Spelling and Handwriting

Spelling

At Forest of Galtres, we have high expectations of spelling and strive for all pupils to have a solid understanding of the English language. 

In Reception & KS1, spelling is linked to our phonics scheme and the current stage the pupils are within it. Please click here for more information.

In KS2, children are taught daily how to spell. This is done on a two week cycle following the national curriculum. Each week follows the teaching pattern of:

Monday: grapheme phoneme correspondence (Week A) / morphology (Week B)
Tuesday: Common exception words/Statutory spellings
Wednesday: Homophones/near homophones
Thursday: Dictated sentences applying the spellings from the week.
Friday: Assessment

Link: Spelling at FoG – Cycle

Link: Year 3/4 – Spelling Curriculum

Link: Year 5/6 – Spelling Curriculum

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Handwriting

At Forest of Galtres, we are very proud of our pupils’ handwriting and take particular care in our handwriting style. We use Letter-join’s online handwriting resource and Lesson Planners as the basis of our handwriting teaching, following the National Curriculum.

Handwriting is a basic skill that influences the quality of work throughout the curriculum. By the end of Key Stage 2, all pupils should have the ability to produce fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy joined-up handwriting, and to understand the different forms of handwriting used for different purposes.

Our intention is to make handwriting an automatic process that does not interfere with creative and mental thinking.

Our pupils will:

• Develop a neat, legible, speedy handwriting style using continuous cursive letters, which leads to producing letters and words automatically in independent writing.
• Establish and maintain high expectations for the presentation of written work.
• For pupils to understand, by the end of Year 6, the importance of neat presentation and the need for different letterforms (cursive, printed or capital letters) to help communicate meaning clearly.

All staff model the pre cursive or cursive style of handwriting chosen for each year group in our school in all their handwriting, whether on whiteboards, displays or in pupils’ books. This ensures pupils experience coherence and continuity in the learning and teaching of handwriting across all school years and be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their work. Our objective is to help pupils enjoy learning and developing their handwriting with a sense of achievement and pride.