English - Writing

Intent: What do we hope to achieve?

In EYFS Literacy It is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading. Reading consists of two dimensions: language comprehension and word reading. Language comprehension (necessary for both reading and writing) starts from birth. It only develops when adults talk with children about the world around them and the books (stories and non-fiction) they read with them, and enjoy rhymes, poems and songs together. Skilled word reading, taught later, involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Writing involves transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech, before writing).

In KS1 & KS2 national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audience
• use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly
  their understanding and ideas
• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations,
  demonstrating to others and participating in debate

Implementation: How we will deliver writing?

We teach early writing through Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS), which is a systematic, synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Reception, in the first full week of the Autumn term, and follow the ELS progression which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school. Through ELS daily phonic sessions, children are taught to form the letters of the alphabet correctly,  hear individual sounds in words and apply the ELS spelling sequence when they are writing. 

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Downloadable guides from our phonics scheme provides phrases to support letter formation. Letter formation for all letters of the alphabet are covered in Phase 2 and Phase 3:

Phase 2 https://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/oxed/children/Grapheme-Sheet-Phase-2.pdf

Phase 3 https://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/oxed/children/Grapheme-Sheet-Phase-3.pdf

Handwriting

Teachers in EYFS and KS1 will follow the PenPals scope and progression for handwriting, planning additional teaching for the cursive letter formation of f, g, j, k, y. In KS2 handwriting will be taught through spellings. 

Handwriting policy

Spelling

Children in Year 2 upwards will be explicitly taught a spelling rule/pattern each week. Teachers follow the spelling scheme provided by Spelling Shed for the 36 weeks. Children will then be expected to apply this rule in sentences based on the context of their learning. Spelling will go home based on the rule explored in class but may also include appropriate vocabulary for other topics/units being covered within the class at that point. 

A writing journey (a text based approach)

We believe the foundation for writing is built on children’s oral work and children are encouraged to express their ideas at every opportunity. In EYFS, Talk Through Stories is used to extend and deepen children’s vocabulary so that they can understand the books they will soon be able to read for themselves. We help children to get to know the story well: the plot, the characters, and their actions and motives and we focus on eight words from the story. 

Teachers in KS1 and 2 will plan writing units using carefully selected texts to inspire and motivate children's writing. Writing units will be planned around the following sequence. 

• New vocabulary
• Introduction to the text
• Preparing for writing
• Planning stage
• Editing and improving work
• The finished piece (published)
• Marking & feedback 

A range of genres of writing will be covered including non-fiction, narrative and descriptive writing. This is done so that children have the opportunity to apply skills equally to a range of writing as well being able to develop technical, structural and vocabulary understanding. 

Writing policy

Curriculum Impact - How effective is our curriculum?

The impact of our curriculum will be measured and monitored by senior leaders and subject leaders who consider and evaluate:

• Pupil outcomes
• Pupil voice
• Internal monitoring
• External monitoring