By the end of year 6, we intend for our children to be enthusiastic, articulate and imaginative communicators, proficient in expressing themselves in various forms and for different purposes. We see it as imperative for children to reach their full potential in writing, a life-skill that will serve them throughout any future career they may seek or any path they may choose to follow in life; their ability to achieve this rests on their skills and understanding in transcription, composition, oracy and grammar, punctuation & spelling, fundamental pillars of the English language. It is essential that our teaching and curriculum develops pupils’ competence in these areas and that we strive as educators to provide children with the opportunity to write for a range of purposes, forms and audiences and across the curriculum to help ensure their writing is relevant and purposeful.
Through careful planning, we seek to provide the children with a platform to take ownership of their writing, completing an enjoyable and interesting process which provides them with the opportunities to explore existing texts; share their ideas through speaking and listening activities; plan for structure, content and vocabulary; work collaboratively with peers and adults to develop their writing; and work independently to produce a piece of writing in which they can see a clear and meaningful purpose. Writing is an ever-evolving skill and we encourage children to edit and improve their work often, forever striving to produce their best work.
Writing, much like reading, another key driver in our curriculum, provides children with the opportunity to let their imaginations run free and transport them to other worlds in a way in which no other subject can match. It is our job to nurture and encourage this and ensure children are provided with rich and plentiful opportunities to express themselves through their writing. Our curriculum seeks to excite, engage and enthuse children whilst simultaneously providing them with the skills required to reach their full potential in writing.
Writing begins in EYFS where the children access ‘Drawing Club’, a vocabulary driven, stimulating scheme delivered by our highly-skilled EYFS lead. This scheme introduces the children to mark making through the use of ‘codes’ and builds up to phrases and sentences. This, alongside the Little Wandle Phonics Programme, provides the children with the opportunity to write sentences independently by the end of EYFS and provides them with a solid foundation of skills as they enter Year 1.
From Year 1 to Year 6, children develop their writing skills through the use of the Literacy Tree Scheme, a high-quality, text-based scheme which provides children with the opportunity to write across a wide range of genres and purposes. We have adapted the long-term plan to ensure it is progressive and bespoke to the needs of our children and to ensure children are exposed to fiction, non-fiction, poetry and playscripts throughout their education.
In Year 6, the children follow the scheme throughout the Autumn Term; once they have the skills and understanding of a range of genres, they move to a more ‘sustained writing’ approach which gives them ample opportunity to write, at length, for a variety of purposes & audiences and further develop their editing skills.
In addition to our use of the Literacy Tree Scheme, children are exposed to daily dictation activities whereby they are given, orally, an age-appropriate sentence to complete. This enables the children to develop their handwriting, spelling and punctuation skills as well as having the opportunity to check their work for accuracy, either independently, with a peer or verbally with a teacher.
Spelling is taught from Year 2 through the use of the ‘Spelling Shed Scheme’ and handwriting is taught through ‘Letter join’ – see separate overviews for more information.
The effectiveness of our Writing curriculum is measured by the extent in which our children are able to write confidently and accurately across a wide range of genres and for various purposes and audiences. Children should leave year 6 with an enthusiasm for writing and equipped with all of the essential skills and techniques to flourish in writing for the remainder of their education and beyond. The impact of our curriculum is assessed robustly on a day-to-day basis to ensure it is providing children with the best possible foundations in which to succeed in writing. Our writing is celebrated and assessed in a variety of ways:
1. Assessing pieces of writing against the relevant writing objectives using insight tracker.
2. Whole school writing gallery showcasing the progression in writing from EYFS to Year 6.
3. Regular book looks, learning walks and pupil voice to identify good practice and areas for development conducted by the English lead alongside the Headteacher and the link governor for English.
4. Weekly awards for achievements across the curriculum, including writing.
5. Focussed spelling, handwriting and dictation activities focussing on skills required for accurate and well-presented writing.
