Writing is a very complicated yet vitally important life skill for all children to be successful in both life in school and in their future professional and personal lives. We want our children to find their writer’s voice and be able to confidently and effectively communicate and express their knowledge, ideas and emotions. We understand that oracy, reading and writing are inextricably linked and we ensure that we build in lots of opportunities for children to ‘talk’ before they write.

High quality Early Years provision and a consistent approach to teaching early writing creates strong foundations within our English Curriculum. We place high-quality children’s literature at the heart of our English Curriculum and follow a ‘teach through a text’ approach using Literacy Tree’s high-quality planning to support our teachers. These texts provide an engaging and exciting context for us to teach the requirements of the National Curriculum and also provide real purpose and motivation to write. Effective writers employ a wide repertoire of knowledge and skills to make them successful. A writer constantly has to consider the skills of handwriting and spelling (transcription), idea generation and planning (composition), and grammar and punctuation. We ensure that there is a progression of knowledge and skills throughout our English Curriculum and these skills are built on and developed year on year.

We also recognise that children do their best writing when they are motivated and excited so we ensure that we select engaging, meaningful outcomes. We teach a range of genres and make sure we focus on the purpose of the writing and the intended audience. Using high quality children’s literature as a platform, our goal is to provide children with real reasons to write, whether it be for explanation, entertainment, persuasion, information, or instruction. We ensure that children have opportunities to explore a range of high quality models so that they feel confident to produce their own high quality version. Through a combination of modelled writing, shared writing and guided writing we teach children how to be success whilst also planning in lots of opportunities for them to apply these skills independently. We also recognise the importance of proof reading and editing and ensure time is built in for our children to work with an adult, a peer or independently to improve their work. Our SEND pupils are supported by quality-first teaching including the explicit teaching of vocabulary, visuals and sentence stems. Some children may need additional support through resources such as writing frames, Widget symbols or colourful semantics.

Grammar and Punctuation

The teaching of grammar and punctuation knowledge and skills are fully embedded in the writing process. Grammar skills are taught in line with the National Curriculum expectations. Our grammar teaching is explicit and then the children are given ample opportunities to practise and apply their new knowledge in a purposeful way through written outcomes. 

Spelling

We follow the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum and teach spelling in dedicated, weekly spelling lessons. We follow a structured approach to spelling instruction allowing time for children to investigate words within a meaningful context and fostering a deeper understanding of vocabulary. As part of this, children receive weekly spellings which they are tested on the following week.

Handwriting

Handwriting is taught during short, regular handwriting lessons where we teach and model letter formation. We follow the Nelson Handwriting scheme to ensure a consistency of approach throughout the school.