Year 6 Spelling Yearly Overview and Rationale
This Year 6 spelling yearly overview and rationale outlines the complete sequence of weekly spelling lists aligned with the National Curriculum and our Spectacular SPaG scheme. Each half term provides six weeks of spellings, with consolidation and review weeks during the summer term to support retrieval and SATs preparation.
The lists are tailored for Year 6 pupils and include advanced spelling patterns, statutory words and revision of key concepts from previous years. Weekly focuses include homophones (ascent/assent, draft/draught, principle/principal), suffixes -cial and -tial, -ous, -tious, -cious, prefixes dis-, im-, in-, mis-, hyphenated compounds, and suffixes -ly, -ful, -ive and -ation. Related word groups such as science, conscience, family, familiar, occupy are also included to strengthen morphological understanding.
The rationale details how to introduce each spelling list through weekly lessons, discussion of word meanings and pattern recognition, and consolidation using dictation tasks and handwriting practice in precursive and cursive styles. It also provides guidance on adapting tests and using consolidation weeks for targeted review and transition to Key Stage 3.
This overview supports the Spectacular SPaG scheme but can also be used independently to deliver a full Year 6 spelling curriculum across the academic year.
