Here at Andoversford, we have been working hard to develop the fundamental skills pupils need across the curriculum.  We are a Good school, and as all good schools do, we constantly evaluate our approaches.  Recently, we have noticed that although our pupils can achieve fairly well in a spelling test, they do not always bring their spelling knowledge into their writing.  We have investigated the issue and to help tackle this, we will be launching a new programme to teach spelling. 

This term, we are introducing teaching strategies using The Spelling Book by Jane Considine from Year 2 to Year 6.  The phonics teaching in Ash Class and Year 1 will not change. This new approach is built on strong phonic foundations and includes a range of deep exploratory investigations, alongside short-burst ‘chunked’ revision activities.  We will be supporting pupils to to self assess and monitor their own strengths and weaknesses in spelling so that they develop expertise and fluency.

At home, you might notice that children are finding new ways of improving their spelling.  The other change you will notice is that we will not be sending word lists home to learn each week.  Our new spelling system is based on exploring and investigating spelling patterns rather than learning a list.  We will also not be doing a weekly spelling test - instead the focus will be on investigating how to use the wealth of spelling patterns in written English!  We want our children to feel equipped to tackle the challenges with joy, confidence and creativity.