English

Writing curriculum statement 

Intent

Writing about real experiences and for real purposes is an integral part of our curriculum and we endeavour to build pupil's vocabulary at every opportunity to enhance their writing. We aim for pupils to develop a love of writing and to be able to express their thoughts and ideas clearly and creatively through the written word. Teachers make explicit links between reading and writing using quality texts, from a wide variety of genre, to inspire and motivate. Pupils learn the essential skills of spelling, punctuation and grammar to enable the reader to understand their writing. Grammar is taught in context, embedded in our writing and reading lessons, and reinforced and modelled orally in everyday speaking throughout the school. Our handwriting script is a continuous cursive style which helps to secure children’s knowledge of spelling patterns as they practice and enables them to build up speed as they become confident.

Implementation

Pupils write to entertain, to inform and in KS2 writing to persuade. Writing is taught following our Writing Journey sequence:

READ- All writing is inspired by a quality text, visit or cause and starts by identifying features in a specific genre using success criteria.

PLAN-Next, in the planning phase, children take part in spoken language, drama activities and to explore characters, settings and language to extend their understanding of vocabulary.

PRACTISE-They practise grammatical concepts in context and different sentence styles (Alan Peat) and the teacher models writing through shared writing sessions.

WRITE-Pupils then write a first draft using their notes, working wall and build up lessons.

EVALUATE- Pupils and teachers evaluate their writing on whether it meets the success criteria, achieves the purpose and is suitable for the proposed audience

REVISE and EDIT- Using the evaluation, pupils improve their writing content and check and change any spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.

In all English units, the teaching of punctuation and grammar, and the application of taught spelling skills and strategies, is explicit and embedded.

Impact

Pupils will enjoy writing across a range of genres, can write for a range of purposes and audiences, and become confident and effective communicators. They will have a wide vocabulary which they can use across the curriculum and can apply spelling rules and grammatical concepts in their work. Pupils are proud of their writing and have opportunity to see it on display and shared with others in the school and with their families. We intend that by the end of Year 6 all children will have made at least expected progress from their different starting points and as many as possible are at age-related expectation and ready for their secondary journey ahead.

Spelling

In EYFS and Year 1 spelling is taught using the Little Wandle Phonics  programme where children learn how to segment words into phonetic sounds. Pupils in year 2-6 pupils follow the No Nonsense Spelling. Each year group also has 100 HFW words to learn and common exception words set out in the National Curriculum appendices. Spellings are sent home as part of their homework.

Speaking and Listening

Children are given the opportunity to express themselves and present ideas and opinions throughout the school and across the curriculum.

They take part in philosophy sessions and circle time, drama activities and storytelling and with their learning partners they are encouraged to reason and explain. They perform their work to the whole school and wider audiences in activities such as sharing assemblies, performing poems, film festival, Christmas and Easter performances and end of year plays. 

Reading skills

See our reading and phonics page on the main menu

We have identified the key reading skills needed to be a successful reader.

These are:  DECODE    EXPLAIN    RETRIEVE    INTERPRET    COMMENT

 You will become familiar with our school reading character called DERIC as your child progresses through school.

May 2021