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St Mary's Catholic Primary Schools Trust

Non-Negotiables

Year 3

  • Children can write simple sentences from memory, dictated by the teacher, that include words and punctuation that they already know.
  • They can use more of the diagonal and horizontal strokes they need to join letters and know which letters, when they are next to one another, are best left un-joined.
  • They can write so that their letters are easy to read, all the same way up and the same size. Writing is spaced properly so that letters don't overlap.
  • Use paragraphs to organise writing so that blocks of text group related material. Use capital letters, full stops and question marks correctly.

Year 4

  • Children can use the possessive apostrophe correctly in words with regular plurals e.g. girls', boys' and in words with irregular plurals e.g. children's.
  • They can explain the difference between the plural and possessive -s.
  • They can use the correct form of the verb inflection e.g. we were instead of we was.
  • They can use apostrophes to mark plural possession e.g. the girl's name, the girls' names.
  • They can use commas after adverbials at the beginning of a sentence e.g. Later that day, we heard the good news.
  • They can choose the correct word or words from this list of words and phrases that are often confused: your and you’re; their, they’re and there; our and are.

Year 5

  • They can write increasingly legibly, fluently and with increasing speed through improving choices of which shape of a letter to use when given choices and deciding whether or not to join specific letters.
  • They can draft and write by selecting the correct grammar and can use the following punctuation correctly in my work: capital letters (start of sentences, proper nouns), full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and commas.
  • They can mark and edit to have the correct tense throughout.
  • They can mark and edit to have the correct subject and verb agreement.
  • They can use devices to build cohesion within a paragraph e.g. then, after that, this, firstly.
  • They can link ideas across paragraphs using adverbials of time e.g. later, place e.g. nearby and number e.g. secondly or tense choices e.g. he had seen her before.
  • They can understand the use of the apostrophe of contraction / omission and possession.
  • They can write for a sustained period and produce well-structured pieces of creative writing that are coherent and logical in progression.

In Year 6 the children should be using all the above with confidence.