English- Writing

Intent: “Know the Way”

At Thurlbear, we believe that writing is a fundamental key life skill for communication, creativity and critical thinking. Our writing curriculum is designed to ensure that all pupils become confident, fluent and purposeful writers who can express themselves clearly and effectively for a variety of audiences and purposes using a range of genres.

Our Thurlbear writing curriculum aims to give children the opportunity to develop:

• Strong transcriptional skills (spelling and handwriting) to support fluent composition.

• An extensive and rich vocabulary.

• A secure understanding of grammar and sentence structure.

• Fluency and accuracy in expressing their thoughts and emotions, orally and in writing.

• The ability to write with increasing independence and coherence, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences throughout the curriculum.

• A knowledge of writing techniques to write detailed and interesting texts on a range of topics.

• Stamina and resilience in writing through regular practice and reflection.

Our curriculum is underpinned by the belief that writing is a craft that can be taught, practised, and refined. We ensure that pupils are exposed to high-quality models, given time to rehearse and plan, and supported to edit and improve their work.

Implementation: “Show the Way”

At Thurlbear Primary school our writing curriculum is structured around a clear progression of skills from EYFS to Year 6, with each year group building on the knowledge and techniques taught previously. Writing is taught through a combination of discrete lessons and cross-curricular opportunities, with a strong emphasis on oral rehearsal, modelling, and purposeful outcomes. We follow the Educational Programmes set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and National curriculum.

Key features of our implementation include:

·         Awareness that writing places significant demands on pupils’ working memory so it is vital to teach it in a sequenced way that helps to manage those demands.

·         Explicit teaching of transcription and composition. Pupils receive direct instruction in spelling, handwriting, grammar and sentence construction, alongside opportunities to apply these skills in extended writing. Teaching handwriting and spelling (transcription) from the reception year is crucial to ensure that these skills become automatic for children. This will free up their working memory for composition.

·         Modelled, shared, and guided writing. Teachers use the “I do, we do, you do” approach to scaffold learning and gradually release responsibility to pupils. We ensure pupils master the foundations of writing – handwriting, spelling and sentence construction before we expect pupils to write at length so that they are ready and successful.

·         Progressive genre coverage. Each year group is exposed to a range of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry genres, with increasing complexity and sophistication.

·         Purposeful outcomes. Units of work are designed to culminate in a meaningful written product, such as a letter, report, story, or persuasive text, which are linked to wider curriculum themes where appropriate.

·         Assessment for learning. Teachers use formative assessment strategies including retrieval, feedback and exit tickets, to inform next steps and ensure all pupils make progress.

·         Adaptation. Writing sequences and tasks are carefully scaffolded to ensure accessibility for all learners, with adaptations made to support individual needs. At Thurlbear we know it is important to identify the pupils who need additional support with writing as early as possible, from reception onwards. This enables teachers to adapt their teaching and make it accessible. This includes giving pupils more time and practice so that they can make good progress.

How our writing curriculum changes throughout the school.

Transcription and dictation should match their phonics attainment in the way that decodable books do to support early reading. But we also want our new writers to develop their composition skills in order that they can use and manipulate language for different audiences and purposes and these need to be beyond their phonics skills. So oral comprehension allows them to develop these skills (in the same way that reading stories aloud supports pupils to develop comprehension skills using books beyond their decoding attainment) so that, when they can apply their transcriptional skills they have the composition skills needed to create texts that entertain and inform. To ensure that our English curriculum is organised to give pupils enough time to develop component writing skills we will need to adjust the time and focus of our curriculum to match the stage of writing for our pupils. It has been suggested we use the following emphasis during each key stage to allow for this.

PICTURE

This structure of the curriculum allows for teachers to deliver instruction in key areas for each year group and shows that, as children master the skills of spelling and handwriting, we will then spend more time on composition. This reduces cognitive load for pupils and allows each skill to become embedded in their practice.

Our writing curriculum aims to carefully expose pupils to different genres so that they are able to write for a range of different purposes and audiences but in a progression that supports the application of their writing skills in a positive and successful way.  We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We want to inspire children to be confident writers who take pleasure in the writing process.

We set high expectations and develop ‘Cultural Capital’ by:

• Using high quality literature and texts across the curriculum.

• Valuing ‘oracy’ and explicitly teaching higher vocabulary

• Using ‘authentic’ high quality resources.

Making links which inspire children and showing that what they are learning at school can lead to interesting, exciting future jobs and careers.

Impact: “Grow the Way”

We want our pupils to be writers who:

·         Write with confidence, fluency and purpose across a range of genres.

·         Demonstrate secure knowledge of grammar, punctuation, and spelling appropriate to their age.

·         Use writing as a tool to express ideas, explore thinking and communicate effectively.

·          Reflect on and improve their writing through redrafting and editing.

·         Take pride in their written work and understand its value in both academic and real-world contexts.

The impact of our writing curriculum is measured through:

·         Regular formative and summative assessments.

·         Moderation of writing across year groups and schools.

·         Pupil voice and engagement in writing tasks.

·         Outcomes in national assessments at the end of EYFS and KS2

·         Outcomes using our writing key performance indicators for all year groups.

We hope that as children move on from Thurlbear in their learning journey to further their education and learning, that their creativity, passion for English and high aspirations travel with them and continue to grow and develop as they do.