Spelling

At St Chad’s C.E. Primary School we want every child to know that they can spell and to enjoy spelling lessons and home learning tasks. We aim to develop children who can spell proficiently and have strategies to use when coming across a word they are unsure of.

Once children are secure in their phonics and have completed our ‘Little Wandle’ scheme, they transfer to ‘Pathways to Spell’. For the majority of our children, this begins in Year 2. From this point, spelling lessons are taught 3 or 4 times a week for approximately 20 minutes. In our Key Stage 2 classes, the spellings are taught on a rolling programme from the Year 3/4 units and the Year 5/6 units.

We follow a mastery approach to the teaching of spelling through the programme ‘Pathways to Spell’. It is a programme designed to deliver the statutory content of the Primary National Curriculum for spelling in key stages 1 and 2. Through weekly teaching of spelling objectives and development of a whole school approach to word transcription, vocabulary development and proof-reading, the programme aims to develop children as proficient spellers.

You will find the end of year expectations for spelling for each of our year groups in the attached documents below. For further detail on the skills that your children are learning on a weekly basis, please contact your class teacher.

Children who are not phonologically secure from Year 2 upwards, still take part in ‘Little Wandle Rapid Catch Up’ sessions.  Other resources/strategies that we use for children who are not yet meeting age-related expectations include precision teaching, focus five spelling grids, have a go mats and accessing key word mats during lessons.

When children leave St Chad’s they are secure with their phonics and are proficient spellers or have a range of strategies to draw upon to aid their spellings.