Statement of intent
At Long Bennington Church of England Academy, we believe that spelling is a fundamental component of literacy. Accurate spelling supports children in communicating effectively, improves writing fluency, and contributes to successful reading and vocabulary development.
Our spelling curriculum is built upon the understanding that English spelling is influenced by three interconnected principles:
- Phonology – the relationship between sounds and letters
- Morphology – the meaningful parts of words and how words are constructed
- Etymology – the origins and history of words
Aims
Our spelling curriculum is designed to achieve the following aims:
- Develop accurate and confident spellers.
- Build children's understanding of how words are structured.
- Develop morphological awareness through the study of bases, prefixes and suffixes.
- Promote vocabulary growth and support reading comprehension.
- Enable children to recognise patterns across related words.
- Encourage curiosity about language, including the meanings and origins of words.
- Support the application of spelling knowledge within independent writing.
- Foster increasingly independent strategies for spelling unfamiliar words.