Writing

Intent:

By the end of Key Stage Two, we intend for children to be able to:

• Develop children’s ability to produce well-structured, detailed writing in which the purpose is made clear and engages the interest of the reader.
• Ensure children are aware of the structures of the English language, grammatical terms, punctuation and spelling.
• Give children a wide range of opportunities for writing in different contexts using quality texts as a stimulus as well as quality contexts through theme linked work.
• Teach children the life skill of being able to spell accurately using known spelling rules.
• Ensure children are clear in their use of grammar to engage the reader and avoid ambiguity in their writing.

Implementation

We achieve these aims by:

• To support the teaching of writing in school, staff refer to The Power of Reading, Alan Peat, Sue Palmer and some Pie Corbett strategies. With the latter three, teachers are flexible in their use of these Literacy Experts strategies to suit the needs of the children and the text type being taught.
• As a school, we use the Power of Reading strategy to improve the quality of writing across school by engaging children with a high-quality text using speaking and listening and reading activities.
• Children also produce writing based on the topic they are studying in geography and history lessons to fully engage with the topic in a range of ways.
• The text types which are required to be covered by children are outlined in the school long term plans for each year group to ensure a breadth of coverage.
• Staff model writing strategies and the use of phonics and spelling strategies in shared writing sessions.
• Guided writing sessions are used to target specific needs of both groups and individual children whilst children have opportunities to write at length in extended independent writing sessions on a weekly basis.
• As a school, we follow a plan, draft, edit procedure when writing. This develops children’s independence as writers.
• We recognise the important role that computing plays in the development of English skills. Children have many opportunities to improve their writing by producing final pieces typed on a computer.
• Children have opportunities to write based on film clips and interactive technology is used regularly to enhance the teaching of English.
• We teach children that their handwriting needs to be joined and legible, as required in the National Curriculum (2013). This is modelled by all members of staff whenever writing for the children to maintain high expectations.
• Intervention and handwriting sessions are put in place for specific children or groups of children who require additional support in handwriting. These sessions focus on building children’s motor skills, posture, pen positioning and then letter formation.
• All classrooms have English displays which display a wide range of vocabulary, grammatical terms and examples of writing in a range of contexts.
• Children have access to a range of resources in the classroom to support the improvement of their writing (year group specific spelling lists, vocabulary lists, dictionaries, thesauruses).
• Grammar is timetabled to be taught discretely and are also embedded within English lessons and writing outcomes where appropriate.
• Spelling is taught explicitly each week and tested on a weekly basis. When spelling becomes automatic, children are able to concentrate on the content of their writing. Whilst not the only aspect that makes up a piece of writing, confidence in spelling can have a profound effect on the writer’s learning.
• All staff use teaching which draws children’s attention to the origin, structure and meaning of words and their parts, the shape and sound of words, the letter patterns within them and the various ways they can learn these patterns.
• In EY and KS1, daily phonics is the key to the children’s learning of spelling. Please see the phonics policy for additional information on this.
• In KS2, children use their phonic knowledge to help them understand spelling rules and patterns.
• Regular opportunities to write for a purpose including the Newswise Guardian project, Rotary Young Writer competitions and Rugby School Poetry competitions.

Impact

• Data shows increasingly good progress in writing and increased percentages of children working at expected standard.
• Children become enthusiastic to read their work aloud.
• Over the past two years, multiple children have had their work published as part of competitions that we take part in as either a school or key stages. This includes the yearly young writers competition as well as Rugby School poetry competitions.
• Work is displayed that children are proud of and will talk about with their peers and adults.
• Children become enthused by topics in writing and continue their work outside of school.