Writing is an essential part of our curriculum and we provide lots of wonderful opportunities to inspire pupils, which makes sure they enjoy writing. In EYFS children learn how to hold a pencil properly and begin to form letters, words and sentences. We explicitly teach cursive handwriting from year one onwards and we encourage the children to write across a range of subjects and genres. We link our writing context to our curriculum topics, where appropriate. We find real life reasons for children to write -recent examples include letters to our MP, reports for our newsletter, performance poetry and speeches.

Intent

Following the national curriculum for writing, our intent is that all our children will:

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Head

  • Develop the skills to write clearly, legibly and accurately with attention to punctuation, spelling and grammar.
  • The ability to organise and plan their written work.
  • To draft, proof read and edit.
  • Have knowledge of a wide variety of quality texts (fiction and non-fiction).
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Heart

  • Be confident in their own writing abilities.
  • See writing as an interesting and enjoyable process.
  • See themselves as a writer.
  • Provide feedback for their own and others work constructively.
  • Have rich and varied opportunities encourage a love of learning.
  • Confidence in speaking and listening and the ability to use this to communicate and further their learning.
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Hand

  • Be confident to write for a range of purposes.
  • Be able to apply their skills in writing to all other areas of the curriculum.
  • Be able to take responsibility for their own writing development and progress.
  • To apply their writing skills to support them to know more, remember more and do more.

Implementation:

principles , learning habits, our academic curriculum uses either the EYFS statutory framework or the National Curriculum as the basis for content and expectations. We have structured this so that each year group has:

  • A clear progression of skills and text types enabling curriculum coherence across the school.
  • We use a range of approaches including Talk for Wrtiting, modelling, shared writing, guided writing and writing for a range of purposes.
  • The teaching of phonics through a daily systematic synthetic phonics programme in EYFS, year 1 and 2 where applicable.
  • In Key Stage 2 spellings from relevant year group words lists are set each week and spelling rules and patterns are taught. Additionally, there is a daily input of grammar and punctuation teaching which is based on the year group objectives and expectations.  Teachers then give the children the opportunity to apply their grammar and punctuation within their Talk4Writing activities.
  • Opportunities across the curriculum to apply writing skills learnt.
  • Attainment will be assessed each half term through differentiated writing tasks.

Impact:

  • Most children will achieve age related expectations by the end of their cohort year.
  • Children will have the knowledge and skills to write fluently, confidently and coherently.
  • All children will show a passion and love of writing through the curriculum. Children are enthusiastic about writing and sharing their writing with others.
  • Children are able to apply their writing skills across the curriculum to enhance other subjects within school.
  • Children are well prepared for their next stage of learning. Children will use their writing skills in all areas of the curriculum to enable them to know more, remember more and understand more.
  • Data from all assessments in Sept /Dec/March/ July is shared with senior leaders and next step decisions are considered and intervention strategies put into place to address any underachievement.

Talk for Writing

We have developed a powerful and effective approach to teaching English based on Pie Corbett’s ‘Talk for Writing’. At English Martyrs, Talk for Writing begins in EYFS and continues through to year 6. Throughout their time with us children will build up a bank of fiction and non-fiction text types to ensure that over time children can tell and write imaginative and exciting stories and confidently instruct, argue, discuss, explain, inform and persuade. Our aim is to empower children as readers and writers, to inspire a lifelong love of reading and learning. Our exciting and creative curriculum has been designed around top quality children’s literature – putting it at the heart of everything we do.

During the initial ‘imitation’ stage of Talk for Writing, children learn to tell a story off by heart. They retell a text with expression and actions and make use of a story map to support their retelling. This stage enables children to imitate the key language they need for a particular topic orally before they try reading and analysing it. Once the story is learnt, children are encouraged to adapt it. At the ‘innovation’ stage, children make the story their own, for example, by changing the character or setting. Finally, at the ‘invention stage, children write their own text independently. Through all stages of Talk for Writing children experiences lively and multi-sensory sessions.

Take a look at the video below for more information.