Below are five blogs about the Key Stage 2 Grammar test for 10 and 11 year old pupils in maintained schools in England
The first four are my annual thoughts on the test itself, starting with the one given in 2022.
The last blog is my general thoughts on the test.
Terminology point: this area used to be called SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) then it got changed to GPS (Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling.
I refer to the Bew Report of 2011.
It's here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-key-stage-2-testing-assessment-and-accountability-final-report
The part that I often refer to is this passage:
'We recognise there are some elements of writing (in particular spelling, punctuation grammar and vocabulary) where there are clear ‘right or ‘wrong’ answers, which lend themselves to externally-marked testing.' (p 14, Bew Report (2011))
What's 'wrong' here is for the writers to claim that there are "clear 'right or 'wrong' answers" in punctuation and grammar! I show this again and again even within the narrow confines of the tests themselves, where examiners are doing all they can to eliminate ambiguity. Anyone who has written professionally, knows that there are many variations between publishing houses over matters to do with punctuation. Then, given that the GPS test tries to legislate over matters of 'formal' and 'informal' English, then again, there are many differences between publications and publishing houses over such things.
Now for some fun: if you want to enjoy a joke, then you'll see that whoever wrote the quoted sentence from page 14, didn't 'close the quotation marks' round the word 'right'. Lols, as my kids would say. They can't even get their own rules right!
If you compare the final report with the interim report, you'll see that somehow or another there was an intervention between the interim report and the final report which led to the introduction of the SPaG/GPS test. I'm not clear what that intervention was or how it happened. However, at that moment, the education and curriculum for Year 6 children in England was set in stone.
Copy and paste these into your browser and it'll take you to the blog.
https://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.com/2022/06/this-years-grammar-punctuation-and.html
https://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/my-thoughts-on-this-years-key-stage-2.html
https://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.com/2024/06/this-years-ks2-grammar-punctuation-and.html
https://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/this-years-grammar-test-for-10-and-11.html
https://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.com/2025/06/10-points-about-primary-school-grammar.html
