Writing
Intent
At Newton Leys Primary School, we have designed our writing curriculum to ignite our children’s curiosity when exploring different writing purposes. There is a focus on the development of the children’s independent creative writing. We want all children to develop a love of language for language sake. We aim to develop our children’s ability to use spoken and written language to communicate effectively – to listen, speak, read and write both in and for a wide range of contexts, purpose and audiences. We want our children to acquire a wide vocabulary, a good understanding of grammar in context and to be able to spell new words by applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn throughout their time in our school. We want our children to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style as necessary. We believe that all children should be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing and aim to develop a legible, joined handwriting style by the time they move to secondary school. We want our children to understand that all good writers refine and edit their writing often and therefore we want our children to develop independence in being able to identify their own areas for improvement in a piece of writing and edit their work during and after the writing process. We recognise that each child has their own starting point upon entry to every year group and progress is measured in line with these starting points to ensure that every child can celebrate success.
Implementation
At Newton Leys Primary School, We follow the National Curriculum 2014 to deliver lessons rich in reading, writing, phonics, spelling, grammar and punctuation through our whole school English Spine where high-quality texts are used to deliver all aspects of the English Curriculum. In all year groups at Newton Leys Primary School we teach writing through high-quality stimuli to engage the imagination before moving on to vocabulary exploration, sentence craft and writing. This ranges from picture books and learning to imitate texts, to poems, more complex chapter books, and immersive real-life experiences. Over their school career, children will write in many fiction and non-fiction styles, including recounts, news reports, explanation texts, poems, plays and stories of all kinds. Links are made across the curriculum to give depth and meaning to the writing. We have a carefully planned writing curriculum. This has clear progression. It teaches, revisits and develops key skills and knowledge for writing at every level and in every year group. It works parallel to our systematic spelling progression as well as our reading skills progression. We believe that for mastery as a writer, our children need to understand how these areas of learning are linked.. We make sure that our children know the link between reading and writing. We teach them to write to entertain their reader and to read a text and analyse it as a writer. We ensure that children are provided with exciting lessons that are carefully sequenced in order to build on their knowledge and understanding of writing. Learning is regularly revisited through cross-curricular lessons to help children become secure with skills.
There are several strands to teaching and implementing English here at Newton Leys Primary School;
►Weekly English planning, leading towards an extended written outcome, is underpinned by a phased approach: Phase 1 – read and deconstruct one or more WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) identifying features used in a specific genre, Phase 2 – explore the language, capture own ideas, plan and prewrite, Phase 3 – modelled writing, shared composition, independent writing, evaluate, edit and publish
► High-quality presentation is strived for through following our own progressive handwriting scheme. Adults model correct letter formation, both in discrete handwriting sessions and when writing in book or on the whiteboard/flipchart.
►Specific spelling rules and strategies for spelling are delivered discreetly using the Spelling Shed scheme in both KS1 and KS2. Weekly spelling tests linked to the weekly spelling rule or strategy take place each week.
►Teachers deliver the relevant grammar and punctuation for their year group as set out by the National Curriculum. This is taught both explicitly in stand-alone weekly lessons and applied within the context of writing for a purpose.-
►In writing lessons, scaffolding is provided through bespoke success criteria (depending on the experience of the writer) and through teacher-led guided groups, scaffolding independent work and regular interventions for prior learning and over learning of key skills which ensures that all pupils can access the writing curriculum. Alternatively, greater depth children are challenged using the progression of skills and exposing them to higher-level vocabulary and texts. The structure of writing in Newton Leys Primary School develops in complexity as they move up in the school based on the children’s abilities.
►Assessment is informed by observations during daily English lessons, verbal feedback and regular marking and feedback of the children's work in their books. Teachers use teacher assessment framework grids for their year group and mark each ‘hot write’ against the framework. This assessment will inform future lessons and planning. At the end of Year 2 (KS1) and Year 6 (KS2) pupils will be given teacher-assessed judgements in Writing (Working Towards/Working At/Working Above age-related Expectations) based on ‘pupil can’ statements found in the relevant ARA framework for each key stage.
Impact
►We measure the effectiveness and impact of our English curriculum in a variety of ways.
►We formally assess an extended piece of writing each term, using the teacher assessment frameworks which enables progress and attainment to be analysed and evaluated in order to identify the next steps of learning. Moderation of writing takes place in school and in a cluster meeting with other year groups to ensure accurate judgements are being made.
►The quality of writing in English is evaluated by learning walks, drop-ins, ‘pupil voice’ discussions, and book monitoring. This informs the subject leader of the impact of new initiatives as well as future areas for improvement. After monitoring, the subject leader provides feedback to the head-teacher and address areas for development which is then shared with all staff.
►The impact of the English curriculum is clearly developing with our consistent teaching our English approach. There is evidence of progress, sustained learning and transferable skills and children are becoming more confident writers. By the time they are in Key Stage 2, most genres of writing are familiar to them and they are able to apply the skills independently.
►The quality of handwriting is improved through the regular teaching of handwriting following our handwriting scheme. Pupils form letters correctly – starting and finishing in the correct position.
►The culture around writing at Newton Leys is further evident through the children’s passion and thirst for writing both in their English lessons and throughout the school day where they apply their skills and passion of writing in all subjects.