Taken from the Department for Education’s English Appendix 1: Spelling

In year 1, your child will revisit the phonics sounds that they learnt in Reception, and then go on to learn new phonics sounds. Ask your child’s teacher which phonics sounds they will be learning and what order they will be learning them in. As well as their phonics sounds, your child will also learn the spellings shown below.

What will my child learn?Examples
The sounds /f/, /l/, /s/, /z/ and /k/ spelt ff, ll, ss, zz and ck.off, well, miss, buzz, back
The -nk sound at the end of words.  bank, think, honk, sunk
Dividing words into syllables.  pocket, rabbit, carrot, thunder, sunset
The -tch sound.  catch, fetch, kitchen, notch, hutch
The v sound at the end of words.  have, live, give
Adding s and es to words.  cats, dogs, spends, rocks, thanks, catches
Adding the endings –ing, –ed and –er to verbs.hunting, hunted, hunter, buzzing, buzzed, buzzer, jumping, jumped, jumper
Adding –er and –est to adjectives.grander, grandest, fresher, freshest, quicker, quickest
Words ending in -y.  very, happy, funny, party, family
The sounds ph and wh.dolphin, alphabet, phonics, elephant when, where, which, wheel, while
The k sound written as a ‘k’ not a ‘c’.  Kent, sketch, kit, skin, frisky
Adding the prefix –un.unhappy, undo, unload, unfair, unlock
Compound words.Football, playground, farmyard, bedroom, blackberry

Year 1 – Common Exception Words

These are words for children to learn to spell from memory and to read by sight.

  • the
  • a
  • do
  • to
  • today
  • of
  • said
  • says
  • are
  • were
  • was
  • is
  • his
  • has
  • I
  • you
  • your
  • they
  • be
  • he
  • me
  • she
  • he
  • me
  • she
  • we
  • no
  • go
  • so
  • by
  • be
  • my
  • here
  • there
  • where
  • love
  • come
  • some
  • one
  • once
  • ask
  • friend
  • school
  • put
  • push
  • pull
  • full
  • house
  • our