Our Vision 
Through a caring, respectful, and successful environment, we provide the opportunity for every child to reach their full potential. 

Subject Intent, Implementation and Impact: how do we teach Writing?

Intent 

The school believes that English skills are vital to the development of children so they are prepared for their future life. A broad and balanced English programme using objectives from the National Curriculum 2014, determines the skills that each year group and Key Stage must cover. A range of genres are studied and promoted. A variety of resources are used to promote a writing culture. Children are given a range of writing opportunities including the use of paired, group and independent writing tasks. A culture of learning from each other is promoted through use of co-operative learning structures. This is developed across EYFS and KS1, so that the children learn to respond appropriately and supportively to each other regardless of gender, age, cultural or ethnic background.

The aims of teaching writing in our school are to develop pupils who:

• show high levels of achievement and exhibit very positive attitudes towards writing
• use and understand language as speakers, readers and writers
• are competent, confident and independent in the use of language in their writing
• have an awareness of different audiences and purposes for writing
• apply their grammatical knowledge in their writing
• apply their phonetic and spelling knowledge in their writing
• apply the English language in all areas of the curriculum.

Implementation 

We promote the status of written work by providing opportunities for children’s writing to be published and read aloud. We acknowledge the importance of talk and drama to support writing, and through it we aim to build children’s confidence and generate enthusiasm for writing in order to develop their range of skills. Children will learn through shared writing; modelled writing and various independent writing activities (extended writing, creative writing...) as well a range of teaching strategies so that they can:

At Foundation Key Stage:

• attribute meaning to own marks, drawings, letters and words
• know that print conveys meaning
• write letters with the correct formation
• write their name and other key words
• begin to write longer pieces with support and independently
• begin to use story maps to retell and create stories 

At Key Stage 1:

• recognise that using pictures, letters, words or phrases communicates meaning
• write independently in complete sentences, with correct punctuation (capital letters and full stops)
• produce simple, clear and coherent chronological and non-chronological writing
• produce fiction, non-fiction and poetry, writing for different purposes

In English lessons, teachers plan a sequence of lessons that explore quality texts and give pupils the opportunity to practise writing and reading skills through the use of co-operative learning structures. Lessons are planned and delivered around a focused text type. Lessons follow a clear progression and writing cycle. This includes identifying features of a text type, exploring a range of examples, clearly identifying success criteria, sharing a quality piece of writing and providing the children with the skills they need to produce their own piece of text.  Teachers model these skills on a regular basis and planning, editing, publishing and ICT based tasks can be planned in as part of the teaching sequence.

Handwriting

Our aim is for children to develop a legible and fluent handwriting style, which can be adapted to suit different purposes and audiences. Such a handwriting style requires:

• practising both gross and fine motor skills
• using a good writing posture
• using the correct pencil grip (whether right or left handed)
• learning and practising the correct formation of individual letters; learning and practising letter joins.

Handwriting is taught in line with the National Curriculum and the school uses the  Super Sonic Phonic Friends handwriting scheme and progression document. Handwriting is taught as an explicit area of the curriculum whereby the teacher models and demonstrates the formation of specific letter shapes and joins systematically. Links between letter shapes and sounds are emphasised in the early stages to ensure a holistic approach to emergent writing and phonics. Supervision is required for the ‘practice’ of handwriting to secure correct letter formation.

Spelling

The National Curriculum includes spellings list for each Phase which are taught explicitly and practised as homework while being reinforced and embedded in the classroom.

All children take home key words (High Frequency and Tricky Words) to help develop their phonic knowledge. Year 1 and 2 children are also given copies of Common Except Words.

Impact

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Throughout the school day there are many opportunities for teachers and support staff to talk to children about their writing and to see their writing. It is clear that pupils can confidently write for different purposes and audiences and use the features of different genres and styles. Pupils discuss their work with excitement and interest.
• The quality of writing experiences is evaluated by learning walks, drop-ins, pupil progress meetings and book scrutiny. These inform future areas for improvement and the impact of new initiatives.
• The subject leaders continually monitor the impact teaching is having on the children’s learning through pupil voice and Key Stage meetings. We moderate in Key Stages and across the school to enable accurate assessment.
• Continuous formative assessment, supported by at least one termly ‘final write’ that is assessed against the writing Key Assessment Foci, informs the class teacher’s professional judgement regarding each pupil’s attainment and progress. This information is recorded and closely monitored by the Subject Leaders. Assessment Reports are shared with the school’s Governing Body.
• Moderation of Year 2 children’s writing skills is carried out within the EFSPT schools to ensure accurate assessments are made.
• Attainment and progress is reported annually to parents.