Spelling - when and how does it get better?

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Dd is in year 5 and is very good at writing. However, she still obviously makes spelling mistakes. I am assuming that children are expected to be able to write without any spelling mistakes by the time they start secondary school. So not that long to go...

What are the best strategies to improve? She already reads a lot. She gets spelling homework but no other literacy homework.

DD3's claas (year 4) are being taught spelling rules rather than spellings. E.g. 'if adding '-ing' to a word, double the last consonant if it is a short consonant' (hop > hopping; double the consonant if a two syllable word has a stressed second syllable, but not if it's a stressed first syllable (be gin n-ing lis ten-ing).

Perhaps learning those rules would help?

When she reads, she should try to observe how words are spelt, as well as the use of punctuation, which can become a creative part of the writing, if care and attention are given.

But to improve spelling, it is necessary to UNDERSTAND some of the rules of spelling, which - I accept - is not always easy. So I would suggest the following invaluable book:

An inexpensive and easy to use book, that can encourage children with reading, spelling and writing, and really help them to understand Phonics, is reviewed in the MN Book Reviews section. Just search ‘Phonics’ and my name.

Thanks.
She is actually pretty good with her understanding of spelling but obviously there are so many exceptions...

English is complex no one is a perfect speller.

Not everyone becomes a good speller, I am not there are certain words I don 'to use as I can't spell them and others I have had to learn in bizarre ways.
My DD is the same in year 7 and spelling is atrocious. We are both avid readers, but makes no difference.

As OP's daughter is Y5, I would suggest a boring way, she should be able to manage it. You can ask her to keep a notebook, whenever she found any word she can't spell and made a mistake, she can keep the word in a notebook. Then she can revisit the note book regularly,say once a week, for the one she can't remember, she can practice a few times. For the ones she can remember, she can mark it. Then leave it for a month, if she can still get it, then she can delete it.

This is the old way, but I think it can be effective. And your DD should be able to spell most words correctly, so the list shouldn't be very long. And she would delete some, add some, so it wont' looks horrible.

Autumsky - Good advice.

Thanks All. I will try autumnsky's approach.