National Curriculum KS1 Y1: Word Reading

Statutory requirements

Pupils should be taught to:

• apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words
• respond speedily with the correct sound to graphemes (letters or groups of letters) for all 40+ phonemes, including, where applicable, alternative sounds for graphemes
• read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words containing GPCs that have been taught
• read common exception words, noting unusual correspondences between spelling and sound and where these occur in the word 
• read words containing taught GPCs and –s, –es, –ing, –ed, –er and –est endings
• read other words of more than one syllable that contain taught GPCs 
• read words with contractions [for example, I’m, I’ll, we’ll], and understand that the apostrophe represents the omitted letter(s) 
• read aloud accurately books that are consistent with their developing phonic knowledge and that do not require them to use other strategies to work out words 
• re-read these books to build up their fluency and confidence in word reading.

Notes and guidance (non-statutory)

Pupils should revise and consolidate the GPCs and the common exception words taught in Reception. As soon as they can read words comprising the year 1 GPCs accurately and speedily, they should move on to the year 2 programme of study for word reading.

The number, order and choice of exception words taught will vary according to the phonics programme being used. Ensuring that pupils are aware of the GPCs they contain, however unusual these are, supports spelling later.

Young readers encounter words that they have not seen before much more frequently than experienced readers do, and they may not know the meaning of some of these. Practice at reading such words by sounding and blending can provide opportunities not only for pupils to develop confidence in their decoding skills, but also for teachers to explain the meaning and thus develop pupils’ vocabulary.

Pupils should be taught how to read words with suffixes by being helped to build on the root words that they can read already. Pupils’ reading and re-reading of books that are closely matched to their developing phonic knowledge and knowledge of common exception words supports their fluency, as well as increasing their confidence in their reading skills. Fluent word reading greatly assists comprehension, especially when pupils come to read longer books.

National Curriculum KS1 Y1: Reading Comprehension

Statutory requirements

Pupils should be taught to:

• develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding by: 
  • listening to and discussing a wide range of poems, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently 
  • being encouraged to link what they read or hear read to their own experiences 
  • becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales, retelling them and considering their particular characteristics 
  • recognising and joining in with predictable phrases 
  • learning to appreciate rhymes and poems, and to recite some by heart 
  • discussing word meanings, linking new meanings to those already known 
• understand both the books they can already read accurately and fluently and those they listen to by: 
  • drawing on what they already know or on background information and vocabulary provided by the teacher 
  • checking that the text makes sense to them as they read and correcting inaccurate reading 
  • discussing the significance of the title and events 
  • making inferences on the basis of what is being said and done 
  • predicting what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far 
• participate in discussion about what is read to them, taking turns and listening to what others say 
• explain clearly their understanding of what is read to them.

Notes and guidance (non-statutory)

Pupils should have extensive experience of listening to, sharing and discussing a wide range of high-quality books with the teacher, other adults and each other to engender a love of reading at the same time as they are reading independently.

Pupils’ vocabulary should be developed when they listen to books read aloud and when they discuss what they have heard. Such vocabulary can also feed into their writing. Knowing the meaning of more words increases pupils’ chances of understanding when they read by themselves. The meaning of some new words should be introduced to pupils before they start to read on their own, so that these unknown words do not hold up their comprehension.

However, once pupils have already decoded words successfully, the meaning of those that are new to them can be discussed with them, so contributing to developing their early skills of inference. By listening frequently to stories, poems and non-fiction that they cannot yet read for themselves, pupils begin to understand how written language can be structured in order, for example, to build surprise in narratives or to present facts in non-fiction. Listening to and discussing information books and other non-fiction establishes the foundations for their learning in other subjects. Pupils should be shown some of the processes for finding out information.

Through listening, pupils also start to learn how language sounds and increase their vocabulary and awareness of grammatical structures. In due course, they will be able to draw on such grammar in their own writing.

Rules for effective discussions should be agreed with and demonstrated for pupils. They should help to develop and evaluate them, with the expectation that everyone takes part. Pupils should be helped to consider the opinions of others.

Role-play can help pupils to identify with and explore characters and to try out the language they have listened to.

National Curriculum KS1 Y1: Spelling

Statutory requirements

Pupils should be taught to:

• spell:
  • words containing each of the 40+ phonemes already taught
  • common exception words
  • the days of the week
• name the letters of the alphabet:
  • naming the letters of the alphabet in order
  • using letter names to distinguish between alternative spellings of the same sound
• add prefixes and suffixes:
  • using the spelling rule for adding –s or –es as the plural marker for nouns and the third person singular marker for verbs
  • using the prefix un–
  • using –ing, –ed, –er and –est where no change is needed in the spelling of root words [for example, helping, helped, helper, eating, quicker, quickest]
• apply simple spelling rules and guidance, as listed below
• write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that include words using the GPCs and common exception words taught so far.

