How We Teach Spelling at Trinity Primary Academy

We know that learning to  spell and seeing yourself as a successful speller is an important part of a child's learning journey. Starting from Early Years and the introduction to phonics through the Sounds Write approach, children are taught that letters represent sounds in words and misconceptions and errors are addressed immediately but the teacher and TA. The children are allowed time to review their spellings and are supported by the teacher or TA to check their spelling against the modelled spelling and through oral rehearsal of the sounds and correct it.

This focused approach through explicit teaching using the Sounds Write approach in phonics continues into Key Stage One, where children are exposed to and taught all of the spellings of the sounds in the English language. 

Key Stage Two also teach spellings using the Sounds Write approach, here the teachers recap and revise the phonemes and their spellings taught in Key Stage One. Suffixes and prefixes are taught, using the same structured approach and a range of polysyllabic words including the spelling lists for each year group are also taught.

Here at Trinity we do not send lists of spellings home to be learnt and then tested, research has shown that this is not an effective way to learn to spell. Your child's teach may send focus word lists home for you to read and practise at home if you wish.