English Writing Vision

At Blessed Dominic Catholic Primary School, we believe that being able to communicate appropriately through the written word is a crucial skill in the current and future world of our pupils. We are dedicated to equipping our pupils with the skills of an excellent writer so that they can take advantage of opportunities, responsibilities and experiences in their current and later life. To support this intention, we ensure our Writing Curriculum is of high quality, is well-thought-out and is planned to demonstrate progression.

We know that written communication is relied upon for academic success. We recognise that writing is underpinned by reading and consequently it is taught through a reading stimuli where possible across the curriculum. We want every child to develop an understanding of the writing process. Therefore, we develop children with essential characteristics to help them become skilful writers by: developing their ability to write fluently using a neat and appropriate handwriting style; encouraging thinking about the purpose of their writing and the impact they want to achieve; considering the structure and organisation of their work; applying taught grammar, spelling patterns and rules in written work and utilising resources to aid their writing including using a sophisticated bank of vocabulary to extend details or description appropriate.

Pupils are provided opportunities to re-read, edit and improve their writing. This ensures that every piece of writing they produce is to the best of their ability and better than the last empowering them to flourish and grow. We develop children’s intellectual curiosity and creativity by ensuring they are provided with opportunities to write for a variety of purposes.

Characteristics of a Writer

At Blessed Dominic Catholic Primary School, we are writers. We…

• adapt our language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
• plan, noting and develop initial ideas using other similar writing as models
• ask relevant questions to extend our understanding and knowledge
• clarifying the meanings of unknown words and words with more than one meaning
• organise our writing coherently using presentational devices to guide the reader
• apply taught grammar and spelling patterns and rules in written work
• spell quickly and accurately through knowing the relationship between sounds and letters and our understanding of the structure of words
• use dictionaries to check the spelling and meaning of words and use a thesaurus to find alternate words
• write clearly, fluently and legibly
• revise and evaluate our writing by proof-reading for spelling and punctuation errors and propose changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
• perform own compositions, using appropriate intonation, volume, and movement so that our meaning is clear.
• utilise a sophisticated bank of vocabulary and writing techniques to extend details or description appropriate to the purpose of the task

 

                   

What does this look like at Blessed Dominic Catholic Primary School in…

EYFS

Pupils are shown how to hold a pencil and encouraged to develop their gross and fine motor skills through physical activity and small activity e.g. encouraging forefinger and thumb pincer movements by picking up individual grains of rice.

When composing written work, pupils use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others.

Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible. Writing is both independently led through the stimulating EYFS environment and pupils work with an adult to complete written tasks.

KS1

It is recognised that pupils’ writing will generally develop at a slower pace than their reading due to writing’s requirement of physical skills alongside organising ideas and encoding for spelling. Handwriting is taught regularly to develop gross and fine motor skills for writing alongside correct letter formation.

Pupils develop their oral vocabulary to understand and use a variety of grammatical structures to help organise their written communication. Pupils rehearse sentences orally and then write. As pupils develop this skill, the oral rehearsal begins more internal. Pupils rely on their growing knowledge of grapheme-phoneme correspondence to spell decodable words. ‘Tricky words’ and age-appropriate set spelling patterns are taught at phase 6 of Letters and Sounds (year 2).

KS2

Pupils should be able to write down their ideas with a reasonable degree of accuracy and with good sentence punctuation. Basic transcriptional writing skills are consolidated along with vocabulary usage, spelling and sentence structure. Subject specific vocabulary is expected to be used within written pieces of work and appropriate to the task’s purpose. This includes grammatical conventions and patterns.

Pupils’ writing stamina is developed through extended pieces and time spent writing in class in all subjects, not just English lessons. Pupils utilise the skills taught in the English lessons to apply in the wider curriculum as a method of recording their ideas and learning.

Pupils are increasingly encouraged to improve their writing independently through proofreading, editing and revising their written work. Self-evaluation of the writing’s effectiveness in achieving the purpose set out by the author is referred to and focused upon increasingly in years 5 and 6. 

