Is my child's writing at the expected standard?

Working towards the expected standard

The pupil can:

• write for a range of purposes
• use paragraphs to organise ideas
• in narratives, describe settings and characters
• in non-narrative writing, use simple devices to structure the writing and support the reader (e.g. headings, sub-headings, bullet points)
• use capital letters, full stops, question marks, commas for lists and apostrophes for contraction mostly correctly
• spell correctly most words from the year 3 / year 4 spelling list, and some words from the year 5 / year 6 spelling list
• write legibly.

Working at the expected standard

The pupil can:

• write effectively for a range of purposes and audiences, selecting language that shows good awareness of the reader (e.g. the use of the first person in a diary; direct address in instructions and persuasive writing)
• in narratives, describe settings, characters and atmosphere
• integrate dialogue in narratives to convey character and advance the action
• select vocabulary and grammatical structures that reflect what the writing requires, doing this mostly appropriately (e.g. using contracted forms in dialogues in narrative; using passive verbs to affect how information is presented; using modal verbs to suggest degrees of possibility)
• use a range of devices to build cohesion (e.g. conjunctions, adverbials of time and place, pronouns, synonyms) within and across paragraphs
• use verb tenses consistently and correctly throughout their writing
• use the range of punctuation taught at key stage 2 mostly correctly (e.g. inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech)
• spell correctly most words from the year 5 / year 6 spelling list, and use a dictionary to check the spelling of uncommon or more ambitious vocabulary
• maintain legibility in joined handwriting when writing at speed.

Working at greater depth

The pupil can:

• write effectively for a range of purposes and audiences, selecting the appropriate form and drawing independently on what they have read as models for their own writing (e.g. literary language, characterisation, structure)
• distinguish between the language of speech and writing and choose the appropriate register
• exercise an assured and conscious control over levels of formality, particularly through manipulating grammar and vocabulary to achieve this
• use the range of punctuation taught at key stage 2 correctly (e.g. semi-colons, dashes, colons, hyphens) and, when necessary, use such punctuation precisely to enhance meaning and avoid ambiguity.

STA, teacher assessment frameworks at the end of key stage 2 · from litsee.com/guides/writing-expected-standard

Working at the expected standard (after discussion with the teacher)

The pupil can:

• write simple, coherent narratives about personal experiences and those of others (real or fictional)
• write about real events, recording these simply and clearly
• demarcate most sentences in their writing with capital letters and full stops, and use question marks correctly when required
• use present and past tense mostly correctly and consistently
• use co-ordination (such as or/and/but) and some subordination (such as when/if/that/because) to join clauses
• segment spoken words into phonemes and represent these by graphemes, spelling many of these words correctly and making phonically plausible attempts at others
• spell many common exception words
• form capital letters and digits of the correct size, orientation and relationship to one another and to lower-case letters
• use spacing between words that reflects the size of the letters

STA, non-statutory teacher assessment frameworks at the end of key stage 1