Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar
Spelling and SPaG
Spelling
Spelling takes place in Years One-Six at the beginning of English lessons. Each year group learns 8-12 words a week which are a mixture of common exception words, high frequency words and words focused on a specific spelling rule. At the end of each week children are tested on the 8-12 words that they have been practising. Every four weeks all children take part in a 32-word spelling test (KS1) or 48-word spelling test (KS2) containing all of the words that they the children have learnt over the past four weeks. Teachers keep a record of spelling scores and identify which spelling rules/patterns require more teaching or emphasis placed on them in English lessons.
Spelling Shed
Spelling Shed is a tool used at HCFS to ensure children are able not only to retain the key curriculum words, but transfer these across all areas of their learning. In assemblies at the end of every half term, classes and children are awarded certificates to celebrate the dedication, consistency and improvement they have shown towards their spelling learning. The different key stages across the school are set an assignment each half term which covers the statutory word list of spellings that the children must know. Certificates are awarded to pupils based on their status at the end of the competition. By placing each class within a school league, and our own school within a Spelling Shed National League, we are able to see how our spelling compares with other primary schools.
Access Spelling Shed here: https://www.edshed.com/en-gb/login
SPaG
Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar takes place in Years Two-Six at the beginning of the English lessons. SPaG skills are progressive and support the pupils in their English writing sessions. Children take part in three short sessions a week and apply their knowledge to test based questions in the course of a week. Skills that have been taught but need regular revisiting are identified and incorporated into the daily fluency slides at the beginning of each lesson. Using the Writing for Purpose Grids, pupils are further taught SPaG features and how these can be incorporated into daily writing experiences.