Year 5 English Scheme of Work
In Year 5, pupils read with fluency and confidence across a wide range of text types, including texts from different historical periods and cultures. Comprehension work focuses on higher-order skills including authorial intent, vocabulary in context, and evaluating the effect of language choices. Pupils are expected to read independently and to make personal responses to texts.
Writing in Year 5 is increasingly ambitious. Grammar focuses on relative clauses, modal verbs and parenthesis. Pupils write in a range of styles — formal essays, descriptive writing, persuasive texts — and are expected to apply grammar knowledge consistently. Spelling of more complex words and the use of a dictionary and thesaurus are also important at this stage.
Expected prior knowledge
- ✓Ability to use fronted adverbials, possessive apostrophes and pronouns for cohesion
- ✓Ability to write in organised paragraphs across a range of text types
- ✓Knowledge of inverted commas, commas in lists and for fronted adverbials
- ✓Reading comprehension skills including inference, prediction and retrieval
Units across the year
Six half-term units covering all strands of the KS2 English programme of study.
Relative Clauses
- –Using relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that
- –Understanding how relative clauses add information about a noun
- –Identifying relative clauses in complex sentences from high-quality literature
- –Selecting the appropriate relative pronoun (who, which, where, when, whose, that)
- –Embedding relative clauses into simple sentences to add detail
- –Writing descriptive character profiles using relative clauses effectively
Formal Essay Writing
- –Selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how choices can change and enhance meaning
- –Noting and developing initial ideas, drawing on reading and research
- –Comparing formal and informal registers in model texts and identifying the features of each
- –Practising using formal linking phrases such as furthermore, in addition and in contrast
- –Planning and drafting a formal essay response to a question about a class reading text
- –Peer reviewing essays for formal register, paragraph structure and use of evidence
Modal Verbs
- –Using modal verbs to indicate degrees of possibility
- –Understanding how modal verbs change the meaning and certainty of a statement
- –Exploring a modal verb continuum from certainty to possibility
- –Replacing modal verbs in sentences to change degree of possibility
- –Writing a balanced argument using modal verbs to present both sides fairly
- –Identifying modal verbs in persuasive and explanatory texts
Parenthesis
- –Using brackets, dashes and commas to indicate parenthesis
- –Understanding that parenthesis adds extra information that can be removed without losing the meaning of the sentence
- –Identifying parenthetical phrases in texts and discussing the three ways to punctuate them
- –Practising using brackets, dashes and commas in the same sentence with different punctuation
- –Writing a biography or information text using parenthesis to add interesting extra detail
- –Removing parenthetical phrases to check that the sentence still makes sense
Descriptive Writing
- –Using literary language to create vivid settings, characters and atmosphere
- –Selecting vocabulary and grammar that reflect the writer's task
- –Analysing descriptive passages from quality literature for sensory and figurative language
- –Identifying and practising key techniques: personification, metaphor, pathetic fallacy
- –Writing a descriptive setting piece using a visual prompt, focusing on creating atmosphere
- –Editing a first draft to enhance vocabulary and vary sentence structure for effect
Reading: Authorial Choices and Evaluation
- –Recommending books to peers, giving reasons for choices
- –Explaining and discussing understanding of reading, including through formal presentations
- –Exploring how authors make deliberate word and structural choices for effect
- –Comparing two texts on a similar theme and evaluating the effectiveness of each
- –Writing an analytical response about authorial choices in a shared text
- –Presenting book recommendations to the class with reasoned justification
Progression into Year 6
In Year 6, pupils will extend their grammar to include passive voice, subjunctive mood, colons and semicolons, and sophisticated cohesive devices. Writing will be at a higher level of technical accuracy and sophistication, preparing pupils for KS3.
Individual lesson plans
Full lesson frameworks — learning objectives, vocabulary, lesson structure, and common misconceptions — for each unit in this scheme.
View all Year 5 English lesson plans →