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St Andrew's C.E. Primary School

Enriching Lives

Year 4

Y4 Teacher Assessment for Writing

Year 4 - Working towards the expected standard

The pupil can:  

  • write for a range of purposes 
  • begin to use paragraphs
  • create settings and characters in narrative
  • in non-narrative writing, use simple devices to structure the writing and support the reader (e.g. headings) 
  • use the range of punctuation taught up to and including Y2 correctly^ and some of the punctuation taught in Y3 and Y4^
  • spell correctly many words from previous year groups and some words from the year 3 / year 4 spelling list* 
  • write legibly.1 

 

Year 4 - Working at the expected standard

The pupil can:

  • write for a range of purposes and audiences with an increasing awareness of appropriate language and form (e.g. description of a school event, poetry to evoke feelings)
  • create settings, characters and plot in narrative
  • use speech punctuation correctly most of the time 
  • use vocabulary and grammatical structures to communicate ideas for the given audience and purpose (e.g. use a range of sentences and begin to vary the  position of clauses within a sentence)
  • use a range of conjunctions, adverbs, prepositions and pronouns for cohesion, detail and clarity (e.g. appropriate noun or pronoun to avoid repetition and adverbs to express time and cause)
  • use past and present tenses correctly, and include a wider range of verb forms (e.g. we were going; they have been)
  • use the range of punctuation taught up to and including Y4 mostly correctly^ 

(e.g. commas after adverbials; use of apostrophe)

  • spell correctly words from learning in previous year groups, and most words from the year 3 / year 4 spelling list,* and use phonics and morphology to spell words, beginning to use a dictionary to check spellings
  • write legibly and with increasing fluency, paying attention to size and spacing maintain the use of joined handwriting2 throughout independent writing. 

 

Y4 - Working at greater depth within the expected standard

The pupil can: 

  • write effectively and coherently for different purposes, drawing on their reading to inform the vocabulary and grammar of their writing 
  • develop character through description, actions and dialogue
  • begin to make choices about using sentences of different lengths and types 
  • improve the effect of their writing by making changes when editing (e.g. re-ordering sentences and adapting vocabulary).

 

 

 

 

Reference will need to be made to the expectations of the national curriculum for Y4  to ensure that writing is at the correct pitch.

*These are detailed in the word lists within the spelling appendix to the national curriculum (English Appendix 1).

Teachers should refer to these to exemplify the words that pupils should be able to spell. 

^This relates to punctuation taught in the national curriculum, which is detailed in the grammar and punctuation appendix to the national curriculum (English Appendix 2). Pupils are expected to be able to use the range of punctuation shown here in their writing, but this does not mean that every single punctuation mark must be evident. 1 At this standard, there is no specific requirement for a pupil’s handwriting to be joined.

2The national curriculum states that pupils should be taught to ‘use the diagonal and horizontal strokes that are needed to join letters and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined’.