About Us
My spelling journey started after my eldest daughter was diagnosed in year 4 with dyslexia. Despite 20 years teaching experience and leading Literacy in a secondary school, I was at a loss as to how to help my daughter with her spelling difficulties. It was clear Grace needed to retrace her phonics steps, but the lack of any age-appropriate resources made it extremely difficult and frustrating. It was then I decided to take it upon myself to improve the chances of my daughter and others in her position. Scode was slowly created, a phonics based scheme for older children based on sounds and their codes, which had an immediate affect on Grace’s spelling.
Scode had to eventually take a back seat to my teaching job, so it was left dormant in the cupboard for several years. They say that ‘every cloud has a silver lining,’ which came in the style of Covid lockdown. During this period, I unearthed Scode again and introduced it to my younger daughter, to help her with some home learning.
Reinvigorated, I decided Scode was too good to be shut away and decided to ask my friend Jill’s opinion about the scheme due to her experience in the Primary sector. A perfect partnership was immediately formed, with Jill adding the organisation and solidity to finish the entire scheme and eventually use it to change children’s spelling woes. The tireless hours we have spent, sometimes at the expense of family and friends has finally produced a comprehensive and complete spelling scheme, which will impact individuals and the whole education system. Emma x
My spelling journey began when I received a text to give my opinion, in the middle of a pandemic, about a phonics based spelling idea. I have been a Primary school teacher for over 20 years, taught across all phases, held many roles including SENDCO, deputy and now a specialist SEN teacher, but I was intrigued at what Emma was suggesting, phonics…in KS2??!!
When I looked at the work Emma sent through, the sounds, the advanced codes and etymology, it all made perfect sense! I thought about how I taught spelling as a class teacher, it consisted of a mish-mash of different schemes or making my own resources from the National Curriculum guidelines. It wasn’t consistent; it wasn’t phonics and despite my best efforts, spelling was still a problem in school as some children didn’t learn or apply the rules to their independent work! I knew Scode offered something new!
From that day forward, Emma and I have worked like Trojans to come up with a complete scheme. Including all the aspects we feel, as teachers you will need to: A. Make your life easier and B. For the children to become competent spellers. It has been the thorn in our sides for so long, but we have worked every hour available to make this a close to perfect for you as teachers and the children using it. Enjoy! Jill x
Scode Spelling supports The Children’s Literacy Charity.
