Year 1 Start of Year Baseline SPaG Assessment

Year 1 SPaG baseline assessment

Use this Year 1 SPaG baseline assessment to identify pupils’ starting points before beginning the Autumn term sequence. Designed to be completed at the start of Year 1, it provides a clear picture of children’s early grammar, punctuation and writing knowledge, helping you plan teaching and identify any gaps before starting the scheme.

The assessment draws on key expectations from Development Matters and the Early Learning Goals for Literacy, providing a smooth transition from Reception into the Year 1 National Curriculum.

The assessment includes activities such as:

• Writing their name using capital letters correctly
• Recognising and writing initial sounds
• Matching lowercase and capital letters
• Labelling pictures
• Writing simple decodable sentences using capital letters and full stops

Pupils are assessed on:

• Letter formation
• Sound-letter correspondence
• Sentence composition
• Use of capital letters and full stops

Ideal for the first few weeks of the Autumn term, this assessment helps establish a baseline before teaching begins. It forms part of our Year 1 Autumn SPaG sequence, alongside the lesson plans and rationale, lesson packs, end of term assessment, assessment tracker and spelling strand.

Each assessment is clearly linked to the skills being assessed, making it easy to identify next steps and monitor progress throughout the Autumn term.