Young learners in Gloucestershire, England, will no longer be tested in spelling, at least at one school.

Whitminster Endowed Church of England Primary School has suspended the practice. Head Teacher Debbie Marklove explained to parents that some students could spell the words perfectly at home but were unable to do the same for their teachers at school the next day. “Also,” she commented, “many children find this activity unnecessarily distressing.”

Teachers will continue to teach spelling, and it will be assessed in student writing, just not in traditional spelling tests.

I can see why parents might object to suspending the tests — they’re a staple of English class. If today we give up on spelling tests, what might we leave out tomorrow? Parts of speech? Shakespeare?

But really, there’s more than one way to determine how well a student spells. I applaud the teachers of Whitminster Endowed Church of England Primary School for trying something different. I hope they will keep track of the results of this approach and publish them for the rest of us.

Some lines of work should just be closed to the spelling-impaired; sign-painting and, apparently, tattoo artist among them.

The Chicago Tribune reports that a tattoo parlor is being sued over a misspelled tattoo for the second time in 17 months. What was intended to be a tribute to a lost friend became a sore spot when the artist actually inked “Tommorow [sic] Never Promised Today. John P. R.I.P.”

In his defense, the tattooist claims that the client spelled it that way first.

There’s money to be made for the person who invents spellcheck for tattoo machines!

Special thanks to Jan!