Year 3 Spelling Yearly Overview and Rationale
This Year 3 spelling yearly overview and rationale sets out a complete sequence of weekly spelling lists aligned with the National Curriculum and our Spectacular SPaG scheme. Each half term includes five weeks of new spellings followed by a consolidation week for review and assessment.
The lists are tailored for Year 3 pupils and build on previous phonics and spelling knowledge from Key Stage 1. Weekly focuses include suffixes from Year 2, split digraphs, alternative vowel spellings, prefixes (super-, sub-, auto-, anti-, inter-), suffixes -ly, -ally, ch and gue/que spellings, and word families from the Year 3 and 4 statutory list.
The rationale outlines how to introduce and revisit spellings using weekly presentations, ‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ activities, and dictation tasks. It also explains how to adapt weekly spelling sessions to suit different learning needs and track progress using weekly tests and review sessions.
Designed to complement the Spectacular SPaG scheme, this overview can also be used as a standalone spelling framework to plan a full year of spelling teaching in Year 3.
