English·Writing Composition·procedural
Writing a Précis
Precis longer passages by summarising the main ideas and key information concisely while maintaining the essential meaning and removing non-essential detail
Suggested ages 10–11
Learning journey
Your child is developing advanced writing skills — planning stories with well-developed characters, organising information clearly with headings and layouts, and learning to research and summarise information from different sources.
Evidence of understanding
- Reduce a three-paragraph text to a single paragraph capturing all main points
- Identify and remove redundant information while preserving essential meaning
- Write a precis that is no more than one-third the length of the original text
Assessment prompt
If Writing a Précis reads a long article about a topic they're studying, can they write a short summary in their own words that captures the key points without copying sentences?
Standards alignment
Eng.UKS2.Write.Comp.2cGB · uk-nc-2013
Précis passages
The national curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document · Key Stage 2