Writing

 

Curriculum intent

The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

  • read easily, fluently and with good understanding
  • develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
  • acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
  • appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
  • write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
  • use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
  • are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

Through the English at the Grange Community Junior School, the bespoke curriculum is designed with clear progression, logical sequencing, and purposeful end points that align with national expectations. Through a coherent, structured scheme of work pupils develop the knowledge and skills needed to succeed at the end of each year group in KS2. The ambitious and bespoke designed curriculum is delivered to engage and challenge the pupils with strategies inclusive to disadvantaged, including SEN. We aim for all pupils, by the end of Year 6 to:

  • 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,
  • develop their transferable skills to enable them to progress and achieve to the best of their ability in all aspects of English to close gaps in society: closing knowledge gaps closes societal gaps.

We aim to equip pupils with the appropriate writing skills to inform, entertain, persuade and discuss, laying the foundations so that they can continue to build on their skills through key stage 3. High quality teaching of English at Grange Community Junior School, inspires and engages all children so that they look forward to their English lesson and learning new skills. English (writing) is a vehicle which also support all other subjects within the Curriculum (written activities) and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development as they use different topics as their themed purpose for their written outcomes.

At Grange we see our curriculum as continuous, regularly revisiting key concepts, writing forms (to entertain, inform, persuade and discuss), SPAG coverage and providing practice to develop writing fluency, using both fiction and non-fiction texts. With so much information to learn we aim to make the content of the curriculum structured so that links are made to previous learning to enhance the building of schema in the long-term memory.  We weave in key knowledge, vocabulary and skills throughout the curriculum to allow pupils to make links and consolidate learnt material to long-term memory.

The Golden Threads running through all writing outcomes for each year group are

  • Speaking – to elaborate and explain their ideas through discussion, presentation, listening and debate;
  • Handwriting – to write legibly and fluently at a faster pace;
  • SPAG – to write accurately;
  • Vocabulary – to write using more imaginative and powerful vocabulary for impact on the reader;
  • Structure and organisation – to write precisely and clearly, with the ability to adapt their style for effect;
  • Composition – to write for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.

 

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.

Support for parents to support your child 

We would like to remind parents that you don’t need to be experts in curriculum subjects—encouraging curiosity and learning alongside your child is what matters most. Encourage your child to ask questions and then help them find answers. To encourage your child to write at home you might try these ideas;

  • Help your child write a letter to their favourite author. Correspondence can often be sent to an author’s publisher (whose details can be obtained on the internet) who will pass it on.
  • When you go on holiday, encourage children to write postcards to friends or relatives. They could record things that you do in a holiday diary which they can share with friends or relatives when they get home.
  • After making a cake or doing a craft activity, challenge children to write the recipe or instructions for someone else to use.
  • Write an information page or booklet about something they find interesting e.g. spiders, Dr Who, dinosaurs, cats, etc. Draw a picture and label it or write a caption to go with it.
  • Encourage your child to learn weekly spellings. Write the spellings in sentences with accurate punctuation and practise high frequency words and handwriting.
  • Provide your child with a comfortable place to work and exciting writing materials. A dictionary and thesaurus would also be useful.
  • Ask your child what his/her next steps are in writing from class – from time to time help them work specifically on these
  • Talk through their ideas with them before they start to write, for example, prompt them to think about how they intend to tackle a subject.
  • Help them to reflect on their writing, particularly the effect they hoped to have on the reader. For example, is the reader sufficiently prepared for the ending? Have they introduced all the characters?
  • Encourage them to read through their work, shaping their sentences for clarity and impact and checking their accuracy.
  • Take a look at some of the resources on offer on educational websites.(click on button below)