The boundary between revision of work covered in Reception and the introduction of new work may vary according to the programme used, but basic revision should include

• all letters of the alphabet and the sounds which they most commonly represent
• consonant digraphs which have been taught and the sounds which they represent
• vowel digraphs which have been taught and the sounds which they represent
• the process of segmenting spoken words into sounds before choosing graphemes that represent the sounds
• words with adjacent consonants
• guidance and rules which have been taught

Statutory requirements	Rules and guidance (non-statutory)	Example words (non-statutory)
The sounds /f/, /l/, /s/, /z/ and /k/ spelt ff, ll, ss, zz and ck	The /f/, /l/, /s/, /z/ sounds are usually spelt as ff, ll, ss, zz and ck if they come straight after a single vowel letter in short words. Exceptions: if, pal, us, bus, yes.	off, well, miss, buzz, back
The /ŋ/ sound spelt n before k		bank, think, honk, sunk
Division of words into syllables	Each syllable is like a 'beat' in the spoken word. Words of more than one syllable often have an unstressed syllable in which the vowel sound is unclear.	pocket, rabbit, carrot, thunder, sunset
-tch	The /tʃ/ sound is usually spelt as tch if it comes straight after a single vowel letter. Exceptions: rich, which, much, such.	catch, fetch, kitchen, notch, hutch
The /v/ sound at the end of words	English words hardly ever end with the letter v, so if a word ends with a /v/ sound, the letter e usually needs to be added after the ‘v’.	have, live, give
Adding s and es to words (plural of nouns and the third person singular of verbs)	If the ending sounds like /s/ or /z/, it is spelt as –s. If the ending sounds like /ɪz/ and forms an extra syllable or ‘beat’ in the word, it is spelt as –es.	cats, dogs, spends, rocks, thanks, catches
Adding the endings –ing, –ed and –er to verbs where no change is needed to the root word	–ing and –er always add an extra syllable to the word and –ed sometimes does. The past tense of some verbs may sound as if it ends in /ɪd/ (extra syllable), /d/ or /t/ (no extra syllable), but all these endings are spelt –ed. If the verb ends in two consonant letters (the same or different), the ending is simply added on.	hunting, hunted, hunter, buzzing, buzzed, buzzer, jumping, jumped, jumper
Adding –er and –est to adjectives where no change is needed to the root word	As with verbs (see above), if the adjective ends in two consonant letters (the same or different), the ending is simply added on.	grander, grandest, fresher, freshest, quicker, quickest

Vowel digraphs and trigraphs

Some may already be known, depending on the programmes used in Reception, but some will be new.

Vowel digraphs and trigraphs	Rules and guidance (non-statutory)	Example words (non-statutory)
ai, oi	The digraphs ai and oi are virtually never used at the end of English words.	rain, wait, train, paid, afraid, oil, join, coin, point, soil
ay, oy	ay and oy are used for those sounds at the end of words and at the end of syllables.	day, play, say, way, stay boy, toy, enjoy, annoy
a–e		made, came, same, take, safe
e–e		these, theme, complete
i–e		five, ride, like, time, side
o–e		home, those, woke, hope, hole
u–e	Both the /u:/ and /ju:/ (‘oo’ and ‘yoo’) sounds can be spelt as u–e.	June, rule, rude, use, tube, tune
ar		car, start, park, arm, garden
ee		see, tree, green, meet, week
ea (/i:/)		sea, dream, meat, each, read (present tense)
ea (/ɛ/)		head, bread, meant, instead, read (past tense)
er (/ɜ:/)		(stressed sound): her, term, verb, person
er (/ə/)		(unstressed schwa sound): better, under, summer, winter, sister
ir		girl, bird, shirt, first, third
ur		turn, hurt, church, burst, Thursday
oo (/u:/)	Very few words end with the letters oo, although the few that do are often words that primary children in year 1 will encounter, for example, zoo	food, pool, moon, zoo, soon
oo (/ʊ/)		book, took, foot, wood, good
oa	The digraph oa is very rare at the end of an English word.	boat, coat, road, coach, goal
oe		toe, goes
ou	The only common English word ending in ou is you.	out, about, mouth, around, sound
ow (/aʊ/) ow (/əʊ/) ue ew	Both the /u:/ and /ju:/ (‘oo’ and ‘yoo’) sounds can be spelt as u–e, ue and ew. If words end in the /oo/ sound, ue and ew are more common spellings than oo.	now, how, brown, down, town own, blow, snow, grow, show, blue, clue, true, rescue, Tuesday, new, few, grew, flew, drew, threw
ie (/aɪ/)		lie, tie, pie, cried, tried, dried
ie (/i:/)		chief, field, thief
igh		high, night, light, bright, right
or		for, short, born, horse, morning
ore		more, score, before, wore, shore
aw		saw, draw, yawn, crawl
au		author, August, dinosaur, astronaut
air		air, fair, pair, hair, chair
ear		dear, hear, beard, near, year
ear (/ɛə/)		bear, pear, wear
are (/ɛə/)		bare, dare, care, share, scared
Words ending –y		very, happy, funny, party, family
New consonant spellings ph and wh	The /f/ sound is not usually spelt as ph in short everyday words (e.g. fat, fill, fun).	dolphin, alphabet, phonics, elephant, when, where, which, wheel, while
Using k for the /k/ sound	The /k/ sound is spelt as k rather than as c before e, i and y.	Kent, sketch, kit, skin, frisky
Adding the prefix un-	The prefix un- is added to the beginning of a word without any change to the spelling of the root word.	unhappy, undo, unload, unfair, unlock
Compound words	Compound words are two words joined together. Each part of the longer word is spelt as it would be if it were on its own.	football, playground, farmyard, bedroom, blackberry
Common exception words	Pupils’ attention should be drawn to the grapheme-phoneme correspondences that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far.	the, a, do, to, today, of, said, says, are, were, was, is, his, has, I, you, your, they, be, he, me, she, we, no, go, so, by, my, here, there, where, love, come, some, one, once, ask, friend, school, put, push, pull, full, house, our – and/or others, according to the programme used

