Implementation

At Hoole St Michael we believe writing is a journey that is built upon throughout each year; from mark making in Nursery to using a range of sentence types, grammar and vocabulary in Year 6. We understand the importance of writing and the fact it is not a skill that is discrete but one that children use in every lesson and in everyday life.

In EYFS, the focus in on the physical skill of writing, in many different medias, and using this skill to convey an idea.

In Key Stage 1, pupils develop the physical skill of writing further, and learn how to organise their ideas in writing, whilst introducing grammar and punctuation. They will be encouraged to develop positive attitudes towards writing to support them as they build a writing stamina.

During Key Stage 2, pupils build upon their writing skill from Key Stage 1 implementing a wider range of grammar and punctuation. They start to explore how the English language can be used to express meaning in different ways. They use the planning, drafting and editing process to improve their work and to sustain their fiction and non-fiction writing.

We aspire to enthuse our pupils with a love of writing, so expose pupils to a range of inspiring, high level texts as a stimulus and models that enables them to learn the correct grammatical skills, structure and voice to be able to create their own, in English lesson and across the curriculum. This supports the children to develop a wide vocabulary, through reading, dictionary work and in all lessons, that they use in writing across school.

Handwriting

As a school we follow Letter Join from Reception to Year 6. This supports the learning of handwriting in school to help children learn cursive handwriting using the correct joins.

Spelling

Children at Hoole St Michael are set weekly spellings linked to phonics or spelling rules from to their year group, or from the tricky words or statutory spelling list for their year group. During the week these spelling are reenforced through phonics and spelling lessons. These lessons are guided by Spelling No Nonsense this is followed from Year 2 to Year 6.

Grammar and Punctuation
The children will be taught the correct grammatical terms throughout school, however their grammar lesson will be taught both discreetly and as part of their English lesson. At Hoole St Michael we believe that children learn and maintain grammar knowledge best when they have the opportunity to apply it. Pupils are taught the grammar and punctuation listed in the National Curriculum 2014.

Impact

The impact of our English curriculum is monitored closely at Hoole St Michael to ensure we are constantly providing first quality teaching across school. This is monitored by Senior Leadership by half termly learning walks, book and planning scrutinies, pupil interviews and lesson observations.

We assess spelling weekly and complete termly assessment writing pieces. We use the Lancashire Key Learning Document to support and track the progress of the pupils.

Children should leave Hoole St Michael prepared and confident for the next stage of their English learning.

Useful spelling websites

BBC Bitesize (spelling): http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/english/spelling_grammar/spelling/play/

7 – 11 year olds. KS2 spelling activities

Doorway speller: http://www.doorwayonline.org.uk/literacy/speller/

5 – 11 year olds: Practise spelling using the ‘Looks, Say, Cover, Write and Check’ method. Enter text using their keyboard or the on-screen keyboard. A great selection of word families including high frequency words (Flash required)

Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check: http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/lookcover/lookcover.html

5 – 11 year olds: A good spelling site for primary aged children to use either in school or at home. The word bank includes phonic and topic words. You can enter your own words if you have a spelling list to learn.

Prefixes and Suffixes: http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?b=english/spelling

7 – 11 year olds: A game where you need to choose prefixes and suffixes to make a new word.

Spelling bee: http://www.learner.org/interactives/spelling/index.html

5 – 18 year olds: The spelling activities on this US site are for children aged 5 in September (Grade 1) up to age 17 in September (Grade 10). The primary age activities are good exercises for KS1 and KS2 spelling SATs in England as they follow a similar format. The more advanced spellings for older children would also be a challenge for some of our more able spellers.

Spelling Practice sheets: 

10 – 11 year olds: Eighteen spelling practice sheets to help with revision for the Key Stage 2 SATs spelling test. The words are usefully arranged in sets with similar spelling patterns. This is a PDF document so you need Acrobat Reader.

Spellbound: https://gridclub.com/activities/spellbound

5 – 12 year olds: A spelling game where you can improve spelling with three different methods: listening and responding; recognising visual patterns; researching with dictionary. Useful for high frequency words.

Fish ‘em up: http://www.missmaggie.org/scholastic/fishemup2_eng_launcher.html

7 – 11 year olds. Drop the fishing line to catch the right ending to words in this spelling game.

Look, say, cover, write, check: http://www.ictgames.com/lcwc.html

5 – 7 year olds: A brilliant version of the spelling site where you can test yourself on high frequency words or enter your own words easily to test your knowledge.

All these and other sites can be accessed through the Topmarks site: http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=spelling&p=1