At Ilchester Community Primary, spelling is a fundamental aspect of our language curriculum that helps students develop their writing and communication skills. Through engaging activities, games, and practice exercises, students learn to recognise and spell a variety of words accurately. Our spelling program focuses on phonics, word patterns, and vocabulary building, enabling students to enhance their reading and writing abilities. By fostering a strong foundation in spelling, we aim to boost students' confidence in their literacy skills and encourage a lifelong love for words and language.

Intent

The National Curriculum programmes of study for spelling at key stages 1 and 2 consist of two dimensions:

· Spelling rules appropriate to each phase

· Common Exception Word list for each phase

The teaching at Ilchester Primary School focusses on developing pupils’ competence in spelling familiar, unfamiliar and tricky words.

It is essential that the children at Ilchester Primary School are able to think and write creatively, be ambitious with their choice of vocabulary and to write for purpose and pleasure with the audience in mind. In order to be able to do this, children need to learn skills to be able to spell accurately. This will in turn reduce the cognitive demand placed on children while they are writing. Vocabulary is an essential stepping stone in children’s development, and a wider vocabulary can be developed through exposure to and practice of key spelling words, including their etymology and rules.

Implementation 

These aims are embedded across our curriculum, particularly the weekly literacy planning. We have a rigorous and well-organised English curriculum that provides many purposeful opportunities for spelling development.

Further to this, children from reception and to Y2 develop a sound knowledge of spelling strategies as part of the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds, as outlined in the phonics and early reading policy. Small groups and regular assessment, ensure that children progress through the programme at a rate appropriate to their level of understanding.

Children who are identified as requiring further support in phonetic understanding in KS2 also benefit from participation in the programme. Each class has weekly spelling assessments of key vocabulary informed by the national curriculum.

In Key Stage 2, children have daily spelling lessons which follow the rules and Common Exception Words from the National Curriculum. The etymology of the words is investigated, as well as ways to adapt the words using prefixes and suffixes. Alternative words which follow the same rules are introduced and tested to ensure children learn the patterns and can use these when writing independently. There are weekly spelling tests to allow teachers to monitor the progress of the children in their class, as well as a robust tracking system to ensure gaps are being filled. Targeted spelling interventions are put into place for children who would benefit from additional support in this area.

Word lists are set through spelling logs, with guidance on a range of strategies shared with parents to support home help.

The school’s marking policy also places a strong emphasis on supporting the improvement of spelling, with an initial focus on tier 1 words.

Impact

The children at Ilchester Community Primary School are given regular opportunities to explore and investigate the English language and its patterns through speaking and listening. As pupils move through the key stages, they develop, consolidate and secure the skills needed to read, share, enjoy and interpret a wide variety of literature. Our pupils acquire the knowledge and learn the skills to apply their spelling, grammar and punctuation skills to a variety of purposes in a range of thematic, cross-curricular contexts. Our pupils are encouraged to think creatively, to be adventurous with their use of language and to write with clear purpose.

When spelling, our pupils:

· Use their phonic skills effectively when blending phonemes for reading and when segmenting phonemes for spelling

· Have an interest in words, their meanings and their origins, developing a growing vocabulary both for speaking and writing

· Write with confidence and creativity, while developing the skills to self-edit, correct and improve

· Are encouraged to be imaginative, creative and challenge themselves.

The success of the school’s approaches to spelling is evidenced by high results in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1.

Children also achieve high results during the standard assessment tests at the end of KS2, in which children’s spelling is assessed.

Outcomes of written work further evidence the children’s confidence and accuracy in spelling in school.

Teaching and Learning

In order for children to achieve a high standard of spelling, they need to be explicitly taught the knowledge and skills needed. Weekly spelling lessons take place from Y1 – 6 following the spelling rules and expectations set out in the National Curriculum English Appendix 1: Spelling.

Our focus on teaching spelling embraces the knowledge of spelling conventions, patterns and rules, including combining the teaching of spelling and handwriting. Our teaching of spelling includes knowledge of common exception words, high frequency words, statutory words and personal and topic spelling.

A range of teaching strategies are used in our spelling sessions, including:

· Look, say, cover, write, check

· Dictation

· Segmentation strategy

· Etymology and knowledge of word classes

· Clapping and counting sounds/syllables

· Mnemonics

In spelling and grammar sessions, children are taught how to use a dictionary in order to investigate word meaning, origins and spellings. We use age appropriate dictionaries from Y2 -6 which ensure that our pupils make progress in their dictionary skills as they progress through school.

Assessment

The assessment of spelling is in line with the school’s Assessment Policy which is mainly seen as assessment in context. For example:

· Spellings in an unseen, dictated sentence

· Spellings in independent writing

· Results of weekly spelling tests

Our assessment of spelling is in line with the guidance outlined in the National Curriculum English Appendix 1: Spelling.

Planning and Resources

We use the National Curriculum English Appendix 1: Spelling as the basis of our spelling planning for Years 1 – 6. Spelling is also incorporated into the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds sessions for Reception – Y2 as seen in the Phonics and Early Reading Policy.

Organisation

From Y1 – 6, discrete spelling lessons take place every day. These last for approximately 15 minutes and are used to practise the rules and words that children will continue to practise at home as part of their spelling homework. During spelling sessions, explicit spelling knowledge is taught and skills are practised. These are reinforced during spelling assessments. Emphasis is always placed on children ‘having a go’ at applying the sounds that they have learnt, rather than achieving the correct spelling. There is also a great focus on children learning how to spell high-frequency irregular words.

Spelling progression is ensured by following the National Curriculum Appendix 1: Spelling, which shows the spelling rules to be taught in each phase and a list of statutory spelling words which must be learnt. Word banks are used across the curriculum to support children to use adventurous and technical vocabulary in their writing.

Parents and guardians

We recognise and appreciate the huge part that parents play in their child’s progress in spelling and all of our pupils are given spellings to learn as part of their weekly homework. We believe that the learning undertaken at home should be an extension to the practise at school and in order to fully support their children, parents will be kept informed of our approaches to teaching spelling through our annual, ‘Meet the Teacher’ meetings and parental workshops where relevant. We encourage our pupils to spend some time every day learning the spellings sent home. Spelling homework should reflect the strategies being used in the classroom and these are communicated to parents through the spelling logs. Regular communication with parents in relation to spelling is essential. Should we have any concerns about a child’s progress in spelling, we speak to parents at the earliest opportunity to discuss how their child might best be supported.