Spelling

The ability to express oneself quickly and accurately on paper is a necessary part of life today. To spell correctly is an essential part of this process. At Martinshaw, we aim to enable children to develop this essential life skill so that it becomes an integral part of their learning. We wish to enable the children to write independently; encourage creativity and the use of more ambitious vocabulary; develop and teach the children to use strategies for spelling confidently and to enhance skills of proof reading.

The Nature of Spelling.

• The ability to spell easily enables children to become more effective writers.
• Spelling that can be done without extra thought and effort means that more energy can be put into the content of work.
• Children who can ‘spell’ take responsibility for spelling words correctly-they try to ensure that they use a variety of strategies to ensure that spellings are correct.
• They can identify words which do not look right and can use a dictionary to check unknown words.
• Learning to spell is a process of working out the patterns and systems which exist in the English language and applying them to new words.
• Learning to spell is not just learning lists of words, it is also a process of learning to apply different strategies appropriately.
• Spelling is a thinking process, not a rote learning task.