VIEWSVIEW S From the pen of... Kirstie Hewett Fromthepenof...KirstieHewett et Te


Teaching eff spelling


ffective


Thismonth in our regular series looking at authorsworking in UK education,we hear fromKIRSTIE HEWETT, School Improvement Specialist (Primary University


ry English) at the ty of Chichester.


When I first started teaching in primary schools some 24 years ago, I quickly discovered my love for teaching English, particularly writing. Creating exciting stimuli and sharing experiences, real and imagined, as starting points before working with children to shape, craft and redraft their texts was my favourit week. However, this was not my experience of tea


ching spelling. e part of any


In every class I taught, children seemed to be at such different points and I didn’t have that clear sense of vision that I had in writing. I wasn’t sure what were the best learning tasks, or how I could create lessons that engaged all, yet offered effective challenge and support for those who wanted it.


Research, such as that byMisty Adoniou in 2013, indicates that, like me, many teachers don’t have a sense of real direction in the teaching of spelling. The new National Curriculum and Teacher Assessment Frameworks for Y2 and Y6 raised the profile of spelling. This coincided with my appointment as a school improvement specialist in primary English at the University of Chichester, and CPD on how to teach spelling soon became a regular request from our locality schools and academies. When I took on my new role, I was really keen to find out as much as I could about teaching spelling. I read a number of great books and articles, which contributed to my thinking but there was still quite a bit to be done in terms of bringing all these ideas and lea rning tasks together and finding tha t clea r approach. In my experience, teachers just don’t have the time to do this themselves, so I wrote Te eff


ffe tive learn fecti rning in Englisish and across th sh


Teaching Sp ros


Spelling 6-11: de ig designing oss the curriculum, which has


just been published by the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA). In this easy-to-read book, I share the key p teaching spelling and present learning tasks to sup learning.


port effective rinciples for


Teaching children to spell accurately makes such a difference to their writing and, when they can share their ideas with ease, their confidence as writers flourishes. As children develop proficiency in spelling, they can become more adventurous in their word choices and this can lead to the creation of lively and engaging p ieces of wr ng across the curriculum. I think goo d spelling lessons involve lots of creativity, collaboration and purposeful conversation between pupils. A well-planned approach also develops meta-cognitive skills in a way that’s easy for children to recognise, and they can transfer this skill to other learning. Te


iti Teaching Sp


upwards, and for English subject leads who wish to develop an effective approach to learning and teaching spelling in their schools.


I love words, and find the study of how they loo are structured really fascinating. I hope this publica


tion makes a k, sound and


valuable contribution to teachers’ thinking and gives them the confidence to teach spelling in just as passionate a way as the y do the rest of the curriculum.


Reference racy


Adoniou,M. ((2 Literacy 48(3(3)


2014) Wh should teachers 4)What sh 3) pp. 144-154 Octobe r 201 9 2019 rs know about spelling? sp tt British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) BritishEducational SuppliersAs


HowBESA helps bring quality serv


ty products and


rvices to schools Thismonth JULIA GARV


RVEY, Head


ofMembership andMarketing at BESA, begins a newseries of columns on behalf of the


organisation by introducing Ro b Harries, BESAMembership Coordinator.


My colleague Patrick Hayes has been sharing news from BESA with you for the last couple of years but this month we thought we would do something different.We’d like to introduce you to a few of the faces at BESA and explain a bit more about the work we do with schools.


At the British Educational Suppliers Association we work closely with a wide range of companies from the start-up entrepreneur to multi-national corporations, all of whom are united in their desire to bring quality products and services to schools .


Our membership team work closely with these companies at every stage of their journey. Rob Harries is often the first point of call to prospective members and it is his job to help identify which companies are suitable for membership. Not every supplier will be admitted to BESA.We only accept companies that are financially stable and are prepared to sign up to our Code of Practice, the ethical standards of behaviour by which our members abide. The Code covers areas such as safeguarding and data privacy, integrity, and openness and transparency.Why do we insist on this?We do this to provide schools with reassurance and that a displaying the BESA logo is a trusted and rel business with. Our logo is your guarantee .


iable company to d o ny company you see


Once accepted into membership, Rob works closely with each organisation to understand their business and the challenges they are facing. Since our members are spread around the entirety of the UK, this can involve a fair bit of travelling but it’s important to get a good understanding of all our members’ needs.


It also enables Rob to touch base with schools in each area.We are always listening to feedback from teachers, particularly those relating to budget, technology or the demand for resources. One of our key roles at BESA is to act as a facilitator, helping put teachers in contact with suppliers of goods and services that meet a need or address an issue you face in your school. And to do that effectively we must listen to what both our members and schools are saying.


Spelling 6-11 is useful for all teachers from Y2


It is Rob who will help members identify relevant events where they might showcase their products and services. Some of these events are organised by BESA ourselves, such as the forthcoming LearnED Roadshow free education technology training days, and some are organised by partner organisations such as BETT or the SSAT. But all are designed to help ensure an ongoing dialogue between schools and our members.


The work of the membership team is varied and interesting, putting us in touch with companies as diverse as furniture suppliers, textbook publishers, playground equipment manufacturers and app developers. share a common goal of supporting teachers and schools in ms to improve the educational outc omes of children in the UK .


their ai But all


You can read the Besa Code of Practice on ourwebsite besa.org.uk/code-of-


k/ f-pract ctice/


Find outmore about the free LearnED RoadshowLearnED.org.uk


To contact Rob, please email himat Robert@besa.org.uk


www. wwweducation-today.co.uk.co.uk 31 rs Association(BESA) A)


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