Writing
09 Nov 2021
Intent Statement for Writing
The subject leader for Writing is Miss Sally Williamson
They can be contacted by emailing admin@northstainley.n-yorks.sch.uk using the subject title FAO of Miss Sally Williamson.
With oversight and support from our Senior Leadership team subject leaders oversee and monitor the intent, implementation and impact of their subject.
Intent
It is our intent to provide high quality learning experiences in order to develop competence in both transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing). Children will learn how to plan, revise and evaluate their writing effectively. They will be able to write down their ideas fluently, spelling words quickly and accurately by knowing the relationship between sounds and letters in words. The development of composition skills will ensure children can form, articulate and communicate ideas as well as organise them coherently for a reader. They are also encouraged to show an awareness of the audience, purpose and context. They will develop an increasingly wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. We aim to encourage pupils to develop fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy handwriting.
Writing Rationale
Writing is important in everyday life. It is integral to all aspects of life and, with this in mind, we endeavour to ensure that children develop a healthy and enthusiastic attitude towards writing that will stay with them. Writing enables pupils to communicate with people around the world. Building on experiences, it encourages thinking and communication skills to grow.
Our aims at North Stainley are:
- Have a positive attitude towards writing.
- Write with confidence, clarity and imagination.
- Understand and apply their knowledge of phonics and spelling.
- Write in a range of genres (including fiction, non-fiction and poetry).
- Plan, draft, revise and edit their own work, and learn how to self and peer assess against the success criteria.
- Develop a technical vocabulary through which to understand and discuss their writing.
- Develop their imagination, creativity, expressive language and critical awareness through their writing.
- Have equality of opportunity regardless of race, gender or ability.
- Write clearly, accurately and effectively for a range of audiences and purposes.
Writing Policy
Implementation
Organisation of teaching and learning
Writing is taught daily throughout the school. Depending on the teaching and learning in the lesson, the children may be in mixed ability groups or set ability groups. Teaching follows a sequence of learning planned in advance. The teaching and learning is based around a quality text which is central to the writing. The focus of the writing is often linked to the topic that the class is learning about.
Writing continues to follow the phonetic model structured within ‘Read Write Inc.’ In addition to these early reading to writing experiences, children have access to a range of early mark-making and preparatory writing materials both indoors and outdoors. Children are encouraged to explore writing for meaning within their own play explorations and to quantify their early ideas. Our prepared environments support emergent writing wherever the children may be, by developing links between concrete exploration and literacy.
In Reception, we are continuing to develop our awareness of how children's drawings feed into cognitive and writing readiness, through an ongoing exploration of daily drawing experiences. Children in Reception also take part in daily focused phonics sessions, where children receive guided practice in the application of phonics. Handwriting and formation are also taught as part of this approach.
As part of their ongoing literary development, children are encouraged to spell words correctly, rather than simply accepting phonetically plausible alternatives, which may be problematic to their long-term literary development. In order to be competent writers, children must have an accurate tool-kit to call upon. It is through their knowledge of how to read and write these words at speed, that children become competent writers.
In addition to their own explorations in early writing, children take part in daily shared writing experiences, which feed forward to an independent writing experience at the end of each week. In this way, children are well prepared to transition into the next phase of their education.
Writing in KS1/2 Sequence of Learning
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Vocabulary collection.
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Stimulus e.g. art, drama, film, music, photos.
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New grammar – from the National Curriculum lists.
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Planning and talk for writing.
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Draft – modelled, shared, guided writing opportunity.
This sequence of learning is followed by all classes. Some steps of the sequence may be developed further, some steps may not be included based on the genre of writing that is being taught and carried out by the class. The aim of this sequence of learning is to provide children with a high-quality example and to give them the skills to produce something of the same quality with a particular emphasis on vocabulary. A range of genres is taught throughout the year so children are experiencing all writing.
We aim to plan meaningful and, where possible, real life purposes and audiences for writing within and beyond the classroom. We plan purposes which require the children to write in a variety of genres. From Year 1 to Year 6, teachers use the sequence of learning to inform their planning. Every class, use quality texts or parts of texts to stimulate the children and allow for planning of creative teaching and writing experiences. These experiences give children the opportunity to apply what they have learnt and progress in their writing. We teach children to plan, proof read, redraft and present their work appropriately taking pride in what they have achieved. We are constantly exposing children to new vocabulary and encouraging them to use it in their writing. We explicitly teach spelling patterns and rules from the ‘Read Write Inc Spelling Programme and expect children to use these regularly in their writing.
Assessment is regarded as an integral part of teaching and learning and is a continuous process. At North Stainley, we are continually assessing our children and recording their progress. Assessment also enables staff to identify children who need further additional/targeted support in their learning and it informs planning.
Feedback to children is an essential aspect of our teaching of writing. This feedback is achieved through discussion with the children, marking of work, intervention work with children and self-assessment.
Moderation is an extremely important process in our school and across our cluster of schools. Each year group meets during the course of the year with other schools within our cluster and judgements are discussed in depth. This ensures consistency in standards across schools within the cluster.
Moderation also takes place once a term within our school.
Grammar Progression
Punctuation Progression
Sentence Progression
Writing Progression
Impact
The measure of impact is presently being developed by subject leaders.