Aims
Through our Writing curriculum at Staveley CE Primary School we want to foster pupils love for writing, equipping them with the ability to express themselves creatively and coherently for a wide variety of purposes and audiences and providing them with essential skills for future success. Carefully planned units of work based on quality texts to enthuse and motivate pupils, taking pupils through the whole writing process, will encourage pupils to be self-regulated learners, critical thinkers and good communicators and will ensure that all pupils make good progress in writing.
How do we teach Writing?
Writing is taught as part of daily English lessons and across other curriculum areas, in conjunction with speaking and listening and reading activities, following The National Curriculum and Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. Pupils learn to write in a range of styles and for different purposes and audiences right from the Early Years where pupils are encouraged to mark-make and ‘write’ in all areas of their play. Throughout school, the pupils will write for different purposes such as to describe, persuade, inform, analyse and narrate and will learn the features and structure of different forms of writing such as letters, stories, newspapers, biographies and poems, to ensure success.
Writing is complex and can place a heavy burden on working memory because it requires pupils to combine transcription skills (handwriting and spelling), text generation and the use of executive functions (planning, monitoring and revising). At Staveley CE Primary School we plan motivating and engaging units of writing including explicit teaching of all of the processes of writing such as planning, executing, revising and editing. Modelling and scaffolding are the key to success in all of these processes. High quality texts are used as a stimulus to inspire creative writing and create stimulating and meaningful opportunities to write as well as real-life experiences and adventures. Writing activities become progressively more complex as the children learn about the features of text types and apply it in their own work. We make meaningful links between subjects where possible and place the same expectations on children’s writing within all curriculum areas.
Spelling
Reception and Year 1 use a phonetical approach to spelling and through their Read, Write, Inc phonics and reading sessions learn the common exception words and spelling rules. From Year 2 upwards, explicit daily teaching of spelling takes place in year groups, following the Read, Write, Inc spelling programme. This includes a systematic approach to learning the common exception words and spelling rules and patterns for each year group as per The National Curriculum. Each class will also learn contextualised spellings relating to content being studied across the curriculum.
Handwriting
All pupils are explicitly taught handwriting from when they first start learning letters and sounds in Reception up to Year 6. Learning to accurately form letters early on can dramatically improve the quality, length and fluency of pupils writing. We follow the Read, Write, Inc Handwriting Programme. Pupils are first taught to form correctly each letter and then some joins by the end of Year 2. In Key Stage 2, joined-up handwriting is further developed and encouraged. We have high expectations for the presentation of work and pupils are encouraged to develop their own handwriting style and use it successfully.
What are the outcomes?
Pupils at Staveley CE Primary School develop a love of writing and become competent writers for different purposes and audiences, able to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively. Half termly writing assessments allow teachers to quickly identify pupils needing a little extra support in any of the areas of writing and termly GAPS tests identify successes and areas for development in spelling, punctuation and grammar. Pupils regularly share their writing achievements in whole-school assemblies and are proud of their writing accomplishments. Pupils demonstrate a growing confidence and independence in their writing and can express themselves effectively, coherently and with creativity across a range of purposes and audiences.
Writing Curriculum – core texts and genres