Blog
March 2025
Welcome to the 2nd edition of SHS Smash newsletter– we hope that you have had a great term and wish you a Happy Easter and restful break.
Each term the team here at SHS meet up with our ambassadors from schools across the world to discuss updates & development, and to give feedback about the programme. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to them, and to introduce you to some of them. If your school is interested in becoming an ambassador, please email me at [email protected]
Meet the Ambassadors
Name:- Alison – Year 6 teacher
School:- Canterbury International School
What do you like about SHS?
“The Superhero spellings helps me because we do more spelling in class.”
“We learn the spellings in other ways, not just copying the words.
“Superhero spelling makes learning spellings fun.”
“The activities help us more to understand the meaning of the words and the patterns.”
Name:-Karen Thompson Year 5 teacher
School:-St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary School
What do you like about SHS?
“ All planned out so no teacher time wasted, Logical spelling order with a clear focus.
Some children are learning the Monster Phonics words from Year 2 due to their ability so it’s great
there is a link with Superheroes with the colour coding of the graphemes
Children like the characters related to the spellings and the fun activities.”
Name:-Val Phillips Year 5/6 teacher
School:- Rodmersham Primary School
What do you like about SHS?
“The way it’s broken down into activities. I like the consistency and ease of use.”
“I like how it’s repetitional- the ppt and activities. The repetition in a variety of ways has enabled the children to be more successful in learning the spellings.”
“The PowerPoints have enabled the children to easily identify the patterns, when it breaks up the words or identifies the patterns in a different colour.”
Pupil Voice questionnaire
We are always interested to have feedback from schools about our spelling programme, we currently have a google form ’Pupil voice’ questionnaire that we would be grateful for any responses. The questionnaire can be found at https://forms.gle/Ki8o1tnDiDrPj3PG9 and should only take a few minutes. Thank you in advance 😊
Ian’s Update: Superhero Spelling – New Developments and What’s Next
As always, a huge thank you to our SHS ambassadors for the valuable feedback and ideas you’ve shared with us this term. It’s brilliant to hear how Superhero Spelling is being used in schools across the world, and we’re excited to keep building on what we’ve started — together.
One exciting development is the introduction of assessment tools, inspired by our popular Phonics Programme’s Online Assessment Tracker. We’re now exploring how this could be adapted for Superhero Spelling. Here’s what we’re thinking – and we’d love your input.
Spelling Assessments – What Could They Look Like?
🔹 High-Frequency Word Focus:
In England, high-frequency words are grouped by age: over 100 for ages 7–9, and another 100+ for ages 9–11.
We could create short assessments with 10–15 randomly selected words for schools to use regularly, giving a clear picture of learning.
🔹 Online, Self-Paced Assessments:
Another idea is an online platform where children hear a word and type the spelling. Once they’ve mastered a level, they move to the next.
This could be used at home primarily, being an additional home learning task or it could be done in school time if preferred.
🔹 End of Half-Term Assessments
We thought you might want a regular check-up which looks back at the learning from a half term. A mixed assessment.
🔹 Weekly Assessment Tracking:
We’ve considered adding a space for schools to record weekly spelling scores, but we’re not yet convinced the workload offers enough value for teachers.
We’d love to hear what you think. Your feedback really is gold dust. If you have any suggestions or specific assessment requests, please send them through – nothing is off the table if it helps improve the experience for schools.
And a quick note…
In the last newsletter, we mentioned a shop would be added to the SHS platform. This hasn’t gone live yet — we’ll share an update on timing as soon as possible.
Thank you for reading to the end!
Written by Toni Evans -Literacy Expert for Superhero Spelling
