KS2 tutors for English, maths and science

England’s KS2 curriculum develops across lower KS2, Years 3–4, and upper KS2, Years 5–6. A Year 3 pupil building number understanding needs a different starting task from a Year 6 pupil connecting fractions, decimals and percentages. English includes reading and writing; science includes learning to ask questions, investigate and explain findings. The examples below illustrate those skills and should be adjusted to what your child already knows.

In Northern Ireland, KS2 covers Years 5–7. Scotland uses Curriculum for Excellence, while Wales uses Curriculum for Wales. Give the tutor your child’s school year and current curriculum, including the language of teaching where relevant, so that England’s year-group expectations are not applied automatically.

KS2 also includes subjects such as computing, languages and the humanities and arts. If you need help beyond the examples here, name the subject and school task when enquiring. Schools can organise teaching differently, so use current classwork to agree the sequence.

School feedback gives a starting point, not a complete tuition plan. Put the comment beside a recent task and ask your child where help was needed. The examples below show how to turn broad concerns into questions a tutor can investigate.

Here is a constructed example of a lower-KS2 fraction difficulty: a child says 1/6 is bigger than 1/3 because 6 is bigger than 3. The denominator is the number below the line; it tells us how many equal parts make the whole.

Draw two equal-length bars. Divide one into three equal parts and the other into six. One third covers the same length as two sixths, so 1/3 is greater than 1/6. The comparison works because the two wholes are the same size. A useful explanation is: “More equal pieces in the same whole means each piece is smaller.”

Next, find 2/3 of 18: share 18 counters into three equal groups of 6, then take two groups, giving 12. Once that idea is secure, try 3/4 of 20: four equal groups of 5, then three groups, giving 15. Look for an explanation of the groups as well as the answer.

For an upper-KS2 connection, compare 3/4 of 20 with 75% of 20. Since 75% means 75/100, which is 3/4, both give 15. The useful step is explaining why the two forms represent the same amount.

Use school feedback to choose the next task

Suppose schoolwork shows correct whole-number addition but repeated fraction errors. The first question is whether the child understands what the denominator represents. These illustrative checks can make the tuition brief more precise.

Adding fractions in lower KS2. For 2/7 + 3/7, a child might add both numbers and write 5/14. Draw one strip divided into seven equal parts. Shade two parts, then three different parts: five of the seven parts are now shaded, so the answer is 5/7. The denominator, the bottom number, stays seven because the size of each part has not changed. Same-denominator addition within one whole is part of England’s Year 3 programme.

For a follow-up, try 6/7 − 2/7. Cross out two of six shaded sevenths to leave 4/7. A useful sign of understanding is explaining why the answer still counts sevenths, without copying the first calculation.

Revisiting decimals in upper KS2. A child may say 0.35 is larger than 0.4 because 35 is larger than 4. Write 0.4 as 0.40: forty hundredths is more than thirty-five hundredths, so 0.4 > 0.35. This consolidates decimal place value developed in Year 4; later work extends the range of numbers. The next step depends on whether the child can explain the comparison, not just select the correct symbol.

Agree which difficulty to address first. For example, ask for a new same-denominator fraction task after teaching and check that the child can explain why the denominator stays unchanged.

Reading example. Consider this invented passage: “Maya stopped outside the classroom, took a deep breath and checked her notes again.” Asked how Maya might feel, “She checked her notes” only repeats an action. An inference uses the clues to suggest something the text does not state directly. A supported answer is: “She may be nervous because she pauses, takes a deep breath and checks her notes again.” Another interpretation may be reasonable if the child explains the evidence; the passage does not prove exactly what Maya feels.

Writing example. Start with “The playground was wet. It rained.” Ask the child to say how the ideas connect, then revise it to “The playground was wet because it had rained.” The word “because” makes the reason clear. Read it aloud and check that the sentence still says what the child intended. For a next task, join “I put on my coat. It was cold” in the same way, then check the capital letter and full stop.

