TheSchoolRun.com closure date
As we informed you a few months ago, TheSchoolRun has had to make the difficult decision to close due to financial pressures and the company has now ceased trading. We had hoped to keep our content available through a partnership with another educational provider, but this provider has since withdrawn from the agreement.
As a result, we now have to permanently close TheSchoolRun.com. However, to give subscribers time to download any content they’d like to keep, we will keep the website open until 31st July 2025. After this date, the site will be taken down and there will be no further access to any resources. We strongly encourage you to download and save any resources you think you may want to use in the future.
In particular, we suggest downloading:
- Learning packs
- All the worksheets from the 11+ programme, if you are following this with your child
- Complete Learning Journey programmes (the packs below include all 40 worksheets for each programme)
You should already have received 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep. If you haven’t received these, please contact us at [email protected] before 31st July 2025, and we will send them to you.
We are very sorry that there is no way to continue offering access to resources and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.
What is a command?
What is a command?
Commands are a type of sentence in which someone is being told to do something. There are three other sentence types: questions, exclamations and statements.
Command sentences usually, but not always, start with an imperative (bossy) verb because they tell someone to do something. The teaching of commands should come after children have been taught and can identify the following word classes: noun, verb, adjective and adverb. Once they know these, they can begin work on commands and the use of imperative verbs.
Imperative verbs (like fetch, fold, chop, catch, cook or add) are a feature of instruction text.
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How are children taught about command sentences?
Children will often be introduced to command sentences in a practical way, by perhaps making something in class together, such as a paper airplane or simple buns.
Led by the teacher, they class will discuss how to tell each other how to make the item. This will develop into naming the words they are starting their sentences with; this is when imperative verbs will be mentioned.
Progress will be made towards moving the class from simply identifying imperative verbs in sentences, to writing their own command sentences based on a stimulus. For example, they might be asked to describe the process of making toast, or to write instructions on how to build a tent.
In Upper Key Stage 2, children will be encouraged to write not only instructional texts (such as How to Build an Anderson Shelter) but also progress onto incorporating commands into direct speech. For example:
Children will begin to incorporate commands into their writing with more fluency, across a broader range of text types, by the end of KS2.
When are commands taught in the primary grammar curriculum?
Children are taught what commands are and how to write them once they reach Year 2, though many teachers choose to introduce the word ‘command’ to children in Year 1. They are revised in each year group, usually through the form of instructional writing.
It is likely that children will be tested on their understanding of command sentences in KS1 SATs and KS2 SATs, with questions such as these:
Once children have a firmer grasp of writing direct speech in Upper Key Stage 2, children will be taught and expected to use commands in both instructional writing and within direct speech across a range of text types to demonstrate their ability to adapt their writing style to suit the text type.
