Spelling at St Francis

Our school spelling programme is linked to the National Curriculum expectations and offers the flexibility to meet the needs of specific spelling cohorts with added intervention when required. Each year groups follows a clear teaching sequence and our programme encourages a practical approach and includes investigations.  Our spellings are taught through spelling patterns and rules and the children are encouraged to apply those within their written work

By taking this approach we also extend the children’s vocabularies that and that they feel confident to use new words in their writing.

Each class has a spelling lesson of 15 – 20 minutes timetabled for every day.  On Fridays we have mini tests or dictations which could encompass any of the spelling rules/patterns previously learned (often to words the spellings apply to – not just the examples given during lessons – not just the previous week).

Our spelling lessons follow this schedule:

In conjunction with the spelling patterns, we also cover all the statutory words for each year group during the year.  These can be found on the school website.

How you can help at home

Please do encourage your child to learn their spelling rule and also think of other words that may apply to that rule.  Just a few minutes each evening is sufficient.  The key really is little and often, and it is much better if your child has the opportunity to write their spellings down as they are learnt because they are retained much better that way. It is also very important to make sure that you child knows what each word means and that they can put the words into context – although we will have covered the words in school too!

We have provided some ideas for practising spellings on this website to help when learning spellings at home.