Woolston CE Aided Primary School

At Woolston Church of England Primary School, we encourage our children to write a variety of genres with purpose and awareness of audience, to write creatively using ambitious vocabulary. To enable these aims to be met, it is fundamental that our children learn the acquired knowledge and skills to spell accurately. We want children to use the knowledge of a range of spelling strategies they have learnt and investigated and to be able to apply these strategies to all aspects of their writing. Through regular, isolated spelling sessions we deliver a spelling curriculum that is both knowledge based, in terms of learning rules and investigative. Our intention is to:

• Make the partnership between ‘phonics’ teaching and ‘spelling strategies’ explicitly clear.
• Systematically build up children’s understanding and knowledge of the relationship between letters and sounds.
• Enthuse and engage children to explore spelling strategies through practical and hands on taught sessions.
• Teach the children to make links between alternative pronunciation and spelling, so that they can make informed opinions on spelling choices.
• Equip children with a range of skills and approaches to tackle the spelling of unfamiliar words.
• Give children the confidence to communicate and use words.

The children in Year 1 complete a Phonics Screening Check every year. This enables the teacher to see if they have any gaps in their phonics knowledge. The Phonics Screening Check is made up of nonsense and real words and is to test how well the children can read using their sound blends. The test is administered in June. Please see below for an example of the Phonics Screening Check.

Phonics Phases:

During Foundation Stage, the focus is on Phases 1, 2 & 3.

During Year 1, the focus is on Phases 4 & 5.

During Year 2, Phase 5 is reviewed and Phase 6 begins. Pathways to Spell begins in Year 2 - see information below.

The Phases mats can be found below.

At Woolston Church of England Primary School 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 stage 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. For further detail on the skills that your children are learning on a weekly basis, please contact your class teacher.

Below are statutory words that the children are expected to know by the end of each year.  Please take some time to review these.

Please refer to the Spelling booklets below to support your child with their spelling development.

The Spelling Booklets below outline:

• School’s Aims
• How spelling is taught at Woolston CE
• Spelling Journals
• Spelling in the National Curriculum
• Non- negotiables
• Spelling strategies
• How you can support your child with their spelling or phonics at
• Useful websites