Is Year 2 writing assessment still statutory?

No. End-of-key-stage-1 teacher assessment became non-statutory from the 2023/24 academic year onwards, and the STA retitled the document “Non-statutory teacher assessment frameworks at the end of key stage 1”. Schools are no longer required to make or submit a Year 2 writing judgement, and there is no statutory external moderation of one. The STA still encourages schools to use the framework to understand pupils’ progress and to inform conversations with parents, and most schools continue to do so.

What are the Year 2 writing standards?

The KS1 framework describes three: working towards the expected standard, working at the expected standard, and working at greater depth. Each is a list of ‘pupil can’ statements, all prefaced “after discussion with the teacher”. At the expected standard, for example, a pupil can write simple coherent narratives about personal experiences, demarcate most sentences with capital letters and full stops, use present and past tense mostly correctly and consistently, and use co-ordination and some subordination to join clauses.

What does “after discussion with the teacher” mean in the KS1 framework?

It means that at key stage 1, discussion between teacher and pupil about the writing is an expected part of the process, and evidence gathered that way is legitimate. It does not mean the teacher can tell the child what to change and then credit the result. Writing used for the judgement must still be produced independently — a piece copied from a model on the board, or corrected to teacher instruction, is not independent evidence.

Does a Year 2 pupil have to meet every statement in a standard?

In principle yes — a pupil’s writing should meet all of the statements within the standard at which they are judged. But writing gets a specific discretion that the other subjects do not: teachers can judge that a particular weakness does not prevent an accurate judgement of the pupil’s attainment overall, and the teacher’s professional judgement takes precedence. That weakness could be part of a statement, or a whole statement.

What do ‘some’, ‘many’ and ‘most’ mean in the framework?

They are defined, and consistently. ‘Some’ means the knowledge or skill is starting to be acquired and is demonstrated correctly on occasion, but is not yet consistent or frequent. ‘Many’ means the statement is met frequently but not yet consistently. ‘Most’ means the statement is generally met, with only occasional errors. The step from ‘demarcate some sentences’ (working towards) to ‘demarcate most sentences’ (expected standard) is doing real work.

Should Year 2 children be joining their handwriting?

They should be starting to. The Year 2 programme of study asks pupils to start using some of the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters, and to understand which letters are best left unjoined — and says pupils should be taught to write with a joined style as soon as they can form letters securely with the correct orientation. Fully fluent joined handwriting at speed is a key stage 2 expectation, not a Year 2 one.

Key stage 1 — end of key stage

Year 2 writing: the KS1 standards, objectives and exemplars

Year 2 is where a child first meets a set of national writing standards. Here is the KS1 framework in full — every ‘pupil can’ statement, quoted verbatim — alongside the statutory Year 2 objectives, and an honest account of what became optional in 2023/24 and what did not.

Last updated: July 2026

Year 2 writing at a glance

Year 2 is the end of key stage 1, and it is where the “pupil can” language starts. The KS1 teacher assessment framework describes three standards for writing — working towards the expected standard, working at the expected standard, and working at greater depth — each a short list of statements a pupil’s writing must meet, judged by the teacher across a body of work rather than by a test.

One thing has genuinely changed and is widely misunderstood. End-of-KS1 teacher assessment became non-statutory from the 2023/24 academic year onwards; the framework was retitled “Non-statutory teacher assessment frameworks at the end of key stage 1” accordingly. Schools are still encouraged to use it to understand progress and to inform conversations with parents — and most do — but there is no statutory duty to submit a Year 2 writing judgement, and no statutory external moderation of one.

The statutory writing objectives

The statutory Year 2 writing requirements, quoted from the national curriculum programme of study. Year 2 is the last year for which composition is set out year-by-year — from Year 3 the programme of study is written two years at a time.

Transcription — spelling

Segment spoken words into phonemes and represent these by graphemes, spelling many correctly
Learn new ways of spelling phonemes for which one or more spellings are already known, and learn some words with each spelling, including a few common homophones
Learn to spell common exception words, and more words with contracted forms
Learn the possessive apostrophe (singular) — for example, the girl’s book
Distinguish between homophones and near-homophones
Add suffixes to spell longer words, including –ment, –ness, –ful, –less and –ly
Write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that include the words and punctuation taught so far

Transcription — handwriting

Form lower-case letters of the correct size relative to one another
Start using some of the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters, and understand which letters, when adjacent, are best left unjoined
Write capital letters and digits of the correct size, orientation and relationship to one another and to lower-case letters
Use spacing between words that reflects the size of the letters

