Year 2 English Progress checks
Our Y2 English Progress checks, prepared by a KS1 teacher, will help you identify any areas your child is having trouble with so you can support their learning at home.
Each term’s test consists of 20 questions and a total of 20 marks. Allow your child around 20 minutes to complete the test.
The Progress checks are designed to follow TheSchoolRun's Learning Journey for that particular term. Please note: they cannot and will not necessarily follow what your child’s teacher is doing at school this week / term, as teachers tend to choose to cover objectives in an order that they feel suits their class. Therefore, don’t worry if your child cannot complete certain questions; the point of the Progress checks is to help parents identify where children might need extra help and practice.
Y2 English objectives explained
By the end of the school year children should be confident with the following:
Y2 speaking and listening
• Speak with clarity (for example, about likes and dislikes).
• To be able to listen to a story and discuss it in terms of events, characters, plot and setting.
Y2 word structure and spelling
• Distinguish individual phonemes in words and blend phonemes together to read unfamiliar words.
• Explore and experiment with sounds, words and texts.
• Begin to learn about more complex spelling patterns.
• Learn different ways to spell vowel sounds, including split digraphs.
• Learn different spelling patterns for word beginnings/endings.
• Continue to learn high frequency words and write and read them with increased precision.
Y2 understanding texts
• Recognise the main elements that shape stories and texts.
• Explain personal reactions to texts.
• Understand characters and events in a story.
• Navigate non-fiction texts, using them to find information.
Y2 creating texts
• Write for different purposes and in different genres (for example, stories and poems).
• Write for real purpose (for example, designing a poster).
• Create stories, focusing on elements such as characterisation and plot.
• Write and order instructions in a way that makes sense.
• Write a non-fiction text.
• Be able to sustain form in narrative.
Y2 sentence structure and punctuation
• Write more complex sentences, beginning to use adjectives and connectives.
• Use different punctuation including full stops, speech marks and question marks.
• Learn to use commas to separate items on a list.
Y2 handwriting and presentation
• Write most letters correctly.
• Begin to use joins.
For more information about what your child learns in Year 2 English read our parents' guide; you can also browse all our Y2 English worksheets or follow our Learning Journey for Y2 English and for KS1 SATs.
