Spelling:

During lessons, we take every opportunity to improve pupils spelling. This could be through teacher modelling,  or through use of word banks, dictionaries and thesauruses.
Spelling is also taught explicitly. Each week,  children will be acquainted with the words of the week. There will be an explanation of how the words are linked. The lists are organised by spelling patterns, sounds or affixes. 

Examples of list titles:

• Words with the prefix inter-
• The /r/ sound spelled wr
• Words ending in -ible or -able
• The /j/ sound spelled as a g

Etymology:

This is the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.

Looking at the etymology of words and word parts can help children to spot patterns which are helpful when spelling. For example the word giant comes, through French, from the Latin gigas (a giant) and Greek Gigas (race of monsters) which helps explain why the word begins with a ‘g’ rather than a ‘j’ and also shows where the word ‘gigantic’ comes from. 

Morphology: 

Morphology is the study of words and their parts. Morphemes, like prefixes, suffixes and base words, are defined as the smallest meaningful units of meaning. Morphemes are important for phonics in both reading and spelling, as well as in vocabulary and comprehension.

When looking at morphology it is worth noting that we can explore the word origins of both roots and affixes. To know that the root ‘sect’ means ‘to cut’ helps when looking at words ‘bisect’, ‘dissect’ and ‘intersection’. All three involve some cutting or splitting.

• Bisect means to cut in two.
• Dissect means to methodically cut up a living thing.
• Intersection means a place where one road cuts across another.

Having this knowledge can help with spelling because if students know that ‘sect’ to cut is spelt with ‘-ct’ at the end and not ‘-cked’ then whenever they come across this root in a word, then they know it is spelled ‘sect’

Spelling homework is also set each week. Children should learn the spellings of words linked to the week's spelling pattern.