Writing
Intent
At Beeston Primary School we follow the National Curriculum requirements to provide our pupils with high quality English lessons which teach them to speak, read and write fluently; enabling them to communicate their ideas and emotions effectively. We aim to enable all pupils to:
- Develop a confident, positive attitude towards English – a subject in which they can gain success and enjoyment.
- Write with confidence, fluency and understanding; developing an awareness of purpose, audience and text type.
- Understand the sound and spelling system and use this to read and spell accurately.
- Have fluent, legible, cursive handwriting and take pride in the presentation of their work.
- Communicate effectively, speak with confidence and structure their talk in ways which are coherent and understandable.
- Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and a knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
- Understand how to plan and prepare for writing; making informed choices about their own writing (e.g. vocabulary, grammar, text structure etc.).
- Understand how to reflect upon, edit and improve their own and their peers’ work.
Implementation
Writing at Beeston Primary School is taught daily across the school and celebrated in a range of ways. We follow the National Curriculum (2014) which ensures that a range of genres are covered, including: narrative (e.g. extended stories, stories by the same author, myths and legends, adventure and traditional stories); non-fiction (e.g. persuasive texts, non-chronological reports, information texts, recounts, reports and letters) and poetry (e.g. rhyme, nonsense rhymes and descriptive poetry). Genres are taught considering the purpose, audience and type of writing. Throughout the learning sequence, children will have the opportunity to plan, write and to carry out self and peer assessment.
Impact
Pupil outcomes are assessed across independent pieces of writing, during termly assessment periods. To ensure that children receive teaching in response to needs and all make progress, leaders work alongside teachers to ensure that the writing opportunities and outcomes are appropriate for the needs of all the children in their year group. By the end of each Key Stage, we aim for children’s outcomes to be in line with age related expectations and their writing should demonstrate the appropriate grammatical and language features for their age.
Children’s choice of vocabulary and sentence construction should improve in their writing across all areas of the curriculum. We also aim for a higher percentage of children to attain greater depth in writing in all year groups in accordance with the objectives from our school development plan.
Handwriting
At Beeston, formal handwriting skills are taught regularly through the ‘Improvement in School through Handwriting and Art’ (ISHA—Martin Harvey) handwriting scheme. This is based on the Nelson handwriting scheme. The approach progresses through the school with an emphasis being placed on the use of consistent language. Specific handwriting displays in each classroom will reflect the consistency of language and approach used throughout school. Our aim is that pupils will be supported to develop a handwriting style which is clear, joined and fluid. We provide pupils with regular opportunities to practice handwriting across the curriculum and we also provide regular lessons for teaching and revising these skills. The frequency and length of these lessons will vary according to the age and ability of the children; however, we follow the principal that:
‘Doing a little and doing it often' is what will make the most impact
We use the following progression steps through school:
1. Developing readiness for writing through gross and fine motor skills leading to letter formation (Foundation)
2. Consolidation of letter and number formation (Lower KS1)
3. Beginning and securing joins (Upper KS1/Lower KS2)
4. Practising speed and fluency of joins (Lower KS2)
5. Consolidating our own unique style of handwriting and consolidating our presentation skills (Upper KS2)
Opportunities for linking handwriting with early phonics and spelling work are fully explored through the ISHA handwriting scheme.
Handwriting is to be presented in the children’s handwriting books that have guidelines to support letter formation. Spending dedicated time on handwriting every day will drive up standards, not just in their handwriting and English books but in all books across the curriculum.
Spelling
At Beeston, we teach spelling primarily through the Twinkl spelling pathway which provides weekly spellings that the children from years two to year six are assessed on every Friday. New spelling rules and tricky words are explored through regular spelling lessons and vocabulary work, ensuring pupils understand the context and meaning of each word and have the skills to use them correctly in both their oracy and written work. Engaging, twenty minute lessons are taught at least three times a week with variations in task to ensure all learning styles are catered for and pupils are supported appropriately. New Spellings (along with completed assessments) are sent home the end of the week and are updated on a weekly basis on the school website and on classroom displays.
Writing
Pupils at Beeston have daily English sessions which involve work towards a written outcome. This may include drama, reading, speaking and listening activities as well as the writing activities themselves. We follow the National Curriculum and aim to develop our pupils’ technical abilities, engaging them in the processes of writing.
The document below shows the English programme of study taken from the National Curriculum:
English Programme of Study: KS1 & KS2
The curriculum places great emphasis on punctuation and grammar. We have therefore included a link to a glossary of the terms which children will need to be familiar with by the end of Year 6:
