English

Writing

Our aim is to develop children’s love and enthusiasm for writing across the curriculum, whilst providing them with the necessary skills to do so.

We aim for all children to be able to do the following by the time they leave us:

• become independent and confident writers
• see writing as a purposeful activity
• understand the importance of audience and purpose and write in a variety of ways
• develop strategies to communicate effectively, through the written word, and understand the importance of writing as a means of communication
• use spelling, punctuation and grammar accurately and with confidence
• recognise that drafting and editing are essential parts of the writing process
• develop powers of imagination and inventiveness through writing.

That said, if pupils have a specific need, we remove their barrier to learning (using ICT/ talking tins or apps) so that they can still develop their love of literature and express themselves, building their knowledge of literary devices, as well as grammatical knowledge and skills.

Writing follows an ECPS journey, which is creative, imaginative and engages the interests of our pupils across the school. We focus on the use of high-quality texts, images, videos and our current curriculum topics, to stimulate children’s creativity and to help to develop their enthusiasm for writing. Each half term, teachers focus on the teaching of a narrative and a non-fiction unit of work with poetry being taught at three points during the year, using the topic or the interests of the children as a stimulus. Our units focus on a spiralling progression of skills from reception to year 6, which enables our children to progress into sophisticated and independent writers.

By the end of year 6, children are confident in writing and recognising a range of text types:

• Narrative
• Poetry
• Recounts in various forms
• Reports and information texts
• Instructions
• Explanations
• Biographies
• Discussions
• Persuasion

Our approach to writing promotes creativity within the classroom. Each journey begins by 'reading around the genre'. This engages and motivates them, prior to writing. We then focus on the PAT of the writing (purpose, audience, text type) and children develop a deep understanding of these three aspects. This supports their initial idea development and understanding of the upcoming writing as well as ensuring that they apply the appropriate skills needed for that piece of writing.

Children are then taught specific writing elements that not only meet their year group criteria, but also support their writing focus. Children are provided with opportunities to study model texts to develop their understanding of the features of different genres and what they need to include to be successful writers. Through completing plans and shared and guided writing activities, our children have the opportunity to rehearse their new skills, including relevant spelling, punctuation and grammar, which is relevant to each specific genre, before applying it to their final writing process.  We avoid numbered, stand alone GPS activities, and instead encourage pupils to use their skills in the context of a written piece.

Our planning and assessment tools link to the aims and objectives of the national curriculum, which have been broken down into small, achievable steps. These help to clearly measure progression across the school. There are planned opportunities to write across the curriculum to further embed writing skills, including spelling, punctuation and grammar. Our diverse topics give the opportunity to allow writing for a range of purposes, in a variety of contexts and continue to inspire a love of writing, as well as instilling in them that all writing has a purpose.

Our children take pride in the work they have produced and they are taught to and have the opportunity within the writing process to edit, redraft and improve work. We value the efforts children put into their work and it is displayed around school.