Teaching & Learning Focus

Teaching and Learning Focus: Spelling

Following professional development on the Science of Reading and research in this area in 2021, we are implementing Sounds-Write in our junior classrooms this year. Markeeta Green (Intervention Leader) and Bianca Vesico (F/1 Teacher), both undertook Sounds Write Training in term four 2021. Diana Rinaldi (F/1 Teacher) and Josh Carr (2/3 Teacher), are both currently undertaking this training. This will ensure that during 2022 Sounds-Write will be implemented in our junior school.

(See below for further information about Sounds-Write.)

Our senior teachers, Trish Shaw (Year 4 Teacher) Mark Butters (Year 5/6 Teacher) and myself have undertaken our first day of professional development this term with Dr Tessa Daffern, in the area of spelling. This day unpacked a range of spelling theories and ways to put this into practice. 4/5/6 students have completed a spelling assessment which Tessa will work with teachers to analyse over the coming weeks. This approach will complement the work done with our recent UMNOS project and the Sounds-Write approach in the junior school. 

Sounds-Write provides the classroom practitioner with rigorous training in how to teach reading and spelling from the moment children begin their schooling in the Foundation Stage, throughout Key Stage 1 and into Key Stage 2. In addition, the programme also provides a highly successful intervention for special needs teachers working at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education.

Sounds-Write’s instructional method works effectively because it:

• can be easily implemented in the classroom with the minimum of expense, planning and preparation
• provides clearly structured, easy-to-follow lesson plans
• is developmentally appropriate for beginning readers in YR, Y1 and Y2
• offers fast and highly effective intervention for children at all levels who have fallen behind in their reading and spelling
• is a real phonic programme that teaches in simple steps how the sounds of the language are represented by the writing system
• places emphasis on giving practise that is grounded in the physical, concrete experience of the ideas and conceptual understanding the pupils need to assimilate
• teaches the three essential skills of segmenting, blending and phoneme manipulation necessary for reading and spelling throughout the programme on a daily basis until all pupils achieve the automaticity that underlies the fluency of every successful reader.