8 Ways Spellzone Helps Close the Attainment Gap
Close the attainment gap with Spellzone: the online learning resource that encourages students to work independently to build spelling confidence.
Endorsed by teachers worldwide, Spellzone uses differentiated, multi-sensory teaching approaches to improve attainment in 8 ways:
- The Spelling Ability Test identifies specific spelling weaknesses and provides bespoke learning pathways for students to work through. Students can access Spellzone on any device, at school and at home, and work at their own pace and level. The flexible nature of the programme makes it ideal for closing the attainment gap.
- Each course unit presents a clear explanation of a phonics or spelling rule. This is useful when introducing a spelling pattern to a student or class. Students are given instant feedback on their work and a traffic light system guides them towards practising more when necessary to ensure confidence. Automatic retesting guarantees students are kept on track with minimal teacher intervention, empowering them to take charge of their own learning.
- Engaging Learn the Words activities including Look Say Cover Write Check and Listen and Spell, as well as printable work sheets, consolidate spelling rules and embolden students to stretch their vocabulary and try out new words in their writing.
- Fun pattern-recognition, problem-solving, and voice and vocabulary games offer students a high-challenge-low-stakes opportunity to improve in a measurable way and seeing their own progress encourages them to practise more often. Students are further incentivised with a variety of effort and achievement rewards and teachers can print off certificates to celebrate progress. Updated weekly, the Spellzone league tables give students and schools the chance to collect points and compete for the top spot.
- Teachers from all departments can adapt any Spellzone word list for students to use in Learn the Words activities. Teachers can also create their own word lists on any subject and add example sentences showing words used in context. This whole-school spelling approach improves comprehension and attainment across all subjects. Spelling and writing levels increase, students produce better essays and achieve better grades. Custom word lists target problem words for each student and teachers can supplement learning with further classroom and homework tasks.
- Spellzone word lists can be translated into over ninety languages, making them an excellent tool for narrowing the spelling and vocabulary gap for EAL learners in multi-lingual settings. This is crucial for students who will be taking exams in English.
- The accessible, adaptable, and dyslexia- friendly nature of Spellzone means all students can progress where a more traditional approach – like the weekly spelling test – may leave many behind. Students can change the interface of the website to suit their specific needs and use a read-aloud feature on every page.
- Teachers and senior leaders can quickly and easily download and print a variety of reports to monitor activity and track progress for an individual student, a class of students, or the whole school – perfect for literacy attainment review meetings and parents’ evenings.
Real time data shows which students are logged in, even when they are working from home. A range of pie charts and graphs show which spelling activities students are completing and additional easy-to-read reports provide a whole-school picture, allowing teachers to compare student learning pathways with National Curriculum requirements and identify any gaps in learning in order to build attainment.
Try Spellzone for free and let the data speak for itself. Free training is provided for all schools.
18 May 2023
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