Parent Feedback: Spelling

Here is a collection of comments made by parents about spelling. Some really interesting and perceptive comments that we'll take on board. I totally agree that spellings learnt for a test that aren't applied is not the best way of teaching and learning spelling!

I believe the spellings are only learnt for the test

Happy with this

Spelling is improving

Improvement in basic words rather than just learning words for a test and forgetting them

Tests cause anxiety. A week isn’t enough to consolidate a pattern

It’s annoying when they practise a word and are not tested

Very good

All good

Difficult initially but we’ve got into a good routine now

Learning 6 spellings a week is adequate for now

Good but not always a happy activity

More relevant spelling in context rather than a random mix of words

Like having a separate sheet

Grateful for the little sheet

Hard to encourage our child to practice

Seems to enjoy the act of writing rather than the accuracy

Always happy to do it

I like the way they are grouped into certain sounds

Really pleased with the spellings but I’m unsure how well my child is doing

Some of the words aren’t written clear enough to understand or copy

Feedback on test scores would be appreciated

I never know when my child has spellings

Could children have a notebook to practise their spellings instead of sheets that get lost?

Formal or Informal Tone...?

Some recent training for our Year 6 staff revolved the expectation that pupils should switch between levels of formality in their writing to achieve a greater depth standard at the end of KS2. Not something that the majority of us find easy to spot - this guide might be a good starting point?

Developing vocabulary for EAL pupils

We have been working hard in improving outcomes for EAL pupils. Research shows...

• It takes 5-7 years to master the language skills needed for the curriculum. Therefore, removing bi-lingual support too early may be harmful to the child’s academic success.
• Receptive vocabulary of EAL students who have been educated through English for 10 years had gaps in the most frequent words.
• In the EAL situation, vocabulary coverage is not planned but arises from teaching in the curriculum areas
• Intervention by mainstream subject teachers in vocabulary development may often be limited to simplification or unfamiliar words, rather than attending to the need to increase vocabulary size or develop deep word knowledge.

A good example of this in practise is how certain words go with other words. Native children understand this but EAL pupils don’t. E.g. You catch a bus but not a car. You miss the bus but not a car. You can have a cup of strong coffee, but not a strong coke!

For EAL pupils, learning in a language has massive challenges - here's a few things we can do to help: 

• Repetition 
• Use in writing sentences (retrieval) 
• Regular practice of words (space out practice) 
• Model different uses of the word (go beyond that lesson). 
• Imaging (provide a mental image of the word). 
• Saying and other tricks to remember words (I have a friend to the end). 
• Reusing vocabulary in practical ways, e.g. in science. 
• Word associations.

Connectives or Conjunctions...

We liked this image shared by a colleague in Southampton. We thought we might share is as it reveals some of the new expectations on pupils (..and staff!) to get to grips with grammatical terms in the new curriculum. Here's a really good example of one such change above - the use of connectives being replaced by conjunctions.

The Planning Process

Our development of the new curriculum continues this term with some key areas for us to focus on. Over the last term, we have realised that our new curriculum may be at risk of becoming too content driven rather than skills based. We need to ensure that exciting learning opportunities are matched to the skills and expectations, and that these also feature in our medium term plans. To that end, we have tried to visualise the planning process, starting with English, to ensure that these expectations are met and that these in turn impact on the day to day learning. We are also reviewing our use of learning intentions and success criteria and making these much more focussed - separating the skill from the context.