Ready Steady Spell uses 7 key strategies to support children in becoming strong and accurate spellers. These are: Syll-a-beat, Phonic Sound, Word Build, Wrong Say Right Spell, Tricky Bit, Picture It and Rule Rhyme.

During the lesson a specific strategy is focused on and taught. However, the children are encouraged to discuss and consider whether this strategy works for them or whether they would prefer to use different strategy(ies). Further information is in the “Quick Look: Strategy Example” booklet on the website.

In Year 2 Ready Steady Spell is five lessons a week, which aligns with the DfE phonic expectations of a daily lesson.

In Years 3 - 6 Ready Steady Spell is three lessons per week.

Ready Steady Spell is approximately 20 mins for a spelling lesson, with an extra ten minutes allocated on the final lesson to incorporate the weekly spelling test.

Each lesson has a clear structure; Revisit, Teach, Practise and Apply. This aligns with the DfE expectations around phonics teaching and follows the similar 4-part lesson. This means children should be very familiar with the structure of the lesson.

When a school purchases Ready Steady Spell, whole school training is essential. Subsequent to that, schools can purchase further online/face to face training. Ready Steady Spell also provides online training videos and clips - but this is not a replacement for the recommended initial launch training.

Ready Steady Spell covers all the National Curriculum objectives from Year 1 – Year 6, however the programme begins in Year 2. There is some flexibility if schools choose to implement the scheme in Year 1.

Absolutely! This could be used as a whole class approach, small group or for 1:1’s. The analysis tools can identify the gaps in spelling and the lessons can then be used to address these. Teaching the strategies of spelling will support all pupils in giving them methods to help the recall and to apply the correct spellings.

Ready Steady Spell is designed to stand alone. This means it can be used in any school. The structure of the lessons follow the same structure of the 4 part phonic lesson that most schools use and therefore should be familiar to the children.

Ready Steady Spell is a stand-alone progressive spelling scheme which covers all the National Curriculum objectives from Year 1 to Year 6. As such it has been specifically designed to teach spelling and covers the objectives, CEW’s in Year 2 and the statutory word list words in Years 3 - 6. This means that it fits with any writing scheme a school may be using.

The programme has been written in a sequential and cyclical manner.

Ready Steady Spell works by revisiting the learning objective three times. The first time the children meet the new spelling objective it is called an ‘Introduce’. The second time is called ‘Reinforce’ and the third time is ‘Embed’. This means that children have many opportunities to overlearn the spellings, the rules and the strategies and to embed these into their Long-Term Working Memory. These three ‘visits’ happen within and across year groups.

Ready Steady Spell also has revision terms in Year 6 and at the end of Year 4, built in to return to the key spelling domains used at the end of KS2.

Yes! All schools have to cover the National Curriculum objectives for spelling, no matter what their size. This may be through a rolling programme and will depend on how the school organises their curriculum.

The programme has thorough assessment and analysis, which will identify the specific gaps in learning that children may have and what their need is. Ready Steady Spell Go is the intervention within the Ready Steady Spell programme, and it uses using the same ideas, techniques and teaching. This means that children are familiar with the songs, rhymes and strategies.

Ready Steady Spell will help many children with SEND. The programme works by overlearning spelling, so that the neural pathways embed and move the knowledge into the Long Term Working Memory. The programme also teaches spelling strategies to children so that they can find what works for them and use those strategies when appropriate. It teaches rules for spelling and embeds learning in an active, multisensory way, using songs, rhythm and patterns to support learning. There are also built-in opportunities for children to discuss their own learning and what works for them. This supports inclusivity and allows access for all children.

Formative

Each of the daily workbook sheets has a section along the bottom which can be filled in to support the formative assessment. The booklet also has a back sheet with prompts for the adult to consider during the teaching. This can be used to annotate observations during the lessons if required. Based upon these formative assessments, the teacher needs to be providing quick ‘keep-up’ opportunities during the day to revisit and consolidate the day’s learning.

Summative

Every six weeks there is an assessment interval with assessment materials provided. There is also an error analysis tool to delve deeper into specific difficulties.

Support materials are provided to help identify the bottom 20% and guidance in how to support.