Composition

Develop positive attitudes towards, and stamina for, writing — narratives about personal experiences and those of others (real and fictional), writing about real events, poetry, and writing for different purposes
Plan or say out loud what they are going to write about, write down ideas and key words including new vocabulary, and encapsulate what they want to say sentence by sentence
Make simple additions, revisions and corrections: evaluate their writing with the teacher and other pupils, re-read to check it makes sense and that verbs indicating time are used correctly and consistently (including the continuous form), and proofread for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors
Read aloud what they have written with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear

Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

Use familiar and new punctuation correctly, including full stops, capital letters, exclamation marks, question marks, commas for lists, and apostrophes for contracted forms and singular possession
Use sentences with different forms: statement, question, exclamation, command
Use expanded noun phrases to describe and specify (for example, the blue butterfly)
Use the present and past tenses correctly and consistently, including the progressive form
Use subordination (when, if, that, because) and co-ordination (or, and, but)
Use some features of written Standard English, and the Year 2 grammar and terminology from English Appendix 2

Year 2 grammar and punctuation (English Appendix 2)

The statutory Year 2 content from English Appendix 2 — the grammar, punctuation and terminology to be introduced this year, and the terms Year 2 children are expected to use when discussing their own writing.

Area	Detail of content to be introduced in Year 2
Word	Formation of nouns using suffixes such as –ness and –er, and by compounding (whiteboard, superman) Formation of adjectives using suffixes such as –ful and –less Use of the suffixes –er and –est in adjectives, and the use of –ly in Standard English to turn adjectives into adverbs
Sentence	Subordination (using when, if, that, because) and co-ordination (using or, and, but) Expanded noun phrases for description and specification (the blue butterfly; the man in the moon) How the grammatical patterns in a sentence indicate its function as a statement, question, exclamation or command
Text	Correct choice and consistent use of present tense and past tense throughout writing Use of the progressive form of verbs in the present and past tense to mark actions in progress (she is drumming; he was shouting)
Punctuation	Use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences Commas to separate items in a list Apostrophes to mark where letters are missing in spelling, and to mark singular possession in nouns (the girl’s name)

Terminology for Year 2 pupils

These are the terms Year 2 pupils are expected to know and use when discussing their own writing — introduced this year, on top of everything from previous years.

nounnoun phrasestatementquestionexclamationcommandcompoundsuffixadjectiveadverbverbtense (past, present)apostrophecomma

The three KS1 writing standards, verbatim

Non-statutory framework — quoted verbatim

Quoted verbatim from the STA’s “Non-statutory teacher assessment frameworks at the end of key stage 1”. End-of-KS1 teacher assessment has been non-statutory since the 2023/24 academic year — the STA still encourages schools to use the framework to understand progress and inform conversations with parents, but there is no statutory duty to make or submit the judgement.

These are the ‘pupil can’ statements from the KS1 teacher assessment framework, quoted exactly as the Standards and Testing Agency wrote them. Note the lead-in: every statement at every standard is prefaced “after discussion with the teacher”, which is a deliberate part of the KS1 framework and not a loophole.

Working towards the expected standard (WTS)

The pupil can, after discussion with the teacher:

write sentences that are sequenced to form a short narrative (real or fictional)
demarcate some sentences with capital letters and full stops
segment spoken words into phonemes and represent these by graphemes, spelling some words correctly and making phonically plausible attempts at others
spell some common exception words
form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place
form lower-case letters of the correct size relative to one another in some of their writing
use spacing between words

Working at the expected standard (EXS)

The pupil can, after discussion with the teacher:

write simple, coherent narratives about personal experiences and those of others (real or fictional)
write about real events, recording these simply and clearly
demarcate most sentences in their writing with capital letters and full stops, and use question marks correctly when required
use present and past tense mostly correctly and consistently
use co-ordination (such as or/and/but) and some subordination (such as when/if/that/because) to join clauses
segment spoken words into phonemes and represent these by graphemes, spelling many of these words correctly and making phonically plausible attempts at others
spell many common exception words
form capital letters and digits of the correct size, orientation and relationship to one another and to lower-case letters
use spacing between words that reflects the size of the letters

Working at greater depth (GDS)

The pupil can, after discussion with the teacher:

write effectively and coherently for different purposes, drawing on their reading to inform the vocabulary and grammar of their writing
make simple additions, revisions and proof-reading corrections to their own writing
use the punctuation taught at KS1 mostly correctly
spell most common exception words
add suffixes to spell most words correctly in their writing – for example: –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –ly
use the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join some letters

The framework’s qualifiers have fixed meanings: ‘most’ means the statement is generally met with only occasional errors; ‘many’ means it is met frequently but not yet consistently; ‘some’ means the skill is starting to be acquired and appears correctly on occasion, but not yet consistently. In writing — and writing alone — a teacher may use discretion so that a particular weakness does not prevent an accurate judgement of a pupil’s attainment overall.

