Writing

We aim to develop confident, fluent and enthusiastic writers.  Writing is delivered in a cross-curricular manner using our curriculum as the stimulus.  This takes place alongside daily basic skills sessions (which focus on handwriting, spelling and phonics) as well as discreet teaching of ‘Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling’ (GPS) content. 

• Children are taught writing in a creative way using a cross-curricular approach; this allows English lessons to be linked to their current topic. Information about the topics covered are detailed on the specific year group pages of our website.
• Children are given regular opportunities to produce extended pieces of creative writing.
• A progression of grammar, sentence level and punctuation objectives are used to inform planning.
• Children are taught a variety of sentence structures, referred to as Alan Peat sentences, to use within their writing.
• Where appropriate, children are given success criteria that link directly to their learning objectives. These are used for self, peer and teacher assessment.
• All children are taught to use joined, cursive handwriting as soon as they are ready.
• Children’s writing is assessed six times per year and are used to inform next step targets.

In planning our sequence of lessons for writing, we are use this approach to sequence the learning.

1. All classes begin by reading and discussing quality pieces of writing, exploring different examples of that genre.

2. Children are explicitly taught aspects of grammar, sentence level and punctuation relevant to the text type. Staff model these skills and scaffold these where necessary.

3. Children combine these skills with their knowledge of modelled text examples to plan their own writing.

4. Children independently apply what they have learnt in their own extended piece of writing.

5. Children are taught how to edit and improve their work through peer, whole class and small group editing. Children use a success criteria linked to the taught skills to reflect on, edit and then self or peer asses their writing.

Spelling

We use the Headstart Spelling Scheme to teach children word structures and spelling patterns in school.  The activities in the scheme allow the children to practise the words in a meaningful and fun way so the children will not regard them as copying exercises, and most of the activities make the important link of putting the word into context. The nature of the activities becomes increasingly challenging as the children get older and is appropriate for each age level.