Grammar and Spelling at Woodside Primary Academy

Intent

Grammar and spelling are strands of the English curriculum at Woodside Primary Academy, intended to allow children to express themselves and communicate effectively and accurately, in order to make themselves clearly understood, both now and in later life.

Our curriculum is progressive in the way that it builds on prior knowledge. For example, spelling across KS2 builds on spelling and phonics from KS1, whilst also offering the opportunity for revisiting in areas of weakness. Similarly, grammatical knowledge and terminology is introduced from an early age and is constantly revisited and developed in how it is applied to writing, especially further up the school, so that children can begin to use their knowledge to make stylistic choices and become confident in how they talk about their linguistic structures. For some children with individual needs, spelling and grammar may be tailored specifically to meet their needs, but still with a view that all reasonable efforts will be made to allow all children to access age – appropriate objectives.

Spelling and grammar are taught in discrete lessons, or within the context of an English unit of work. However, they are taught, accurate spelling and grammar are expected to be applied within English written lessons, and other written outcomes across the curriculum

  Implementation

Spelling teaching begins in EYFS with the development of early phonic knowledge and its application to writing words. All children continue with a phonic education through KS1, with each element applied to spelling as well as to reading.  Children who do not reach age – expected levels of attainment for phonics by the end of KS1 may continue into Year 3 and beyond with this approach, for spelling, reading or both.

At Woodside, we use the Rising Stars spelling scheme based on the 2014 National Curriculum.  The primary strategies that are utilised in the teaching sequences of Rising stars are: Phonetic spelling strategies, Visual spelling strategies, Mnemonics, Rule based strategies and Word - meaning strategies.

We teach spelling rules and patterns explicitly. High frequency words, topic words and year group specific words are learnt alongside.

It is expected that accurate spelling should be applied to writing at all times, with high frequency words and topic – specific vocabulary among the non – negotiables.

Impact

End of KS2 data for July 2019 in SPaG shows 83% of our pupils achieving at least age – expected levels, of which 37% were at the higher standard. This compares to 78% nationally, of which 36% at the higher standard.