Notes and guidance (non-statutory)

Reading should be taught alongside spelling, so that pupils understand that they can read back words they have spelt.

Pupils should be shown how to segment spoken words into individual phonemes and then how to represent the phonemes by the appropriate grapheme(s). It is important to recognise that phoneme-grapheme correspondences (which underpin spelling) are more variable than grapheme-phoneme correspondences (which underpin reading). For this reason, pupils need to do much more word-specific rehearsal for spelling than for reading.

At this stage pupils will be spelling some words in a phonically plausible way, even if sometimes incorrectly. Misspellings of words that pupils have been taught to spell should be corrected; other misspelt words should be used to teach pupils about alternative ways of representing those sounds.

Writing simple dictated sentences that include words taught so far gives pupils opportunities to apply and practise their spelling.

National Curriculum KS1 Y1: Handwriting

Statutory requirements

Pupils should be taught to:

• sit correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly
• begin to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place
• form capital letters
• form digits 0-9
• understand which letters belong to which handwriting ‘families’ (i.e. letters that are formed in similar ways) and to practise these.

Notes and guidance (non-statutory)

Handwriting requires frequent and discrete, direct teaching. Pupils should be able to form letters correctly and confidently. The size of the writing implement (pencil, pen) should not be too large for a young pupil’s hand. Whatever is being used should allow the pupil to hold it easily and correctly so that bad habits are avoided.

Left-handed pupils should receive specific teaching to meet their needs.

National Curriculum KS1 Y1: Composition

Statutory requirements

Pupils should be taught to:

• write sentences by:
  • saying out loud what they are going to write about
  • composing a sentence orally before writing it
  • sequencing sentences to form short narratives
  • re-reading what they have written to check that it makes sense
• discuss what they have written with the teacher or other pupils
• read aloud their writing clearly enough to be heard by their peers and the teacher.

Notes and guidance (non-statutory)

At the beginning of year 1, not all pupils will have the spelling and handwriting skills they need to write down everything that they can compose out loud.

Pupils should understand, through demonstration, the skills and processes essential to writing: that is, thinking aloud as they collect ideas, drafting, and re-reading to check their meaning is clear.

National Curriculum KS1 Y1: Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation

Statutory requirements

Pupils should be taught to:

• develop their understanding of the concepts set out in English Appendix 2 by:
  • leaving spaces between words
  • joining words and joining clauses using and
  • beginning to punctuate sentences using a capital letter and a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark
  • using a capital letter for names of people, places, the days of the week, and the personal pronoun I
  • learning the grammar for year 1 in English Appendix 2 [see the table below on this page]
• use the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 [see the table below on this page] in discussing their writing.

Detail of content to be introduced
Word	Regular plural noun suffixes –s or –es [for example, dog, dogs; wish, wishes], including the effects of these suffixes on the meaning of the noun. Suffixes that can be added to verbs where no change is needed in the spelling of root words (e.g. helping, helped, helper). How the prefix un– changes the meaning of verbs and adjectives [negation, for example, unkind, or undoing: untie the boat].
Sentence	How words can combine to make sentences. Joining words and joining clauses using and.
Text	Sequencing sentences to form short narratives.
Punctuation	Separation of words with spaces. Introduction to capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences. Capital letters for names and for the personal pronoun I.
Terminology for pupils	letter, capital letter, word, singular, plural, sentence, punctuation, full stop, question mark, exclamation mark.

Notes and guidance (non-statutory)

Pupils should be taught to recognise sentence boundaries in spoken sentences and to use the vocabulary listed in English Appendix 2 (‘Terminology for pupils’) [see the table above on this page] when their writing is discussed.

Pupils should begin to use some of the distinctive features of Standard English in their writing. ‘Standard English’ is defined in the Glossary.