What it looks like on the page

The passages below were written for this page to illustrate the criteria. They are not children’s work, and they are annotated against curriculum expectations only — strengths and next steps, not marks or scores.

Working towards the expected standard (WTS)

Illustrative passage written for this page — not a child’s work

On Saturday I went to my nans house. we made a cake it was choclate. I liked it. we wachd a film after

What this shows against the curriculum

Sentences are sequenced into a short narrative about a personal experience — the WTS composition statement.
Some sentences are demarcated with capital letters and full stops, but not most — which is precisely the WTS/EXS boundary.
Phonically plausible attempts (‘choclate’, ‘wachd’) sit alongside correctly spelled common exception words, matching the WTS spelling statements.
The missing possessive apostrophe in ‘nans’ is Year 2 Appendix 2 content still being acquired.

Working at the expected standard (EXS)

Illustrative passage written for this page — not a child’s work

On Saturday I went to my nan’s house because it was her birthday. We made a chocolate cake and we put candles on it. Did she like it? She said it was the best cake she had ever eaten! After that, we watched a film and I fell asleep on the sofa.

What this shows against the curriculum

A simple, coherent narrative about a personal experience, recorded clearly — the EXS composition statements.
Most sentences are demarcated with capital letters and full stops, and the question mark is used correctly when required.
Both co-ordination (‘and’) and subordination (‘because’) join clauses — the EXS statement asks for co-ordination and some subordination.
Past tense is used correctly and consistently; the singular possessive apostrophe (‘nan’s’) is secure.

Working at greater depth (GDS)

Illustrative passage written for this page — not a child’s work

Nan’s kitchen smelled of warm chocolate all afternoon. While the cake was baking, we carefully hid the candles, the matches and the card. When she came in, she stopped in the doorway and put her hands over her mouth. She was speechless! It was the quietest I have ever seen her.

What this shows against the curriculum

Writes effectively and coherently, and the influence of reading shows in the vocabulary and grammar — the withheld surprise, the shape of the final line — which is the core GDS statement.
The punctuation taught at KS1 is used mostly correctly: capital letters and full stops, an exclamation mark, commas to separate items in a list, and the possessive apostrophe in ‘Nan’s’. Note that inverted commas are NOT key stage 1 content — direct speech punctuation is introduced in Year 3 — so speech punctuation is not expected here.
Suffixes are added to spell words correctly in the writing (‘carefully’, ‘speechless’) — one of the six GDS statements, and the one most often overlooked.
Two of the six GDS statements cannot be evidenced by a typed passage at all: proof-reading corrections (visible only as the child’s own edits on the page) and using the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join some letters (handwriting). Both have to be judged from the original book.
It is no longer than the EXS piece above, and no more adjective-laden — just more controlled. GDS at KS1 is about drawing on reading, not about producing more; and the judgement is made across a body of independent writing, never on one piece.

Moderation and what to look for in the books

Since the 2023/24 academic year, end-of-KS1 teacher assessment is non-statutory, and with it the statutory external moderation of Year 2 writing. That has not made Year 2 judgements worthless — it has made them internal. Here is what still matters.

There is no statutory KS1 moderation visit any more

Local authorities are no longer required to externally moderate a sample of schools’ Year 2 writing judgements, because the judgement itself is no longer statutory. If your school is still preparing for a KS1 moderation visit as though it were 2019, that is worth checking with your local authority — many still offer moderation, but as support rather than statute.

The framework is still the best description of the standard

The STA explicitly encourages schools to keep using the framework “to understand their progress and to inform conversations with pupils’ parents”. It remains the only national description of what a Year 2 writer looks like, and it is what Year 3 teachers will assume you meant.

Judge the standard overall, not statement by statement

A pupil’s writing should meet all the statements within a standard, but the framework gives writing a specific discretion: a teacher may judge that a particular weakness does not prevent an accurate judgement of attainment overall, and the teacher’s professional judgement takes precedence. This applies to English writing only — not to reading, maths or science.

