parent's guide

What the KS2 SPaG test covers

From the Standards and Testing Agency test framework. Paper 1 marks are spread across these content areas.

The test is taken by pupils in England. British-curriculum schools in the Gulf are not required to sit it, but many teach to the same programmes of study and use past papers for practice.

The grammar terms children need by Year 6

Word classes: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, determiner and conjunction. Many errors come from the same word changing class: 'after' is a preposition in 'after lunch' and a subordinating conjunction in 'after we ate lunch'. Children should decide by asking what the word is doing in this sentence.

Clauses and sentences: a main clause makes sense on its own; a subordinate clause does not ('because it was raining'). A relative clause adds information about a noun and starts with who, which, that, whose, where or when ('The boy who won the race smiled'). Fronted adverbials come at the start of a sentence and are followed by a comma ('Later that evening, ...').

Verbs: past and present tense, progressive forms (was running), perfect forms (has eaten, had eaten), modal verbs (might, should, must), active and passive voice ('The cat chased the mouse' and 'The mouse was chased by the cat'), and the subjunctive in formal writing ('If I were you...').

A home routine for spelling that works

1. Learn the pattern, not just the word: group words by rule (for example -tion, -sion, -cian endings, or doubling the consonant before -ing).
2. Look, say, cover, write, check: five words at a time, a few minutes a day.
3. Use the word in a sentence the child invents, so it is remembered in context.
4. Revisit mistakes after two days and again after a week; spaced practice beats one long session.
5. Keep a personal list of tricky words (often homophones such as their, there, they're) and test only those.

Worked examples: test-style questions explained

Question: 'Insert a comma in the correct place: After the football match the children walked home.' Answer: 'After the football match, the children walked home.' Why: 'After the football match' is a fronted adverbial, and a comma follows it.

Question: 'Rewrite the sentence in the passive: The class planted three trees.' Answer: 'Three trees were planted by the class.' Why: the object (three trees) becomes the subject, and the verb becomes 'were planted'.

Question: 'Underline the relative clause: My aunt, who lives in Muscat, is visiting next week.' Answer: 'who lives in Muscat'. Why: it starts with 'who' and adds information about the noun 'aunt'.

Question: 'Explain why an apostrophe is used in: the girls' coats.' Answer: 'To show possession: the coats belong to more than one girl, so the apostrophe goes after the s.'

Spelling: 'The decision was difficult.' Rule: words ending in the 'zhun' sound after a vowel, linked to verbs ending in -de (decide), are usually spelt -sion.

Common mistakes

• Comma splices: joining two main clauses with a comma ('It was late, we went home').
• Apostrophes for plurals ('apple's for sale') or missing in contractions.
• Confusing its and it's, their, there and they're, to, too and two.
• Mixing tenses within a paragraph.
• Learning spelling lists for the test and forgetting them a week later, because the rule was never understood.
• Not reading the question: 'tick one' versus 'tick two', 'circle' versus 'underline'.

How one-to-one lessons help with SPaG

Grammar is easier to learn by doing than by memorising definitions. In a 60-minute online lesson, a tutor uses the shared whiteboard for short, active tasks: sorting words into classes, dragging commas into sentences, rewriting a sentence in the passive. For younger children the lesson is broken into short activities with frequent changes of pace, so attention holds.

The tutor diagnoses first, using a short check across the content areas, then focuses lessons on the gaps. Spelling is taught by rule and pattern, with a small personal list reviewed each week. For bilingual children, the tutor watches for patterns that come from Arabic, such as article use or word order, and teaches the English rule directly.

Self-check for Year 5 and 6 pupils

• Can I name the word class of any word in a sentence by what it is doing?
• Can I spot a main clause, a subordinate clause and a relative clause?
• Do I put a comma after a fronted adverbial?
• Can I change a sentence from active to passive?
• Can I use apostrophes for possession and contraction correctly?
• Do I know the spelling rule behind my tricky words?