Our approach to Spelling

Our spelling schemes and our approach to spelling at Hollymount recognises the complexity of incorporating phonetic knowledge and strategies to support strong spellers. Our aim is for all children to leave Hollymount with a strong spelling foundation as it support automaticity within their writing. We believe strong spellers turn into strong writers and strong writers are best equipped for success in later life.

From Nursery to Year 1 children embark on a phonetic spelling programme linked to their phonetic knowledge. This encourages children to spell phonetically appropriate words and spell words that do not follow phonetic rules, like 'tricky words' or words that have 'tricky parts' in them. Spelling is practiced within phonics lessons in Reception and Year 1 and teachers continue to encourage phonetic spelling whenever a child is approaching a writing task. For more specifics about spelling in Nursery to Year 1 visit this link. 

As children get older, Year 2-Year 6, children build upon their phonetic knowledge and need more strategies to approach a wider vocabulary that may or may not follow phonetic rules. Therefore, teachers explicitly teach 7 strategies to support children to become confident and competent spellers. These strategies and more approaches to helping children practice their spellings visit this link.