National curriculum year 2 help...

[CelinePB]

Hi,

This is my first post so I hope I'm doing this and that this is a UK forum.

I'm a Brit currently living in France, with two boys (7 and 2).

I'm intending to return to the uk next year (probably spring time) but want to make sure my 7 year old won't be too far behind in any subjects. How do I find out what he should be doing in Year 2 (I think that will be his year : he was born in April 2009).

Can anyone point me in the right direction or list the basics that he should have, I'm feeling a bit lost as to where to start and my online searches aren't getting me far.

Thank you

Having been born in April 2009 would put him into Year 2 now. In September he would be starting Y3.

You can find the National Curriculum here:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum

Maybe you could have a look at that and then come back here if you have specific questions? There are lots of knowledgeable people here.

You could also consider letting your son do the KS1 SATS tests. If he were in a UK school he would have done them sometime this month. I'm not sure if they have been published yet but am sure they will be shortly. That might help you judge if, and in which areas he has gaps. But you'd have to be careful in interpreting the results - I think nobody knows yet how many points needed to be achieved to get 'expected'.

Thank you for the link and the says idea, i think that's a super idea. Even if i can find old says papers from last year just to get an idea.

The curriculum is pretty heavy going. I think I'll go the says route or if anyone has any info sheets they can point me in the direction of. Main things I'd like to know are:
What sort of spellings would they been doing in year 2.
What books would they be expected to read I.e. An example book or two so that I can compare...Charlie and Lola books? Or should they be up to horrid Henry style books?
What maths level should they be at? An example of a sum they should be able to do.

Yes he would be in year 3 with that birthday. My son is April 2010 and is going into year 2 this September

Just be aware that this year's SATS are all new. The curriculum has changed and accordingly the SATS as well. Whereas the new curriculum is available as per link above, nobody knows yet how the new SATS should be interpreted, and therefore how they compare to SATS from previous years.

Regarding reading, you can find a very general idea of average age and school year related reading levels here:
www.readingchest.co.uk/book-bands
Or in more detail here:
PDF

For whole free 'sample' books, visit www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/reading-owl/library-page

For maths, you could look at the 2016 sample SATS papers whilst waiting for the real ones to be published.
www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum-assessments-2016-sample-materials

For spellings, I believe in the appendix to the curriculum (as linked above) there is a list of the expected words for each year group.

uk.ixl.com/math/year-2

uk.ixl.com/ela/year-2

This is a paid site, but you can practice up to about 20 question a day for free. You can check out what kind of things they are learning in detail.

Horrid Henry style short-ish chapter books for reading, yes.

For maths, they should be able to add 2 2-digit numbers e.g. 45+27, subtract e.g. 53-21, know x tables and division facts for 2s, 5s, 10s and solve related problems. Find halves and quarters e.g. one quarter of 24.

Thank you all for such helpful advice, you have got me started on the right track. Thank you again.