Intent:

At Katesgrove Primary, we aim to help our children develop into articulate and imaginative communicators, who are well-equipped with the basic skills they need to become life-long learners; English learning is key in this. We aim to ensure all of our children develop a genuine love of language and the written word, through a text-based approach. We also want children to realise that writing happens in every subject and is truly cross-curricular. Texts which are chosen allow exposure to rich vocabulary, improved understanding of authorial intent and in fiction, children become better aware of character arcs and changes throughout a novel. Writing will be taught through different purposes: to describe, narrate, explain, instruct, give and respond to information, and argue.

We ensure that children develop an understanding of how widely writing is used in everyday life and, therefore, how important and useful the skills are that they are learning. Our intentions in writing are for children to:

• Display automaticity in transcriptional skills (handwriting and spelling)
• Write for a purpose and audience
• Have a clear understanding of the different purposes and use these effectively
• Consider the effect they wish to have on their audience and how they will achieve this
• See themselves as real writers
• Take ownership of their writing
• See writing as an interesting and enjoyable process
• Acquire the ability to organise and plan their written work
• Use oracy skills to help enhance their writing
• Evaluate and edit the effectiveness of their own and others writing

Implementation:

From the beginning of EYFS, children become used to talking in sentences, using marks to represent meaning and writing is modelled by staff every day. As children begin to learn Set 1 phonics from the Read, Write Inc. scheme, they are encouraged to use these initial sounds to help with writing.  As they move through the year, children are encouraged to write in context, for example linked to a role play situation.

As children progress into Key Stage 1, writing focuses on punctuation and demarcation of sentences, application of phonics for spelling, use of common exception words and use of grammar. Teachers enable early writers to learn, understand and apply the basic skills of writing to create the building blocks for their future as a writer ensuring that the transcriptional skills are automatic. Writing in Key Stage 1 encourages the enjoyment of writing by children and also links to their areas of interest.

In Key Stage 2, writing and reading become further intertwined, allowing the children to fully understand the writing process. Once transcriptional skills are automatic and embedded, teaching is focussed on composition.  Attention is paid to structuring writing to ensure the desired effect is achieved and children are clear about purpose and audience. Interventions and scaffolds will be put in place for those children who are yet to achieve transcriptional automaticity. 

By using a novel study approach, we are able to explore characters, plot and settings in more depth. This is supplemented by non-fiction and poetry texts to provide further context and exposure to a range of text types.

SEND pupils need to be able to access the curriculum at their appropriate level but allowing them the opportunity of challenge; this would be evidenced in the choice of text used or possible amended text; scaffolded activities; visuals and increased practice.

Our writing curriculum is planned using the National Curriculum, supported by clear progression in spelling, punctuation and grammar. We aim to develop children’s ability to produce well-structured, detailed writing in which the meaning is made clear and which engages the interest of the audience/reader. Particular attention is paid throughout the school to the formal structures of English: grammatical detail, punctuation and spelling. Teachers model the planning, editing and publishing skills through their teaching sequence to enable the children to transfer these skills independently into their own writing.

We use a text-based approach that enables us to create opportunities for links between reading, discussion and writing. Texts used are carefully chosen to ensure maximum engagement from the children so that writing outcomes are more successful. Writing is explored in all subject areas across the curriculum. When possible, units of work in English may be built around a foundation subject e.g. history.

As a school, we strive to develop our writing skills through explicitly taught oracy skills which provide children with opportunities to enhance their writing through:

• time to talk about their writing to gather inspiration and ideas from others
• verbal rehearsing of sentences to formulate ideas and to use as a vehicle to edit
• to trial new vocabulary within a safe and supported environment, through oral rehearsal, before they commit their ideas to paper
• providing them with opportunities to learn and apply a wide range of vocabulary

Intended impact:

• Children will find the process of writing enjoyable and look forward to opportunities to write in all subjects.
• Children will become confident writers by the end of KS2
• Children will have the desire to improve their writing, looking for ways to enhance what they have already written
• Children of all abilities will be able to succeed in writing lessons
• Children will understand the writing process, from planning through to editing, redrafting and publishing
• The % of children working at ARE within each year group will be broadly in line with national averages
• The % of children working at Greater Depth within each year group will be broadly in line with national averages
• Teachers are able to see that each child is on a journey as a writer, building on their skills year on year
• Relative to their starting points, children from all groups will make progress in writing