Spellings

For spelling we use SCODE which is a phonics-based spelling scheme that teaches the National Curriculum spelling requirements for KS2.  SCODE gives priority to helping children develop a wide and varied vocabulary. SCODE does this by focusing on:-

• Sounds and their codes
• Etymology (the history and origin of words)
• The power of practising
• Teaching spelling in a fun and encouraging way

Using SCODE gives pupils exposure to the words on the  statutory spelling lists several times throughout the year as well as words that have  similar sounds and builds on the pupil's phonics knowledge from KS1.

Writing

At Benchill Primary School we have adopted 'The Write Stuff' approach. This is a research informed method that sharpens the teaching and learning of writing in the classroom.

The Write Stuff moves between experience days and sentence stacking lessons. With modelling at the heart of it, the sentence stacking lessons are broken into bite-sized chunks and taught under the framework of the writing rainbow.

The FANTASTICs uses a child friendly acronym to represent the nine idea lenses through which children can craft their ideas.

The GRAMMARISTICs. The grammar rules of our language system and an accessible way to target weaknesses in pupils grammatical and linguistic structures.

The BOOMTASTICs which helps children capture 10 ways of adding drama and poetic devices to writing in a vivid visual.

Teachers prepare children for writing by modelling the ideas, grammar and techniques of writing.

An individual lesson is based on a sentence model, broken in to 3 learning chunks. Each learning chunk has three sections:

1. Initiate section – a stimulus to capture the children’s imagination and set up a sentence.
2. Model section – the teacher close models a sentence that outlines clear writing features and techniques.
3. Enable section – the children write their sentence, following the model. Children are challenged to ‘Deepen the Moment’ which requires them to independently draw upon previously learnt skills and apply them to their writing during that chunk.

Following each sentence stacking unit children will plan and complete an independent piece of writing to apply the skills they have learnt. They will then edit their work based on the criteria set during sentence stacking lessons to ensure they know how to improve their work.