SATs Spelling

📘 What is tested in the Year 6 SATs?

Spelling is assessed in the KS2 English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (GPS) Paper 2.

• 📄 20 spelling words

• ⏱ Around 15 minutes

• 🎧 The teacher reads each sentence aloud

• ✍️ Pupils write the missing word in a booklet

Each word is worth 1 mark.

📚 What type of words are tested?

The spellings come mainly from the Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 statutory word lists in the National Curriculum.

🔤 1. Statutory word list words (common but tricky)

Examples include:

• accommodate
  
  

• environment
  
  

• necessary
  
  

• definite
  
  

• temperature
  
  

• government
  
  

• privilege
  
  

• rhythm
  
  

🧠 2. Words testing spelling rules and patterns

Pupils are expected to apply knowledge of:

✔ Common prefixes

• un-, dis-, mis-, re-, sub-, inter-, super-, anti-, auto-
  
  

✔ Suffixes

• -tion, -sion, -ssion, -cian
  
  

• -ance / -ence
  
  

• -able / -ible
  
  

• -ably / -ibly
  
  

• -ent / -ant
  
  

• -cial / -tial
  
  

✔ Homophones and near-homophones

• there / their / they’re
  
  

• practice / practise
  
  

• advice / advise
  
  

• affect / effect
  
  

✔ Silent letters

• doubt
  
  

• island
  
  

• lamb
  
  

• knight
  
  

📝 3. Application in context

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)

🎯 What standard is expected?

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.

📊 How challenging is it?

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.