Spelling is assessed in the KS2 English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (GPS) Paper 2.
π 20 spelling words
β± Around 15 minutes
π§ The teacher reads each sentence aloud
βοΈ Pupils write the missing word in a booklet
Each word is worth 1 mark.
The spellings come mainly from the Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 statutory word lists in the National Curriculum.
Examples include:
accommodate
environment
necessary
definite
temperature
government
privilege
rhythm
Pupils are expected to apply knowledge of:
β Common prefixes
un-, dis-, mis-, re-, sub-, inter-, super-, anti-, auto-
β Suffixes
-tion, -sion, -ssion, -cian
-ance / -ence
-able / -ible
-ably / -ibly
-ent / -ant
-cial / -tial
β Homophones and near-homophones
there / their / theyβre
practice / practise
advice / advise
affect / effect
β Silent letters
doubt
island
lamb
knight
Words are placed in full sentences, so pupils must:
Listen carefully
Use grammatical understanding
Choose the correct homophone where needed
Example style:
The scientist made an important __________.
(answer: discovery)
By the end of Year 6, pupils should:
Spell most statutory words accurately
Apply spelling rules consistently
Spell common exception words correctly
Use knowledge of word families and morphology
Full marks (20/20) demonstrates strong mastery of KS2 spelling expectations.
The words are:
Moderately challenging
Often multi-syllabic
Sometimes uncommon but rule-based
They are not obscure vocabulary, but they do require secure rule knowledge.