Edexcel iPrimary English: Years 1 to 6
Six years of curriculum, three strands, and one external test at the end of it - taken on two texts the school has already had for a month.
Sources for the figures on this page
Every figure below was read from the Pearson Edexcel International Award in Primary English specification (JEH11), Issue 1, May 2018, and from Pearson's published iPrimary English Curriculum Overview.
Pearson's documents are linked, not copied. The detailed year-by-year learning objectives are released to subscribing centres and are not reproduced here.
RCF English is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by Pearson Edexcel.
The qualification at a glance
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full title | Pearson Edexcel International Award in Primary English |
| Specification code | JEH11 |
| Paper code | JEH11/01 |
| Assessment | One externally-set achievement test |
| Time allowed | 1 hour 30 minutes |
| Total marks | 60 |
| Availability | June |
| First teaching / first assessment | September 2018 / June 2019 |
| Dictionaries | Not allowed |
| Year groups taught | Years 1 to 6 |
The curriculum: three strands
The iPrimary English curriculum is organised into six year groups, each building on the last. It contains three main strands, each divided into sub-strands. The strand names below are Pearson's; the commentary on each is RCF English's own.
1. Spoken Language
Two sub-strands. This strand is not directly examined in the Year 6 test, which is written - but it underpins both of the others, and schools that treat it as optional tend to produce children who read accurately and write thinly.
- Receptive Language - listening, following and understanding.
- Expressive Language - speaking, explaining, discussing and presenting.
2. Reading
Six sub-strands, one of which stops after Year 3. This is the largest strand and it carries half of the marks in the Year 6 test.
- Word Reading and Phonics (up to Year 3) - decoding, letter-sound relationships, blending.
- Word Reading and Accuracy - reading unfamiliar words correctly and fluently.
- Literal Comprehension - finding information that is actually stated.
- Inferential Comprehension - working out what is implied but not said. This is where most marks are won and lost.
- Text Structure and Purpose - how a text is organised, and why.
- Grammar for Reading - using grammatical knowledge to understand meaning.
3. Writing
Six sub-strands. Note how much of this strand is technical accuracy rather than composition - which matches the test, where grammar, punctuation and spelling carry a quarter of the total mark on their own.
- Transcription and Phonics - spelling and the sound-to-letter knowledge behind it.
- Vocabulary - the range of words available and choosing between them.
- Composition - planning, drafting and shaping a piece of writing.
- Handwriting and Word Processing - legible handwriting and keyboard skills.
- Grammar for Writing - sentence construction and control.
- Punctuation - accuracy and its effect on meaning.
The Year 6 Achievement Test: JEH11/01
| Section | Marks | Assessment objectives | Recommended time | What it contains |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A: Reading (non-fiction) | part of 30 | RAO1 to RAO5 | 20 minutes | Questions on the pre-released non-fiction text. Closed and short-open response. |
| A: Reading (fiction) | part of 30 | RAO1 to RAO5 | 30 minutes | Questions on the pre-released fiction text. Closed and short-open response. |
| B: Grammar and punctuation | 15 | GAO1 | 15 minutes | Short-response questions, all based on the fiction text from Section A. |
| C: Writing | 15 | WAO1, WAO2, WAO3 | 25 minutes | A single extended writing task, related to the theme of the Section A texts. |
| Total | 60 | - | 90 minutes | All questions in every section are compulsory. |
Assessment objectives and their exact weightings
| Code | Objective | % of the qualification |
|---|---|---|
| RAO1 | Retrieve information, events or ideas from texts | 8% |
| RAO2 | Deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts | 15% |
| RAO3 | Identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts | 5% |
| RAO4 | Explore the writers' use of language, at word and sentence level | 8% |
| RAO5 | Consider the writers' purposes and viewpoints, and the overall effect of the text on the reader | 14% |
| GAO1 | Demonstrate how accurate use of grammar, punctuation and spelling contribute to meaning | 25% |
| WAO1 | Write a response appropriate to task, audience and purpose | 8% |
| WAO2 | Organise writing by sequencing and structuring information appropriately and coherently | 7% |
| WAO3 | Communicate meaning in writing through the use of accurate grammar, punctuation and spelling | 10% |
What those percentages tell you to teach
Grammar and punctuation is the single largest objective at 25% - larger than any reading objective and equal to the whole of writing. A quarter of this qualification rests on accuracy, and it is the most improvable thing on the list.
Inference (RAO2, 15%) is the largest reading objective, and it is three times the size of structure (RAO3, 5%). A child who can find stated facts but cannot say what a character is feeling will lose far more than one who cannot label a subheading.
Accurate writing (WAO3, 10%) outweighs task and audience (WAO1, 8%) and organisation (WAO2, 7%). In the 15-mark writing task, correctness matters more than ambition. A short, well-punctuated piece scores better than a long, exciting, error-strewn one.
Using the pre-release properly
The two Section A texts are published by Pearson at least four weeks before the test. Pearson's own guidance recommends that schools give the pre-release around two weeks of lesson time, eight to ten hours. The following sequence follows that guidance.
Get the texts and read them yourself first
Before any lesson. You cannot direct a child's attention to what matters in a text you met the same morning.
Read them aloud, with expression
Pearson recommends this explicitly. Children who have heard a text read well understand its tone, and tone is what RAO5 - 14% of the qualification - asks about.
Work on vocabulary in context and in isolation
Both. A child should know what a word means in the sentence where it appears and be able to say what it means on its own, because the test asks both ways.
Interrogate the writer's language and purpose
Why this word and not a plainer one? Who was this written for? What does the writer want the reader to feel? That is RAO4 and RAO5, 22% between them.
Look at the non-fiction text for audience, purpose and presentation
Headings, captions, images, layout - what each is doing and why it was put there.
Make sure every child has their own copy
To annotate, argue with and take home.
Be clear about what happens on the day
A clean Source Booklet containing both texts is supplied with the paper. Marked-up copies of the pre-release are not permitted in the examination room. Children who have relied on their annotations rather than on knowing the text can be badly caught out, so practise at least once with clean copies.
The practice material below is original RCF work
The activities that follow were written by RCF English. They are not Pearson materials, not past questions, and not sample assessment materials. They are written to rehearse the skills the assessment objectives name.
For official sample assessment materials and past papers, use the iPrimary English page on the Pearson website.
Original RCF practice: the four skills the test rewards most
Four short activities, each aimed at one of the heaviest assessment objectives. They can be used with any text, including the pre-release.
Preparing a Year 6 class
Do this
- Download the pre-release the day it appears and plan two weeks around it.
- Spend most of your reading time on inference, which is the largest reading objective.
- Practise at least once with clean, unannotated copies of the texts.
- Teach punctuation as something that changes meaning, not as a list of rules.
- Time the writing task at 25 minutes so children learn what that feels like.
Avoid this
- Treat the pre-release as optional or leave it to the last week.
- Let children rely on annotations they will not be allowed to bring in.
- Spend equal time on all five reading objectives - they are worth 8, 15, 5, 8 and 14 per cent.
- Reward long writing. Fifteen marks does not need three pages.
- Use a dictionary in practice tests. They are not allowed in the real one.
Next
iLowerSecondary English
Years 7 to 9, and the Year 9 test.
Edexcel curriculum overview
Both stages compared.
International GCSE English
Where this leads from Year 10.