Independence, with the KS1 caveat

The framework requires that the writing used for judgements is produced independently — but it also prefaces every statement with “after discussion with the teacher”. Those are not in tension: discussion before writing is expected at KS1; a teacher directing what to fix, or a heavily scaffolded piece written to a model on the board, is not independent evidence.

Common pitfalls in Year 2 writing

Believing KS1 assessment is still statutory — or that it has been abolished. Both are wrong. End-of-KS1 teacher assessment became non-statutory from 2023/24: schools no longer have to submit judgements, and the framework was retitled accordingly. But the framework still exists, the STA still encourages its use, and most schools still make a Year 2 judgement for their own tracking and for parents.
Treating greater depth as “more”. The KS1 GDS standard has six statements, and none of them mentions length or ambitious vocabulary. The core one is writing effectively and coherently for different purposes, drawing on reading to inform vocabulary and grammar. A short, controlled piece that clearly echoes a book the class has read is better evidence than three pages of adjectives.
Expecting speech punctuation at KS1. Inverted commas are introduced in Year 3, not Year 2 — they are not part of “the punctuation taught at KS1”. Crediting a Year 2 child for punctuating direct speech is fine as evidence of reading influence, but it is not a KS1 requirement, and its absence is not a gap.
Assessing single pieces against the framework. The STA’s own guidance recommends assessing individual pieces of work in line with the school’s assessment policy, and not against the framework. The framework is for an end-of-key-stage judgement across a broad range of evidence. Stamping “EXS” on each piece of writing in a book is not what it is for.

Where Howay fits

Noticing what a piece of writing shows — and noticing it across a whole class, all year — is the part that takes the evenings. That is the layer Howay surfaces: a teacher photographs the handwritten page, and Howay returns a criteria-level view of what the writing shows against the frameworks teachers already use, with strengths and next steps rather than a number. The teacher edits everything before anyone else sees it.

It does not make the assessment judgement — that stays with the teacher. What it does is make the evidence easier to see and to articulate, piece by piece. See Howay for teachers or Howay for parents.

Common questions

Is Year 2 writing assessment still statutory?: No. End-of-key-stage-1 teacher assessment became non-statutory from the 2023/24 academic year onwards, and the STA retitled the document “Non-statutory teacher assessment frameworks at the end of key stage 1”. Schools are no longer required to make or submit a Year 2 writing judgement, and there is no statutory external moderation of one. The STA still encourages schools to use the framework to understand pupils’ progress and to inform conversations with parents, and most schools continue to do so.
What are the Year 2 writing standards?: The KS1 framework describes three: working towards the expected standard, working at the expected standard, and working at greater depth. Each is a list of ‘pupil can’ statements, all prefaced “after discussion with the teacher”. At the expected standard, for example, a pupil can write simple coherent narratives about personal experiences, demarcate most sentences with capital letters and full stops, use present and past tense mostly correctly and consistently, and use co-ordination and some subordination to join clauses.
What does “after discussion with the teacher” mean in the KS1 framework?: It means that at key stage 1, discussion between teacher and pupil about the writing is an expected part of the process, and evidence gathered that way is legitimate. It does not mean the teacher can tell the child what to change and then credit the result. Writing used for the judgement must still be produced independently — a piece copied from a model on the board, or corrected to teacher instruction, is not independent evidence.
Does a Year 2 pupil have to meet every statement in a standard?: In principle yes — a pupil’s writing should meet all of the statements within the standard at which they are judged. But writing gets a specific discretion that the other subjects do not: teachers can judge that a particular weakness does not prevent an accurate judgement of the pupil’s attainment overall, and the teacher’s professional judgement takes precedence. That weakness could be part of a statement, or a whole statement.
What do ‘some’, ‘many’ and ‘most’ mean in the framework?: They are defined, and consistently. ‘Some’ means the knowledge or skill is starting to be acquired and is demonstrated correctly on occasion, but is not yet consistent or frequent. ‘Many’ means the statement is met frequently but not yet consistently. ‘Most’ means the statement is generally met, with only occasional errors. The step from ‘demarcate some sentences’ (working towards) to ‘demarcate most sentences’ (expected standard) is doing real work.
Should Year 2 children be joining their handwriting?: They should be starting to. The Year 2 programme of study asks pupils to start using some of the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters, and to understand which letters are best left unjoined — and says pupils should be taught to write with a joined style as soon as they can form letters securely with the correct orientation. Fully fluent joined handwriting at speed is a key stage 2 expectation, not a Year 2 one.

Sources

Statutory curriculum and framework wording quoted on this page is Crown copyright, reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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