The English grammar, punctuation and spelling test (informally known as the SPAG test) was introduced in May 2013 as part of the KS2 SATs programme for Year 6 pupils, replacing the previous English writing test. 

‘The Government wants all children to leave primary school with a sound grasp of essential English skills,’ a Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said at the time. ‘The test will put an additional focus on writing skills and encourage good teaching.’ 

In May 2016, the SPAG test was updated (in line with the new primary curriculum) and was made more challenging.

The SPAG test includes questions that assess the following elements of the English curriculum:

• Sentence grammar through both identifying and writing sentences that are grammatically correct

• Punctuation through identifying and writing sentences that are correctly punctuated

• Vocabulary through identifying and writing sentences in which a word is used correctly

• Spelling taught spelling patterns and rules