Rhododendron Walk, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 8PN

01344 882631

Ascot Heath Primary School

“Preparing our children for all of their tomorrows”

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Children at Ascot Heath Primary School are taught spelling, punctuation and grammar through explicit  lessons and also through everyday writing.

Spelling

Children are taught to spell words in a variety of ways.

Each year group has a list of statutory 'Common Exception Words' that children should be able to spell by the end of the year. Common Exception Words are words in which the English spelling code works in an unusual or uncommon way. They are not words for which phonics 'doesn't work', but they may be exceptions to spelling rules, or words which use a particular combination of letters to represent sound patterns in a rare or unique way.

Children are often taught  to spell these words using the 'look, say, cover, write, check' method.

 

 

Common Exception Word Lists

Spelling Rules and Patterns

Each year group also has a set of statutory spelling rules and patterns that are taught throughout the year. These are taught in a variety of ways during weekly lessons. Children investigate the spelling rule so that they understand it and are able to apply it in their writing, not just in spelling tests.

Teaching may include the use of games, cloze procedures, word searches and mnemonics.

Mnemonics entails inventing an anecdote where characters in the story stand for the letters in a word. A child may also want to use images that correspond to letters, to help them remember the spelling.

Punctuation and Grammar

Each year group is taught  statutory punctuation and grammar objectives. These are detailed on the document below, along with the terminology that children will be taught and expected to use in each year group.

If you need support to understand some of the objectives, the PowerPoints below are really good and explain them very clearly, so please take a look!