Writing

 

Curriculum intent

The ability to write with confidence and accuracy is a tool that will support children throughout their education and beyond.  At Grange, we are committed to working with our children in their journey to achieve this by becoming fluent and independent writers.

The more we read, the more accomplished writers we become.  Therefore, exposing our children to a variety of texts is central to our writing curriculum at Grange Juniors.

During their four years at Grange, we aim to enable our children to write with a clear purpose that has an impact on the reader. We aim to equip pupils with the appropriate writing skills to inform, entertain, persuade and discuss.   To do this, the children build a growing bank of ambitious vocabulary, together with appropriate grammar and punctuation, and learn how to clearly articulate and structure their ideas.  Embedded within this is the ability to discuss and share ideas, views and opinions, developing the ability to communicate clearly through speech.  This life skill also has a clear link to the ability to communicate effectively in written form.

Through English at the Grange Community Junior School, we aim for all pupils, by the end of Year 6:

• read a range of rich texts through which to develop and embed a love of literature and expand their vocabulary (Opening doors);
• be confident, creative and knowledgeable by thinking, discussing and sharing opinions (Let’s think);
• use strategies to write irrespective of form, following a journey from initial ideas to a finished piece of writing understanding the importance of planning, writing and editing;
• develop their phonemic awareness to spell and apply this within writing and decoding unfamiliar words within reading.

Curriculum implementation

To write like an author, children need to find out how established authors achieve their desired impact on the reader – in both fiction and non-fiction text types.  Therefore, our writing is underpinned by high-quality texts which are analysed and discussed before being used to guide the children’s own writing.  Our progression of skills in grammar and punctuation, ensures that all the statutory skills are included within writing units.

Once the children have their author-inspired toolkit, they are ready to write.  They then engage in the full process of creating a text: planning, drafting, writing, proof-reading and evaluating. During this process, teacher modelling and sharing of each other’s writing is an important part of the learning. The celebration of their final text is also very important and children ‘publish’ their final piece of work in their writing portfolio.

Alongside this journey, the children also develop their own handwriting so that it is joined, clear and legible. The ability to spell is also important if written work is to be quickly understood.  At Grange, our teaching of spelling incorporates the National Curriculum Spelling lists for KS2.  The use of accurate spelling is tracked through all subjects with a clear opportunity to revisit phonics patterns for those children who find spelling difficult.

Let’s Think in English:  In addition, as a school we are fully trained in delivering the initiative `Let’s Think in English`.  Developed at King’s College London, this is devised to encourage deeper thinking skills including inference, deduction, analysis and resilience with more ambitious texts.  The resulting development in thinking skills are then used by the children in other subjects across the curriculum.

Curriculum impact

At Grange, we encourage children’s deeper understanding of how and when to use specific vocabulary, grammar and punctuation for impact and provide elements of appropriate choice and challenges. Supported by our broad and balanced curriculum, Grange children can view themselves as writers, by the time they leave us in Year 6.

Through carefully-planned sequences of learning, children make good progress towards developing their vocabulary, spelling, grammar and punctuation skills.

Children are enabled to write across a range of forms and adapt their writing successfully, considering the purpose and making choices linked to their intentions as writers.

By the end of KS2, our children are able to write with greater precision and accuracy, whilst still maintaining quantity and quality.

Vocabulary is unpicked, taught and modelled explicitly and the children are keen to use this in their writing.

Children of all abilities achieve in all lessons. The most disadvantaged children and children with SEND are given the knowledge and cultural capital to broaden their horizons and become lifelong learners. More able children rise to the opportunity to be stretched and challenged through a range of strategies, including the evaluation of the impact of their writing and the writing of others.