Writing

If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.

Martin Luther

Intent

At Christ Church CE Primary School, we believe that a quality English curriculum should ignite and cultivate a child’s love of reading, writing and discussion, creating a firm foundation of skills and knowledge in this area of learning. We aspire to widen our children’s horizons through developing their ability to communicate effectively and thoughtfully, and their capacity to interpret and comprehend the written and spoken word which surrounds them. We aim to inspire and foster a love of our rich and varied literary heritage and a habit of, and passion for reading widely, often, and for enjoyment. We recognise the importance of creating a culture of children taking pride in their writing, writing clearly and accurately and adapting their language and style for a range of contexts. We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in English, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. We believe that a secure basis in English skills is crucial to a high quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate and succeed fully both across the curriculum and as local, national and global citizens.

At Christ Church CE Primary, we aim to ensure our English curriculum is accessible to all, maximising the development of every child’s ability, believing all children have the right to enjoy the varied and rich literature available to them.

Implementation

At Christ Church Primary School, we teach writing through a systematic and sequenced approach. Our whole-school approach to writing is Literacy Counts’ Read to Write.

Read to Write

Read to Write provides carefully sequenced units of writing, with one unit being taught per half term. Each unit is based on a thoughtfully chosen ‘Vehicle Text’ – beautifully illustrated texts which inspire children’s writing. Over the course of each unit, children will write two extended pieces of writing – one narrative, and the other a non-fiction piece, both based upon what they have been reading. The lessons building up to the longer pieces of writing follow a sequence:

Immerse: children are immersed in the language of the new text to excite, inspire and motivate them
Analyse: children are guided to analyse a model piece of writing which contains the statutory grammar & spelling for their level of the NC, in order to learn from this to see what great writing looks like
Plan: children are supported to note down their ideas, and to consider the grammar, vocabulary and punctuation they will be using
Write: children complete their own piece of writing. This final stage includes drafting and editing, so that children are left with a piece of writing of which they can rightly be proud.

Grammar

Read to Write teaches children the grammar and punctuation as set out by the National Curriculum, using the evidence-based approach that grammar is best taught and learned in context.

However, teachers also supplement with additional grammar lessons in order for children to further practise the new grammar and punctuation they are learning.

Spelling

Once children complete the Read, Write Inc. programme, they begin the Read Write Inc. Spelling programme, with the aim of getting every child to spell effortlessly. It is a stand-alone programme for children in Year 2 to Year 6 and has been specially created to meet the demands of the National Curriculum. Each member of staff has received extensive Ruth Miskin Training, rated outstanding by Ofsted, to ensure consistent practice across the whole school.

RWI Spelling embeds impressive skills quickly and effectively filling the gaps in children’s knowledge. To keep children engaged, aliens introduce spelling rules on an exciting online spelling planet and children complete quick-fire activities in their spelling logs. Progress is accurately recorded using practice tests and teachers learn how to move children on quickly.

RWI Spelling is a daily 15 minute interactive programme which uses a variety of resources and activities to engage and to enthuse the children in their learning. It helps children to learn spellings with common patterns and uses rules in order to help them recall spellings as well as teaching exceptions to these rules. Individual workbooks allow children to practise their spellings and the teaching naturally follows on from the Spell Review part of the RWI Phonics Programme. Log books give children ownership of their spellings and allow for further consolidation.

Session 1 introduces the children to the new spelling pattern for the week using a video which takes the children to the ‘Spelling Zone’.

Session 2 engages the children in a quick recap of the previous learning and then the children complete in a word changing activity.
Session 3 focuses the children on identifying words they need to learn and writing them in their log books in order for them to practise throughout the week.
Session 4 encourages the children to work in pairs to peer assess each other's work, focusing on choosing a correct word from a given set in order to complete a sentence.
Session 5 allows the children time to unpick a choice of difficult words and an opportunity to spell them correctly.

Handwriting

Through Read, Write Inc., children are taught correct pencil grip and posture for writing from the very beginning. They are also shown how to form letters correctly. From year 1 upwards, children are taught the necessary joins through a programme called Letter-join, a cursive handwriting style. We aim that by the time children are in upper KS2, children have a neat, fluent and legible style. Children write in pencil until they earn their ‘Pen License’, usually during KS2.

Celebration of Writing

Children’s efforts and achievements in writing are regularly celebrated through the sharing of work on display around school, on school social media and through certificates during Awards Assembly. There are also a number of competitions throughout the year which children are able to enter.

Writing Across the Curriculum

At Christ Church Primary School, our rich and broad curriculum invites many opportunities for writing across the curriculum. Teachers encourage children to apply the knowledge and skills built up through their English lessons to a range of contexts and genres in history, geography, science and beyond.

Impact

Our approach to the teaching of writing results in engaging, high-quality lessons, which provide children with the writing skills and knowledge that they can take with them once they complete their primary education, preparing them for life as local, national and global citizens. By creating a firm foundation for individual growth, all children will make good progress academically from their starting points. Staff across school use INSIGHT on a termly basis to assess children against statements taken from the National Curriculum for Writing. At the end of the academic year, each pupil is then given a level to show their attainment for the year.

Pupil voice is used throughout the year to ascertain enthusiasm for writing across school, and pupils’ ability to talk about their learning in writing and how it relates to their life. In order to evidence the knowledge developed throughout school, each child from has an English book which clearly shows their progress throughout the curriculum. In lessons, pupils demonstrate their ability to use their growing knowledge of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar skills through various writing tasks. Children complete two longer pieces of writing per half-term, showcasing the knowledge and skills they have built up throughout that unit of work. By the end of key stage 2, pupils will be able to:

Develop a love of writing;
Make use of a growing vocabulary and a variety of increasingly rich sentence structures in their writing through the high quality of texts they access;
Increase their writing stamina across a range of genres, both narrative and non-fiction;
Develop a fluent and efficient handwriting style;
Become confident spellers and develop the ability to proofread and edit their work;
Make good progress in respect of their starting points.