Writing
Intent (Why we learn…)
At St Saviour’s, we believe that writing is an essential part of the curriculum. We aim to provide children with the appropriate writing skills to allow them to succeed in future life. Through our writing curriculum, the children will have mastered a range of skills that will support their future development.
These are:
- To be enthusiastic, inquisitive, lifelong learners: we aim to enthuse lifelong writers through: inspiring an interest in words and their meanings including developing a growing vocabulary in spoken and written forms; introducing and deconstructing a wide variety of engaging, high-quality books and model texts; covering a variety of genres giving children opportunities to ask questions and explore their interests.
- To be strong communicators: we provide opportunities for children to understand and use writing as a form of communication by ensuring opportunities to write for different and authentic purposes inclusive of teaching the vocabulary, grammar and punctuation skills to be effective and clear spoken and written communicators.
- To be well-rounded, independent and resilient learners with aspirations: we assist children to write with confidence, fluency and understanding and develop their ability to self-monitor and correct. Through high-quality teaching and developing metacognitive and critical thinking skills, all pupils are supported in becoming independent, resilient learners who have high aspirations for their future inspired by writing and authors.
- To develop and use their God given talents by being creative: through a creative, holistic approach to teaching writing, we aim to instil an innate pleasure for writing, promoting and encouraging children’s imagination and providing them with opportunities to discover their own style and unique writing voice.
- To be responsible citizens who are eager to make a positive contribution to their community and wider society: we aim to ensure pupils take pride in their work and its presentation; use writing as a tool to teach children about and explore the world around them; promote and eagerness to ask and answer questions and to use writing for purpose to make change in the world.
As reading is an integral part of writing, books are at the heart of our writing curriculum. They help to ensure strong fundamentals in story structure and plot development, expand children’s vocabulary and allow deeper exploration of writing styles and genres. We use a wide range of high-quality texts to inspire and engage pupils ensuring that these are displayed within classroom reading corners to promote an intrinsic love of reading.
Implementation (How we teach...)
At St Saviour’s we ensure high expectations for all. Our writing curriculum supports inclusivity for all pupils and that lessons are taught for depth and mastery ensuring that all children are given the tools and support needed to reach at least age-related expectations.
Using the National Curriculum and Jane Considine’s The Write Stuff, we have carefully mapped out relevant and engaging units of work for all year groups which include cohesively sequenced lessons ensuring that prior learning is revisited and developed both within year groups and year on year. Each year group has a yearly overview of their writing units with cover a variety of genres, ensuring that children are able to write for a range of purposes and audiences.
Our curriculum also provides children with memorable, diverse and rich opportunities from which they can learn and develop a range of transferable skills. We use school rewards, events and competitions such as celebrating writing in assemblies, pen licences, entering writing competitions and engaging within author days to enhance children’s learning experiences, provide meaning and authentic purpose to writing and to bring writing to life.
Throughout daily lessons we ensure quality first teaching for all children by ensuring that, wherever possible, support and feedback is given at the point of learning. Our teacher modelling approach of ‘think like a writer’ ensures that children are regularly exposed to how sentences are formed ensuring the teaching and learning of high-level language and grammatical structures whilst ensuring high expectations for all.
The use of robust, ongoing assessment for learning (AfL) informs future planning and identifies where further individual or group support this needed. We identify SEN children and identify gaps in learning to put in place clear support and interventions through pre-teaching and carefully adapted lessons at the earliest opportunity. Children who are exceeding age-related expectations are challenged through ‘deepening the moment’ to ensure a real depth and mastery of language and grammatical structures.
To track pupil progress and attainment in writing, each unit ends with an independent write. These assessments, alongside teacher AfL, form the summative assessment data which is collated on Sonar. We then use this data to track pupil progress and attainment.
The subject leader participates in regular, up-to-date training to ensure they have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities alongside the knowledge, expertise and practical skills to carry out this role to the best of their ability.
Impact (As a result…)
The impact of our school’s writing curriculum can be seen in the pupils’ books, Tapestry, summative data collected on Sonar and through pupil voice. Outcomes or all groups of pupils within writing are improving as the children are kept at the centre of everything we do. Strong relationships create a positive learning culture where writing is celebrated, shared and given purpose.
Pupils’ progress is measure through ongoing assessments and three assessment points during the year. Pupil data is then analysed against both internal and external data to ensure progress is on track in each year group. From this, interventions are planned, implemented and evaluated for targeted pupils. Learning tasks such as pre-teaching and carefully adapted lessons are planned to address any misconceptions and/or gaps in learning.
Pupils will not only leave St Saviours with a secure understanding of the writing curriculum, but with the understanding of how to be socially, morally, spiritually and culturally responsible communicators. They will be able to write across a range of genres and for different, authentic purposes and audiences and leave as skilful, ambitious and enthusiastic writers.
At St Saviour’s Primary and Nursery School we aim to give every child the opportunity to become a writer and to be enthused by writing.
We understand the importance of the written word and its role in inspiring children and unlocking their potential across the curriculum. Children who love the written word unlock a whole world of creativeness which can then translate into progression, achievement and passion in other areas.
Through Jane Considine’s ‘The Write Stuff’ units, children are emersed in a wide range of high-quality, rich texts which are brought to life through immersive experience lessons and sentence stacking. Throughout the units the children then explore high-level, rich vocabulary and new grammatical concepts using the writing lenses on the Writing Rainbow.
FANTASTICs – ideas for writing
GRAMMARISTICs – tools for writing
BOOMTASTICs – writing techniques
(The FANTASTIC lenses are used from EYFS through to year 6 whereas the GRAMMARISTIC and BOOMTASTIC are introduced from year 3.)
Each unit is then completed through a carefully selected writing task where the children are given the opportunity to show what they have learnt by planning and writing their own independent piece of writing.
After they have written their independent piece, they are then given the tools and skills to edit and improve their writing to create a final piece.
Please find below spelling lists for Years 1 to 6, as well as the 100 High Frequency Words and some ideas on how to bring spelling practice to life at home.
From years 2 to 6, we use Spelling Frame to support children's learning. The focus of the program is on the teaching of spelling, which embraces knowledge of spelling conventions – patterns and rules; but integral to the teaching is the opportunity to promote the learning of spellings, including statutory words, common exceptions and personal spellings.
In order to support learning at home, each child has their own unique Spelling Frame login which can be used to access practice tests and games at home. As Spelling Frame is carefully tailored to each child, the games and practice tests will provide ample personalised opportunities to decode, build and spelling given words in a range of fun and engaging ways.
You can access Spelling Frame using the link below and find your child's unique login in their Red Reading Records.
In EYFS and KS1, spellings are taught systematically as part of our Phonics program- Little Wandle. For more information, please visit our phonics page using the link below.