Grammar - Support for schools and settings

Progression in foundational knowledge for grammar and punctuation Y1-Y6

Purpose

The aim of this chart (Progression in foundational knowledge pdf document) is to clarify the core foundational knowledge in grammar and punctuation required by pupils year on year in order to meet the age-related expectations of the National Curriculum objectives. Some, but not all, the statements are directly from the objectives.

How to use it

The chart could be used in the following ways:

To clarify for teachers the foundational knowledge and terminology that they need to teach for their year group during sequences of teaching (BookWrites);
To support teachers with ‘tracking back’ and revising/consolidating learning from previous years before adding new knowledge for their year group;
To support English Subject Leaders with planning the progression of this foundational knowledge throughout terms, years and across the whole of Y1-Y6 so that it is clear where it is introduced, consolidated, revisited and secured;
To support English Subject Leaders with monitoring children’s incremental knowledge of this foundational grammar, the impact of it in their writing as well as their ability to articulate this using correct terminology.

Further support

The Progress Charts below give further detail and subject knowledge to support teachers and Subject Leaders.

Progress charts

These charts detail the progression in the strands of grammar included in the national curriculum: sentences, nouns and noun phrases, verbs, adverbials, cohesion and punctuation.

Each chart contains the content to be covered plus identification of the tricky bits for both teachers and pupils and a ‘going beyond’ section to deepen understanding.

Different ways to construct sentences

This progress chart covers single clause (simple) and multi-clause (compound and complex) sentences as well as sentence types (statements, questions, exclamations and commands).

Nouns and noun phrases

Progression through nouns and noun phrases is shown in this document. This includes pre and post noun modification.

Adverbials

This document contains the progression in adverbs and adverbials from year 1 to year 6. Adverbs for cohesion is in a separate download.

Verbs

This chart covers progression in verbs: simple, progressive, perfect, passive and subjunctive.

Cohesion

This progress chart details the elements of the National Curriculum that constitute cohesion and progression in them from year 1 to year 6.

No Nonsense Grammar

Written by our Primary English Team and published by Raintree, this publication takes you through the grammar you need to teach to primary-aged children from year 1 to year 6 following the national curriculum. The resource contains progression charts, subject knowledge, activities to teach the grammar elements, resources needed and some books as PDFs. Also included is The Sentence Toolkit, a resource to support making grammar accessible to all. The publication is divided into three books, KS1, lower KS2 and upper KS2 with a USB stick of the whole publication for schools to upload to their server.

Visit the Raintree Publishing website to purchase this resource.