Spelling

Spelling at VRPS

At Victoria Road Primary School, we encourage children to take pride and interest in spelling. 

 

INTENT

We believe that spelling should be taught explicitly and we understand that the active teaching of spelling plays a decisive role in children’s understanding of how to spell.

At Victoria Road, we ensure that effective teaching of spelling is taught by generating a real enthusiasm and excitement for language – through reading, speaking and writing.   We aim to use meta-cognitive processes to support children so that they take responsibility for their own learning.

Throughout school, we aim for children to develop into confident spellers, who are able to spell quickly and accurately and know the relationship between sounds and letters, understand the word structure and the spelling structure of words.

We aim for children to use their knowledge to be able to describe words, spelling patterns and meanings, developing a knowledge of words, their history and the way they work within language.

 

DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION

Teachers follow the No Nonsense Spelling Scheme for spelling from Year 2 to Year 6. Prior to this in EYFS and Year 1 pupils are taught spellings through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds.

We use the No Nonsense approach to teaching spelling which embraces the knowledge of spelling conventions, patterns and rules. Integral to this is the opportunity to promote the learning of spellings, including statutory words, common exception words and personal spellings.

A typical teaching sequence consists of:

• Revise
• Teach
• Practice
• Apply/Assess

It is teachers discretion as to how many times a week spelling is taught. They will use the daily No Nonsense lessons as they feel best is needed to support the children.

• GAPS tests
• Weekly spelling checks/tests where appropriate
• Monitoring of workbooks for application and improvement
• A cycle of work that gradually releases scaffolding and promotes independence/self-regulation.

The children's learning is assessed throughout the programme. Assessment activities are used to identify if pupils have learnt the key concept. Activities include:

• testing
• dictation
• explaining
• Independent application in writing
• frequent learning and testing of statutory words.

 

IMPACT

We want every child to be able to:

• Attempt words for themselves using a range of strategies and be able to edit their spelling appropriately.
• Write an increasingly wide range of words from memory.
• Use a variety of resources to help with spelling e.g. dictionaries, classroom environment, ICT.
• Develop an understanding and knowledge of spelling patterns and rules through investigations, word studies and discovery.
• Look with intent when editing their own work to recognise and improve mis-spellings.
• Transfer spelling skills across the curriculum
• Develop spelling skills which will help to enrich their life

 

 

 

 

 

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