The note
How schools teach it now
KS2 uses names you may not have learnt: simple present and past, present progressive (is running), past progressive (was running), present perfect (has eaten) and past perfect (had eaten). 'Will' is taught as a modal verb, alongside might, could and should.
5-minute kitchen-table activity
Pick an action, like 'bake'. Take turns putting it in a sentence for each time: I bake, I baked, I am baking, I was baking, I have baked, I had baked. Your child names each form. Then hunt for two of them in a reading book.
Worked example
Which word completes the sentence? By the time we arrived, the film ___ already started. (has, have, had, having)
- Two things happened in the past: we arrived, and the film started.
- The film started first, before the other past event.
- That needs the past perfect: 'had' plus 'started'.
Answer: had
Common mistakes to watch for
- Switching tense halfway through a sentence or story.
- Using 'has' or 'have' for something finished before another past event.
- Mixing up past tense and past participle: 'I have went'.
Encouragement
- Try saying
- “When did each thing happen? Let's draw a quick timeline.”
- Rather than
- “You should have learnt tenses years ago.”