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Changes to How Spellings are Taught

Dear Parents/Carers
Over the next few weeks we will be introducing the ‘Word Power League’ to children across the school. These are characters who support children with understanding different aspects of words. This enables children to have more awareness of the words they are exploring and can be seen in the attached document ‘Meet the Word Power League.’ Children in reception and Year 1 are rigorously taught phonics and so don’t begin to look at spellings beyond ‘phoneme phantom’ until Year 2.
Each week, the spelling patterns will be taught in school for Years 2 to Year 6 in lessons called ‘Word Study.’ Because of this, we have moved to whole class spelling lists in Class 3 and Class 4 (where previously each year group had their own words,) and Year 2 continue to have their own word list.   Here are the spelling lists for the first half of the autumn term.
The words are no different in difficulty from previous years – they are all from the Year 2, Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 national curriculum objectives respectively. However, to support children in having a deeper understanding and encouraging their long-term memory, children in Year 2, Year 3 and Year 5 have 8 spellings. If your child is in Year 3 or Year 5 and would like to attempt 9 or 10 spellings from the list, they are more than welcome to.
Please note that spelling tests will take place on a Friday from Friday 17th September. If you are able to support your child with their spellings at home, we encourage them to think about the ‘Word Power League’ and rehearse them little and often, including revisiting previously tested words. Making it fun and a positive experience is key. There will be further information for parents and carers about spellings later on in the term.
We look forward to bringing the ‘Word Power League’ into the classroom and would like to thank parents and carers for their ongoing support,
Louise Rayner
English subject leader