New National Curriculum – Year 1 Spelling
Pupils should be taught to spell:
 words containing each of the 40+ sounds already taught
 common exception words
 the days of the week
Name the letters of the alphabet:
 naming the letters of the alphabet in order
 using letter names to distinguish between alternative spellings of the same
sound eg ay, ai, a-e, eigh
Add prefixes and suffixes:
 using the spelling rule for adding –s or –es
 using the prefix un–
 using –ing, –ed, –er and –est where no change is needed in the spelling of root
words [for example, helping, helped, helper, eating, quicker, quickest]
Apply simple spelling rules and guidance
New National Curriculum – Year 2 Spelling
Pupils should spell by:
 segmenting spoken words into sounds and representing these by graphemes,
spelling many correctly
 learning new ways of spelling sounds for which one or more spellings are
already known, and learn some words with each spelling, including a few
common homophones (eg meet, meat)
 learning to spell common exception words
 learning to spell more words with contracted forms (eg wouldn’t, we’ve)
 learning the possessive apostrophe (singular) [for example, the girl’s book]
 distinguishing between homophones and near-homophones
Add suffixes to spell longer words, including –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –ly
Apply spelling rules and guidance
Early Learning Goal for Writing
‘Children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their
spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. Some words are
spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.’
We start by teaching children how to read and write using the sounds letters
make. We do not introduce letter names at this stage. By the end of
Reception, children will have learned one way to read and write all 44 sounds
in the English language.
We use ‘Fred Fingers’ to help the children segment words
into sounds. For example, we might say:
‘We’re going to spell the word ‘mat’.
Let’s think, how many sounds in the word ‘mat….m-a-t’. That’s right, 3!
Now hold up 3 fingers. (Needs to be non-writing hand)
Press the sounds onto your fingers: ‘mat……m - a - t…….. write it down’
At this stage, children use their phonic knowledge to write words and so may
write, for example:
I lighk too eet peetzir . I crorld throo the tunnl.
These efforts are fantastic and should always be praised! We want our children
to be independent, confident writers. We would therefore not correct words
where children have applied their learning and when they have not yet been
taught alternative graphemes or spellings eg the ‘aw’ in crawled.
When writing, we encourage children to ‘have a go’ at spellings using their fred
fingers. They also know that we have ‘red’ words that might be harder to spell.
For these, we point out the tricky bit!
Please note: When the teacher writes and models
words and/or sentences for a child, they would always
spell the word correctly.
We teach the skills and spellings of the New National Curriculum in a number of
ways.As children move into Year 1 and 2, they continue to practise spelling
words daily, as they are an integral part of Read Write Inc lessons. They are
increasingly introduced to more alternative graphemes and spellings and more
common exception (tricky) words.
We continue to use ‘Fred Fingers’ to support our spelling, but once children
start learning Set 3 sounds, we introduce letter names. This is so we don’t get
confused, as there can be many ways to write one sound!
As well as ‘Fred Fingers’ we may practise tricky words by saying the spellings in a
catchy rhythm and thinking of ways to remember the tricky bits.
Once children have been taught alternative spellings, teachers start to correct
these in their work, where relevant; eg pointing out the correct spelling of ‘like’.
When children finish or are about to finish the Read Write Inc Phonics
programme (usually at some point in Year 2), they move onto Read Write Inc
Spelling; a 15 minutes a day spelling programme which ensures spelling success
for children who are fluent readers. There are 10 activities in each unit and
children work independently, with partners and in groups.
Children also have a spelling log book to record corrected words and any words
they find hard to spell. Children use their spelling logs to support their
independent writing and therefore reinforce the words they are working on.
Although the spelling logs will stay in school, children may be asked to practise
some of the words at home. Your support with spelling and writing activities at
home is invaluable. The teacher may test the children on specific words from
time to time but this won’t be in the form of a traditional weekly spelling test.
Remember, spelling tends to improve throughout our lives and it is only with
lots of practice that we become good spellers!
Many thanks for your support.