Spelling

At Gurnard we believe that all of our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading and spelling through Song of Sounds, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Reception and follow the Song of Sounds progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school. As a result, all of our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read as well as use their phonic knowledge to spell unknown words.  We model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. 

From halfway through Year 2 we progress to teaching spelling using the SCODE scheme building on the strong phonics foundations that have been built.  In KS2 children receive dedicated spelling lessons 3/4 times per week. These lessons focus on teaching the advanced phonic code and the principle of "making spelling stick" through continuous practice and recap. 

To support the learning of phonics and use for spelling we use grapheme/phoneme correspondence charts (GPC). These charts are available in every classroom in order to keep a consistent approach across the whole school. Every child has access to these charts whenever they are writing and we use these regularly to support the children’s phonics and spelling work across all lessons. 

For those pupils who need it in KS2, we continue to deliver phonics input in the form of interventions in addition to their spelling lessons.