Spelling, Grammar  and  Punctuation

At Whitstable and Seasalter Endowed Church of England (Aided) Junior School we aim for our pupils to become fluent and effective writers. Accurate use of spelling, punctuation and grammar is essential to this. We use the National Curriculum 2014 as a basis for teaching Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar by introducing patterns or conventions and continually practising those already introduced.

Planning for Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar strategies are taught both subtly and explicitly in short interactive and investigative sessions in English. Pupils are taught key rules and strategies with opportunities to analyse how other writers have applied these skills to model texts and extracts in order for our pupils to apply these skills independently and effectively to their own writing. Pupils are taught to recognise which strategies they can use to improve their own spelling. They are encouraged to apply learnt strategies to their independent writing.

In KS2 children are taught spelling through discrete sessions each week, unless this is required to be more direct dependent on the cohort. The teaching and learning of grammar and punctuation is embedded within the English teaching sequence.  This means, grammar and punctuation skills and knowledge are built into a sequence of preparatory work which is then applied within longer pieces of writing during the teaching sequence. As they become more confident, children are encouraged to check spellings using a dictionary and to expand their vocabulary using a thesaurus.

At Whitstable and Seasalter Endowed Church of England (Aided) Junior School, we also have a ‘Spelling Bee’ which all pupils take part in each week using Spelling Shed. At the end of every week pupils are tested on the spelling patterns and common exception words they have been learning from the National Curriculum. The children compete against each other, in classes, to receive the highest spelling shed score and we celebrate this success during our Friday celebration assembly.

Teachers and teaching assistants show pupils how to understand the relationships between words, nuances in meaning, and how to develop their understanding of, and ability to use, figurative language. They will also teach pupils how to work out and clarify the meanings of unknown words and words with more than one meaning.