Writing at Far Forest Primary

Intent

Our intent is to develop confident writers through our sequences of learning which begins with oracy and reading. Reading into writing drives the learning in our writing lessons. It is our intent for writing to engage, inspire and challenge our pupils, enabling them to develop the skills to effectively communicate their thoughts, ideas and emotions to others. We aim to build pupils' stamina for writing, increase vocabulary as well as develop their understanding of grammar. This is done by exposing children to an increasingly wide range of texts types, including modern and classical fiction, non-fiction and poetry as well as texts from other cultures and historical eras.

The aim is for all pupils to…

• have a positive writing ethos and develop confidence and pleasure in writing
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and spell accurately
• write coherently, adapting their language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
• develop fluent, legible and speedy handwriting.

We want children to ‘read as a writer’ and ‘write as a reader’.

Implementation

As a school we start by securing foundational knowledge in Early Years and Key Stage 1, this includes:

• Knowing how to hold a pencil and form letters correctly.
• Knowing how to spell and punctuate dictated sentences.
• Composing simple sentences orally (say out loud what they want to write).

Quality texts are used to support these sessions and as children progress through the academic year, they will apply the skills taught to extended pieces of writing. We provide opportunities for our children to imitate, innovate and invent. 

How do we teach writing once the foundational knowledge is secure?

Once children are secure with the foundational knowledge, writing sequences are taught as follows:

1. Deconstruct – Deconstruct a modelled piece of writing, identifying the key structural and grammatical features.

2. Modelling- Writing is modelled through shared/guided writing by the teacher, this is key in writing lessons so that not only do children know how to incorporate the success criteria but also learn the craft of writing. Children will also identify features, grammatical concepts and vocabulary to use during shared writing.

3. Planning and first draft – Children plan a piece of writing, for a specific purpose and audience they then write a first draft. Teachers will devise the best way and duration of this stage based on their knowledge of their children. This stage often takes place over a few lessons to allow children take part in shared/guided writing activities, spoken language, to explore a stimulus, research or to gather vocabulary.

4. Evaluate – Children are given the chance to evaluate their work at regular intervals during the whole process, not just after the first draft. They will evaluate their writing on whether it meets the success criteria, achieves the purpose and is suitable for the proposed audience.  

6. Edit – Children are given the opportunity to improve the spelling, grammar and punctuation of their writing in the editing stage. This can be done with a partner or independently.

7. Publish – Children have opportunities to redraft their work and/or present it in an imaginative way.

Spelling

In EYFS and KS1, children learn to spell as part of their daily phonics lessons where they learn to apply the sounds taught.  For Years 2-6, we have a clear progression of spelling expectations in line with the National Curriculum. New spelling patterns are introduced each week and children are encouraged to use their knowledge of phonics and spelling rules to spell accurately. Children discover rules and spelling patterns through discussions and investigations to support their understanding e.g. looking at the etymology and morphology of words.

Word lists and visual prompts are used in classrooms to assist children with their spelling. In all work, spelling is given a high priority. Children are encouraged to use different strategies to help them spell correctly; including  phonics, use of word lists, bookmarks, word mats and dictionaries.

Handwriting.

In early years children are taught how to hold a pencil effectively using the tripod grip and then taught how to write correctly formed letters whilst saying phrases from the ‘Little Wandle’ phonics scheme. Developing the physical skill needed for handwriting continues into Year 1 and they begin to learn a pre-cursive handwriting style where all lowercase letters begin on the line. By the time children reach Year 2, they are able to form individual letters correctly and therefore learn to join, so establishing good handwriting habits from the beginning.

In Key Stage 2, joined handwriting is encouraged. Throughout the curriculum, there is a huge focus on correct letter formation, joined handwriting and neat presentation.

Impact

We want our children to enjoy writing and recognise the importance of writing. The impact will be seen through the work produced in books and how children talk about their written work.

Monitoring takes place throughout the year by the Subject Leader through book study, learning walks and consultations with pupils. Further to this, teachers will take part in Trust moderation with other local schools as well as the local authority moderation process.

For more details about our Writing Curriculum please see documents below.