St Botolph's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Spelling

The spelling curriculum is designed as a cumulative journey that builds knowledge over time.

At the start of Year 2, pupils complete a baseline assessment to identify strengths and gaps in their phonic knowledge. Teachers use this information to plan appropriate support through our chosen phonics programme, Twinkle Phonics which may include interventions, additional teaching or one-to-one support.

Pupils are not required to be fully phonics-secure before beginning the spelling curriculum. While phonics gaps are addressed, children continue to participate in spelling lessons. Research suggests that explicit morphological instruction can support spelling development, including for pupils who experience literacy difficulties.

The curriculum is cumulative, beginning with foundational concepts such as consonants and vowels and compound words. Year 2 pupils then develop their understanding of bases, prefixes, suffixes, stems and suffixing rules. In Lower Key Stage 2, new linguistic concepts, including free and bound bases, connecting vowel letters and assimilated prefixes are introduced. In Upper Key Stage 2, children are introduced to increasingly complex morphemes, word families and etymological patterns.

Previously taught knowledge is revisited regularly, enabling children to make connections between words and apply spelling strategies with increasing independence.

Assessment is used diagnostically and formatively to identify strengths, misconceptions and next steps in learning. We do not use isolated or disconnected weekly spelling tests to gauge progress.

At the start of Year 2, pupils complete a baseline assessment to identify gaps in phonic knowledge. This information is used to inform teaching and any additional phonics support required

At the beginning of each new writing unit, pupils complete a morpheme assessment linked to the spelling content they are expected to encounter as they write. Teachers analyse the results to identify strengths and areas for development for individual pupils and across the class as a whole.

Assessment outcomes are used to determine whether classes are ready to access the year-group spelling objectives or whether further teaching is required through the Place Value of Spelling objectives connected to that writing unit. This ensures that teaching is responsive to pupil need and that children have every opportunity to master the fundamentals that underpin all other spelling learning.

Independent writing is the primary and most important source of evidence for assessing spelling attainment. It demonstrates whether pupils can successfully transfer and apply taught spelling knowledge when composing for real purposes.

Spelling is taught explicitly through regular, planned lessons and is closely aligned with the school's writing curriculum. During spelling lessons, pupils encounter new morphemes and spelling concepts that can be applied in their writing, helping them make meaningful connections among spelling, vocabulary and composition. Typically, children will perform the following range of activities:

• Explore bases, prefixes and suffixes.
• Build and manipulate words.
• Investigate relationships between words.
• Use word matrices to explore word families.
• Write and discuss word sums.
• Learn and apply suffixing conventions.
• Investigate the origins and development of words.
• Apply newly learned spelling knowledge within meaningful writing tasks.
• Consolidate their understanding of a morpheme using Morphs Spelling Game.