In Year 2, once children have learned all of their Set 1, 2 and 3 phonics sounds which include alternative spellings for the same sound, we ask them to think carefully about using accurate spelling, not just phonetically plausible spellings.  We teach spellings regularly and follow the Spelling Shed scheme.  This includes teaching the common exception words (which do not follow a usual pattern of spelling) as well as words containing a range of prefixes and suffixes and the associated spelling rules, where appropriate.  It is expected that children can spell the majority of these words accurately by the end of Year 2.   

Although we do not have a timetabled spelling test each week, we often check these at random as we feel this is more effective in helping the children to retain these spellings.  

Year 2 common exception words are also assigned on Eds Shed.  Again, we teach and revisit these regularly but additional practice at home will be helpful in supporting the learning of these trickier words.