These are small practice tasks, not official test answers. They let you distinguish understanding a text or organising an idea from copying an adult’s finished response.

Use school feedback to choose the next task

In both lower and upper KS2, England’s English curriculum asks pupils to support inferences about characters with evidence. An inference is an idea worked out from clues, rather than a fact directly stated.

Try this short, invented passage: “As the classroom door opened, Maya pushed the broken ruler beneath her book.” Ask: How might Maya be feeling, and what suggests that?

“She is worried” gives a possible feeling but no explanation. “Maya broke the ruler” adds an event the passage does not establish. A stronger response is: “Maya may be worried that someone will see the ruler, because she hides it as the door opens.” This connects an interpretation to an action while recognising that another explanation is possible.

A child who needs support could begin, “Maya may feel … because …”. Then try answering without that sentence starter and point to the words that support the idea. For an upper-KS2 reader, build towards explaining and comparing clues across a longer text.

Writing needs its own practice too. In Years 3–4, rehearse a sentence aloud and group sentences about the same topic into a paragraph. In Years 5–6, consider who will read the piece and how each paragraph follows from the last. A tutor can use a short piece of the child’s writing to agree one revision to practise.

Turn the observation into a brief: “Please check whether the difficulty is finding a clue or explaining how it supports an answer.” Keep a new reading response for the review, so the comparison is not just a neater copy of the original.

In this constructed investigation, a child asks whether a toy car travels further along the floor from a higher ramp. Changing the car as well as the ramp would make the result hard to explain. Change only the ramp height; keep the car, ramp surface, floor surface and release method the same, and release the car from the same point at the top without pushing. Measure from the bottom of the ramp to where the car stops.

Suppose the car travels 40 cm from a 10 cm-high ramp and 65 cm from a 20 cm-high ramp. “The car travelled further from the higher ramp in these two runs” fits those observations. “Higher ramps always make every car go further” goes beyond the evidence. Repeat each height to see whether the pattern is consistent.

A useful sign of understanding is that your child can name what changed, what stayed the same and what the measurements allow them to conclude.

Use school feedback to choose the next task

England’s Year 3 science programme includes comparing movement across surfaces. A toy-car investigation can show the difference between guessing and using evidence.

The question: does the same toy car travel farther on a smooth surface or on carpet after leaving a ramp? If the child changes both the surface and the ramp height, the result cannot show which change mattered. Keep the car, ramp height and release point the same, release without pushing, and change only the landing surface. Measure from the end of the ramp to where the car stops, in centimetres.

Illustrative results: three runs on the smooth surface give 70, 72 and 68 cm; three on carpet give 25, 27 and 23 cm. These are invented readings for this example. Even the shortest smooth-surface run is longer than the longest carpet run. A supported conclusion is: “In this test, the car travelled farther on the smooth surface.” The readings do not establish how far every car will travel.

A younger pupil can identify what changed and describe what happened. In upper KS2, ask the learner to explain the variables, meaning the things that could change, decide which to keep the same, and explain why repeated readings help check the result.

If this is the difficulty in schoolwork, ask the tutor to check the child’s explanation before adding more facts to learn. A review task can change the surfaces while keeping the question about a fair comparison; ask what should remain the same and what the readings allow the child to conclude.

In England, the usual primary assessments include the Year 4 multiplication tables check and Year 6 national curriculum tests, often called SATs. The Year 6 tests cover English reading, English grammar, punctuation and spelling, and mathematics. Writing and science are teacher-assessed, so preparing for written tests alone does not cover the whole picture.

For the multiplication check, focus on understanding and recalling multiplication facts. For Year 6, identify whether errors come from missing knowledge, misreading a question or applying a method. Use a suitable practice question, discuss the mistake and then try a similar question independently. Timed practice can follow when the underlying skill is secure.

School entrance or transfer tests are a separate goal. If that is your priority, give the tutor the target school and its current admissions information. A general KS2 plan should not assume that SATs practice covers a particular entrance test. Confirm current assessment arrangements with your child’s school.