Writing

Writing

Intent

 

A high-quality English curriculum is fundamental in order that children develop skills in reading, writing and oracy. This will enable them to express themselves creatively and imaginatively and to communicate with others effectively. The aim of our English curriculum is to promote high standards of literacy through our use of high-quality, engaging and aspirational texts where pupils achieve the following:  

  • read easily, fluently and with good understanding
  • develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
  • acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions of reading, writing and spoken language
  • appreciate our rich and varied literacy heritage
  • write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
  • use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas

EYFS

In Reception the foundations for writing are supported and developed through the use of quality texts, developing strong oracy skills, imagination, storytelling and drawing from children’s interests. Children are taught to read and write using the Little Wandle phonics programme which builds up their phonic knowledge and skill of segmenting to spell.  The programme is taught daily. The continuous provision environment allows children to have independent mark making and writing opportunities as part of their play. They are taught to write for a range of purposes such as – shopping lists, labelling pictures, writing instructions, letters making their own books

 

Key Stages 1 and 2

  • The long-term overview includes a wide variety of text types for different purposes. Here is an example of the LT plan:

 

Implementation

 

Spelling

Initially spelling is taught through the Little Wandle phonics programme from Reception to Year 2. Within these lessons, children learn to form their letters and write simple captions and sentences.

From Year 3 to Year 6 spelling is taught using the Read Write Inc spelling scheme. 

 

Handwriting

In Reception and Year 1, children will learn to form letters using the Little Wandle programme, reinforced with LetterJoin. From Year 2, children will learn cursive formation and begin to join their handwriting.  Across the school, we use LetterJoin to continue to practise our cursive writing.

 

Writing

Each class, across Key Stage 1 and 2, spend around an hour a day on writing. Writing units last around 2 weeks, are based around a high-quality text and consist of 3 stages.  Phase 1 is the immersion in the text and learning and applying a grammar skill. Phase 2 is looking at the features of the genre and a second grammar skill. The final stage is planning (boxing up), writing and editing a longer piece of writing using the skills learn over the unit. Each lesson starts with a grammar or spelling warm up in order to reinforce prior learning and revise key terms. Below is an example of the medium-term plan.

Impact

 

Children’s English books will show the following:

  • an increasing understanding of knowledge and skills
  • demonstrate a clear sequence of learning
  • clearly show children’s progressing in their learning through self-reflection, responding to teacher feedback and independently editing their own work

 

Formative Assessment:

  • Pupils are given tasks throughout a unit which enable staff to assess pupil’s understanding. Opportunities are given for assessment such as short writes, quizzes, varied questioning, whiteboard work, eliciting evidence of prior knowledge, lesson starters revising key learning, given success criteria.
  • At the end of each writing unit, each piece of writing is assessed against the criteria taught. This is pupil assessed and teacher assessed.  Teacher feedback is given through marking as well as verbally.

 

Summative assessment:

  • Early Learning Goals
  • Writing assessed 3 times a year against our curriculum statements
  • Moderation of teacher judgements both within the school (all year groups) and across the other school
  • NFER/SATs assessment papers for spelling, punctuation and grammar in Y2-6 carried out 3x a year (2x a year for year 1)

These enable us to see any children requiring additional support and also informs teachers’ planning. 

Believe, Belong, Become
Taken from Hebrews 10:24-25
‘And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds’