SPELLING
POLICY
This policy was adopted/updated: January 2015
This policy will be reviewed: January 2017 or as needed
Statutory: No
Source: Hampton Wick Infant & Nursery School
HAMPTON WICK INFANT AND NURSERY SCHOOL
Spelling Policy
Rationale
Staff at Hampton Wick Infant and Nursery School believe that all pupils should be
given the opportunity to develop themselves to their full potential.
We wish to ensure that pupils are provided with the necessary skills to become
confident, fluent, independent young writers. Communicating with others is an
essential skill in achieving this aim; the ability to spell age-appropriate words
correctly is a central part of effective written communication with others, moreover
it contributes to helping our pupils in their overall literacy development.
We recognise that there is a range of different ways that spelling is learnt
and that any approach to the teaching and learning of spelling has to have a high
degree of personalisation.
Aims
To promote good spelling habits and provide a range of strategies to meet the
needs of all children.
To act as good role models i.e. to show that spelling is part of the process of
making meaning to others.
To ensure that our pupils have a growing number and range of words that they
can spell correctly from memory, matched to their ability and need.
To make the connection between correctly spoken sounds and correctly spelt
words.
Foundation Stage Spelling Provision
In the Foundation Stage phonics is taught systematically using Letters and
Sounds.
Children learn about spelling as they:
 Learn environmental sounds, instrumental sounds, body sounds, rhythm
and rhyme, alliteration, voice sounds and finally oral blending and
segmenting (Phase 1 – started Nursery and continued throughout
Reception).
 Learn 19 letters of the alphabet and one sound for each. Blending sounds
together to make words. Segmenting words into their separate sounds.
Beginning to read simple captions (Phase 2 taught in both Reception and
Nursery).
 Learn the remaining 7 letters of the alphabet, one sound for each.
Graphemes such as /ch/, /oo/, /th/ representing the remaining phonemes
not covered by single letters. Reading captions, sentences and questions.
On completion of this Phase, children will have learnt the "simple code",
i.e. one grapheme for each phoneme in the English language (Phase 3
taught in Reception).
 Additionally some children may learn to blend and segment longer words
with adjacent consonants, e.g.,. swim, clap, jump (Phase 4 taught in the
Spring Term of Reception and continuing into Year 1).
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KS1 Spelling Provision
Our Year 1 spelling strategy follows the guidelines set out in Letters and Sounds
and is primarily delivered through daily phonics and supported during literacy and
others areas of the curriculum.
Spelling strategies are constantly modelled by staff and dictionary skills are
encouraged throughout the year. Children learn more graphemes for the phonemes
which they already know, plus different ways of pronouncing the graphemes they
already know (Phase 4 and Phase 5).
In Year 2, pupils continue to work on spelling, including prefixes and suffixes, doubling
and dropping letters etc. (Phase 5 and Phase 6).
In both year groups , our pupils are learning about spelling in the following ways:
 Teaching the 44 phonemes
 Developing an understanding of diagraphs and tri-graphs
 Teaching the children the alternative ways of making a given phoneme e.g., /ay/
/ai/ /a-e/ /eigh/
 Teaching strategies for choosing the correct spelling e.g., /oi/ is generally in the
middle of a word whereas /oy/ is at the end.
 Teaching the use of and using phoneme frames to chunk words into phonemes.
 Teaching children to apply their knowledge of other words e.g. if you know how
to spell s-m –all, then you can use that knowledge to spell s-m –all –e-s-t.
Children are encouraged to apply their knowledge of spelling by:
 Focusing on correct pronunciation of a word to hear all the phonemes.
 Trying to spell words in their writing books and developing the confidence to see
if it looks right.
 Positive encouragement for using ‘wow’ words spelt phonetically e.g., inormus.
High frequency words (HFW) are learnt by:
 Introducing ‘tricky’ words that cannot be sounded out e.g., woz /was –these are
words that have to be learnt supported by HFW word games.
 Talking through each word to find the ‘tricky’ part e.g., the /ai/ in said.
 Teaching HFW in phonics as outlined in Letters and Sounds.
 Using the LCWC (Look Cover Write Check) method so children can
independently learn words.
Homework
We ask parents to support us in spelling homework by encouraging and supporting
children to either sound to blend or learn to spell the words sent home.
Formal spelling phonics homework begins at the end of the first half term in Reception
in the form of phonically decodable reading books sent home three times a week as
well as a weekly set of tricky words for children to practise at home. These words will
be the same as the tricky words covered for reading during the weekly phonics lesson.
Children in Reception also complete a weekly Sound Book that allows them to practise
recognising the phonemes they have covered in class at the beginning of words.
Children in Year 1 and Year 2 receive weekly spellings to learn, the number of which
varies from 5-10 according to child’s age and stage of development. The spellings are
taken from the Letters and Sounds document and some words may link directly to the
daily phonics sessions whilst others may be from the first 200 most common words.
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Children who can spell these words may be extended with topic words as well as
words with spelling patterns.
Children in Year 2 working at Phase 6 may be given words that need to be altered
according to a particular rule for spelling that they have practised in class e.g., a list of
10 words that the child must change from the singular form to the plural.
Children’s weekly spellings are tested in a weekly ‘quiz’ so class teachers can assess
how well each child is applying their spelling knowledge. Weekly quizzes are
administered in ability groups across each year group (Year 1 and Year 2).
Class teachers are responsible for the setting of weekly spellings for all learners within
their class, including those where a child’s learning needs mean that they require their
own specifically tailored programme of phonics and spelling.
Marking and correction of spelling errors in pupil’s work
When correcting spellings in written work, teachers vary their methods according to the
age and ability of the child. We feel it is important to maintain motivation, and also to
mark according to the main teaching/learning objectives, of which the class should be
made aware. For instance, if the piece of writing is presented to the class as a "have-ago" story, then certain incorrect spellings may be highlighted in line with ‘pink to think’.
(See Marking Policy). Conversely, if the work is cloze procedure with a choice of
alternatives given to fill the gaps, then incorrect spellings would be indicated.
Incorrect spelling of common usage words is shown, and may be used as a teaching
point, with the individual. The correct spelling of this word may then be copied out three
times by the child in the margin of their book to help them remember the correct
spelling.
Children, especially in Year 2, are encouraged to have a go at spelling before having it
checked by an adult. In Year 1 tricky words are displayed in the classroom to aid
independent writing.
Dictionaries, thesauruses and other word reference books
A variety of word books of this kind, of differing complexities, is readily available in all
classrooms. Pupils are taught to use them, and practise dictionary skills by means of
games or more formal exercises. They are encouraged to use them in the proof
reading and redrafting processes, or when checking spellings in their word books. They
are also used when information about words, other than direct spellings, is required.
Use of Technology
We acknowledge the importance of technology across the curriculum, and view it
as another strategy to help improve children’s spelling. Programs are available to
be used for a variety of purposes. They may reinforce the Look-cover-write-check
technique, clarify letter confusion, extend children’s knowledge of word formation,
or teach basic alphabet letters. We make extensive use in Years 1 and 2 of the
interactive white board and laptops, online resources, iPads and short teaching
programmes.
Modelling Spelling
We acknowledge the importance of correct spelling, a positive attitude to words,
and good spelling habits by the teachers and other adults in the school, as
models for the children. This applies to writing on the board, on worksheets, on
letters home, in displays and comments on work.
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