Intent
Through a clearly structured and progressive writing curriculum grounded in authentic texts and quality teaching, we want every pupil to become confident writers, who develop a secure understanding of how sentences are formed, and who are able to create purposeful written pieces which have an appropriate impact on their audience, understanding how writing can be used to communicate. We strive to ensure that children are able to draw upon expert models to take their spoken ideas to formal sentences. Our aim is that children leave Blackboys with the secure understanding of what is needed to write successfully and that they enjoy the writing process, so that they are able to transcribe and compose writing for the Key Stage Three curriculum with confidence.
Implementation
Children’s writing journeys begin in EYFS with mark making, where children are taught the correct pencil grip while using different media to create meaningful marks. Children also begin to learn the correct formation of upper and lower case letters, including where to start each letter and the specific shapes and directions needed.
In each class, children are exposed to high quality texts, carefully chosen by staff, which show them and help them to understand the different elements of writing including transcription, composition, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation. These texts allow teachers to develop children’s writing in a range of different genres, thereby ensuring they have the chance to write for a range of purposes. To support this, teachers also make use of ‘WAGOLL’s (What A Good One Looks Like) and ‘WASOLL’s (What A Sad One Looks Like) to help children to understand the specific features of the genre they are studying.
Teachers use a range of strategies within lessons to help children to develop their writing, including the use of modelled and shared writing. The use of ‘I do, we do, you do’ is prevalent in classes when modelling and sharing ideas and concepts. Lessons in writing help children to understand how to structure their writing. Children are taught to plan their writing using a variety of planning techniques, which help them to understand the purpose of the writing they are doing. Staff use the ‘Writing for a Purpose’ document to guide their choices in the writing that children complete, a copy of which can be found on the school website.
Teachers also use a range of strategies to help children improve their writing at sentence level. In each class, a ‘sentence of the week’ is used to show children how different sentences can be constructed, and the elements involved in making accurate sentences. This sentence is normally taken from the class text that children are studying.
Children are taught the vital importance of editing and improving their work. This is taught using teacher modelling, as well as with peer assessment and feedback to individual children. Children use a purple pen to show the editing that they have completed.
All children, including those with SEND are supported in lesson through the ‘5 a day’ principle from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). High quality teaching in English lessons includes strategies from the five main areas of high quality teaching, as explained by the EEF: explicit instruction, cognitive and metacognitive strategies, scaffolding, flexible grouping, and the use of technology.
Careful links are made across the curriculum to ensure that children’s writing is relevant and meaningful, where possible linking our reading, writing and the topic that we are covering in History and Geography.
Spelling is taught through Monster Phonics in Key Stage One and Superhero Spellings in Key Stage Two. Teachers are able to identify children who need extra support with spelling and provide personalised programs of practice and intervention.
Pre-cursive handwriting is taught from Year 1, with cursive being introduced in Year 3. Children start by writing in pencil. When they reach Year 3, they have the opportunity to earn a ‘Pen Licence’ when they have shown that their cursive handwriting is of a good standard. Children then use a pen for all writing from Year 5 onwards.
Impact
From the regular monitoring of lessons, books and pupil interviews, it is clear that writing is taught in a systematic and progressive way, that prior teaching and learning is considered, and that learning is memorable. Children enjoy talking about their writing – about its construction, purpose and effect on the reader. They are confident to share their writing with staff, children and parents alike. As a result of the explicit teaching of writing skills, cross-curricular writing is of a similar standard as writing completed in literacy units. All writing is planned with a clear intention and audience and editing ensures that writing is presented at its best. Children achieve well at the end of both Key stages and leave Blackboys with a secure understanding of writing and are well prepared to meet the needs of a challenging secondary curriculum and the expectations of writing across all subjects.
The impact of our writing curriculum will be measured through:
- Moderation and standardisation at school, Federation and Alliance level.
- Summer term moderation at County level (cluster or statutory).
- The use of Writing Assessment Criteria (WAC) sheets.
- The use of key documents from the National Curriculum including the English programme of study, including appendix 2, and the end of Key Stage 2 assessment framework.
- The use of official English exemplification materials to assess writing.
- Teacher assessment of writing using independently written pieces to provide evidence of national curriculum skills and understanding.
- Regular learning visits by senior leadership, subject leaders and school governors.