Memorable experiences and whole school events

Pupils should be taught the Programme of Study through exciting lessons which engage and engross pupils so that they absorb the learning and retain it. Writing purposes and tasks chosen should reflect the interests of the pupils, where appropriate, and offer pupils the foundations and platform for self-led and selected writing opportunities. Whole school events, such as World Book Day, book fairs, reading workshops and book buddies encourage children to apply their skills in a variety of ways but also offer enjoyment to pupils based upon their writing across the school.

Cross Curricular

Teachers are encouraged to make links with other areas of the curriculum so that the writing skills and learning can be embedded and pupils are able to revisit and utilise skills from writing lessons and apply them across the curriculum. Sound content knowledge also allows pupils the opportunity to complete some excellent pieces of work in areas such as RE, History, Geography, computing and PSHE work.

Trips and extra-curricular opportunities

Trips and visitors will enhance learning. It will provide pupils with memorable experiences and enhance their learning experience. Trips will offer pupils experiences that will stimulate writing and expose children to different types and purposes of writing in the appropriate context too e.g. museum exhibit captions, attraction leaflets etc.

Planning

Teachers will plan lessons as a whole staff to ensure progression of skills and ensure that teaching is providing memorable experiences and knowledge and professional experience can be shared.

Assessment

Assessments will take the form of assessed pieces of written work and ongoing teacher assessment throughout the half term. This is  based on the skills and learning for the year group according to the National Curriculum or End of Key Stage ‘Teacher Assessment Frameworks’. Subject leader will be updated half termly of standards in the subject across all year groups.

Challenge

All pupils, especially those with sound understanding, will be challenged and given the opportunity to deepen and broaden their learning.  Teachers will give pupils the opportunity to apply their writing skills in lessons independently and stretch pupils to evaluate the effectiveness of their writing based on the purpose.

Impact

At Blessed Dominic Catholic Primary School, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

Pupil Voice

Pupils will show through pupil conferencing and focus groups their understanding and enjoyment of writing in all year groups. Involvement in events and activities that are run in line alongside national events e.g. World Book Day also indicate pupils’ enjoyment and engagement with writing by offering opportunities for writing for different purposes. English leader lesson observations include opportunities for pupil voice collection and from pupil surveys, when appropriate, during the year.

Evidence 

Books will show work which reflects pupil’s age and ability. Links across subjects will be evident in books and the application of writing skills across the curriculum.  Progression both within and between year groups will be evident and quality of work is consistent. 

Outcomes

At Blessed Dominic Catholic Primary School, we believe that being able to communicate appropriately through the written word is a crucial skill in the current and future world of our pupils. To support this intention, we ensure our Writing Curriculum is of high quality, is well-thought-out and is planned to demonstrate progression. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress. Writing impact goes beyond measureable results as writing is a key communication skill. Children gain the dexterity to communicate successfully for a range of purposes for both pleasure and professional sectors.

At the end of EYFS, pupils use their phonic knowledge to write words which will match their spoken sounds/decoding. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Phonetical words with sounds the pupils have been taught in each phase are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.

In Year 1, children will pass the phonics word decoding test and be in line with year group expectations for spelling. As a result of understanding phonics, pupils will be able to focus upon their spelling skills in Letters and Sounds phase 6 in the summer term of year 1 and throughout year 2. Writing is taught through understanding writing purposes and selecting punctuation, grammar and vocabulary suitable to each purpose. At the end of KS1, pupils will utilise their writing knowledge and skills in tasks to demonstrate they are Working At or above in the required standard of the end of year objectives. For pupils working below the year group level, teachers target learning to ensure progress within the pupil’s working level.

For KS2 pupils, throughout each year group pupils will learn the National Curriculum objectives in composition and spelling, punctuation and grammar writing. Throughout each term, pupils complete written tasks stimulated by engaging reading sources to demonstrate the year group’s writing skills.  Teachers assess writing each half term and plan accordingly to target pupils’ next steps of progress. By the end of KS2, pupils should demonstrate the Teacher Assessment Framework objectives to achieve a Working At or Working At Greater Depth level. For pupils working below the year group level, teachers target learning to ensure progress within the pupil’s working level.

As a result of their writing coverage, children will become fluent writers who can comfortably utilise grammar, vocabulary, punctuation and spelling to achieve the desired outcome of their written communication.