While spelling is one of the main barriers to effective sentence and whole text composition, it is an area in which teachers receive little or no training. None of the most utilised strategies, such as Look, Cover, Write, Write, Write, have any evidence base or research to support it. Too often teaching spelling is haphazard and ineffective. This session will explore what best-bets the research points to, how to develop a systematic approach to teaching spelling using direct instruction and embedding retrieval practice in daily lessons.