By Year 5, many of the positive habits established in earlier years remain just as valuable. Regular reading, audiobooks, documentaries, Newsround, podcasts, word games and plenty of conversation all continue to expose children to rich language, new ideas and ambitious vocabulary.

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Take a look at our Year 3 and Year 4 English pages for more ideas. In Year 5, the next step is to build on these foundations by encouraging greater independence, deeper comprehension and more thoughtful use of language. For children preparing for the Kent Test, this is also a useful time to develop confident exam technique alongside their everyday English skills.

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• Read widely and gradually increase the challenge. Encourage a mixture of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, newspapers and magazines. More challenging texts introduce children to sophisticated vocabulary, different writing styles and increasingly complex ideas.

• Look beneath the surface of a text. Move beyond “What happened?” and ask why a character behaved in a particular way, how they might be feeling, what evidence supports an idea or how an author has created a particular atmosphere.

• Encourage evidence-based answers. Ask “What in the text makes you think that?” or “Which words helped you work that out?” Children should become increasingly confident at returning to a text and using evidence to support their ideas.

• Build vocabulary deliberately. Continue noticing unfamiliar and ambitious words, but explore them more deeply. Look at synonyms and antonyms, discuss subtle differences in meaning and encourage children to experiment with new vocabulary in conversation and their own writing.

• Create a Writer’s Bank. Encourage your child to become a collector of brilliant language. Keep separate lists for similes and metaphors they particularly enjoy in the books they read. A third list can be dedicated to favourite words and phrases — perhaps an unusual verb, a vivid description or an expression such as “paroxysms of rage”. Talk about why the language is effective and the picture or feeling it creates. These collections can be revisited later to ignite ideas and inspire children to create original descriptions of their own.

• Read like a writer. As well as enjoying the story, occasionally pause to notice how an author has achieved something. Why is that description so effective? Why does that sentence create suspense? What makes that opening make you want to continue reading? Developing an eye for good writing can have a powerful influence on children's own work.

• Make writing purposeful. Give children opportunities to write for different reasons. They could persuade you to agree to something, write a review, create a newspaper report about an event, compose a letter or email, describe somewhere they have visited or write instructions for something they know how to do.

• Become an editor. By Year 5, checking should increasingly mean more than finding mistakes. Encourage your child to reread their writing and ask: Does this make sense? Could I choose a stronger word? Have I repeated myself? Could I improve this sentence? Is my spelling and punctuation accurate?

• Keep spelling focused. Look for patterns, prefixes, suffixes and word families rather than relying solely on memorising individual words. Keep a note of words your child regularly misspells and revisit them so that practice is targeted and useful.

• Strengthen weaker areas. There is little value in repeatedly practising something a child can already do confidently while avoiding an area they find difficult. If inference needs work, focus on inference. If spelling is less secure, strengthen spelling. If vocabulary is limiting comprehension or writing, make vocabulary a priority. Identify the gap, work on it purposefully and celebrate when it begins to close.

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Developing Exam Technique

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For many children, Year 5 is also when assessment preparation becomes more relevant.

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Some will be preparing for the Kent Test, while Year 6 SATs are now on the horizon. Strong English knowledge remains the priority, but children can also begin learning how to show what they know effectively in an assessment.

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• Read the question carefully. Encourage children to slow down long enough to establish exactly what they are being asked before answering.

• Return to the text. Comprehension answers should be based on what the text actually tells us rather than what seems likely from memory.

• Look for evidence. Teach children to identify the particular word, phrase or section that supports their answer.

• Eliminate incorrect answers. With multiple-choice questions, ruling out answers that cannot be correct can be just as useful as immediately spotting the right one.

• Build accuracy before speed. Once a child understands how to approach a question successfully, introduce timed practice gradually. Speed becomes much easier when the underlying skill is secure.

• Check when time allows. Encourage children to return to questions they were unsure about and check that they have answered everything.

• Learn from mistakes. A wrong answer is useful when children understand why it went wrong. Did they misread the question? Miss an important word? Rush? Misunderstand vocabulary? Knowing the reason gives them something specific to improve next time.

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Build the Skill, Then Build the Confidence

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Year 5 does not need to become a year of endless worksheets and test papers. There is enormous value in continuing to read wonderful books, discover interesting words, have thoughtful conversations and enjoy language.

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Alongside this, Year 5 is an excellent time to become a little more purposeful: notice what needs strengthening, practise it regularly and give children opportunities to see their own progress.

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Whether preparing for the Kent Test, beginning to look towards SATs or simply becoming a stronger reader and writer, the aim remains the same: secure skills, growing independence and the confidence to approach the next challenge knowing they are well prepared.