Writing

Flitwick Lower – Writing statement

Intent

At Flitwick Lower School our aim is to engage children in all aspects of writing, so that they develop into confident and passionate learners who are excited to write and are proud of what they create. Writing is a lifelong skill that allows children to communicate and express themselves. We support children in developing their writing through the five key skills – transcription (spelling and handwriting), composition (articulating sentences and structuring them), vocabulary, grammar and punctuation. Our creative curriculum is designed to generate interest and excitement around topics that children can relate to, making writing meaningful and enjoyable.

Implementation

To develop writing skills, we plan activities across a range of genres to provide the children with a broad spectrum of writing styles. We use the ‘Write Stuff’ approach as this supports the children in their development of using effective language, and accurate grammar and punctuation.

Teaching sequences fit between experience days and sentence stacking lessons. With modelling at the heart of them, the sentence stacking lessons are broken into bite-sized chunks and taught under the structural framework of The Writing Rainbow. Teachers prepare children for writing by modelling the ideas, grammar or techniques of writing. 

Using The Write Stuff, children have a clear view of what high quality writing looks like and their learning is structured clearly. Pupils know how to improve their writing and make it more focused and actionable, regular feedback is provided to guide their learning in addition to focused editing and improving lessons which are tailored to the learning needs of each child. 

We encourage children to develop their own ideas and choose how to present their writing, allowing children to be creative and independent learners.  All children have the opportunity to succeed at and beyond their stage of writing development.

Vocabulary is a key focus area at Flitwick Lower School; it is part of the weekly whole-class guided reading session and is threaded through all areas of the curriculum which is reinforced through high-quality modelling; as well as having a ‘Word of the Week’ displayed on our literacy boards.

Children are taught handwriting discretely where they practise letter formation and develop their skills to learn to join their writing.

To celebrate children’s work we have a ‘WOW’ writing board in every year group to display their work. One piece of WOW writing is also recorded in WOW writing books which are taken up through the school to enable children to see the progress they have made from their starting point.

Early Writing skills

Flitwick Lower School considers the Characteristics of Effective Learning, as defined in the EYFS, to be key components that lead to lifelong learning.  In pre-school children develop their early writing skills through drawing and symbolic markings.  Opportunities are provided in the continuous provision to develop physical strength and control in core, upper body, hands and fingers. Writing is regularly modelled to support children to :

• understand language patterns
• develop their thinking skills
• solve problems
• make sense of their experiences

As the children move into Foundation they continue mark making and begin to learn to form letters. Through daily phonics sessions they learn that words are made of sounds and learn to sound out words to spell. Alongside this they begin to learn tricky words.

KS1

Spelling and Grammar is taught discretely as well as being embedded in all lessons. In year 1, children continue to learn to spell during their daily phonics sessions. In year 2 children are taught to spell using the ‘No Nonsense’ spelling scheme

 KS2

Spelling and Grammar continues to be taught discretely as well as being embedded in all lessons. Spelling is taught using the No Nonsense spelling scheme and is practised in dictation in order to use the words in context.

All children in KS1 and KS2 have access to ‘Spelling Shed’ to further practise their spellings in an interactive and engaging manner.

Impact

High expectations of all children in writing ensure that work is of a high quality. Interesting topics, well-chosen texts and exciting experiences allows children to immerse themselves in writing tasks which are meaningful and enjoyable while allowing them the autonomy to apply their own ideas.

Writing is assessed against curriculum objectives and recorded using the ‘Classroom Monitor’ system.

Moderation takes place at regular intervals throughout the year to ensure consistency across each year group. Writing is also moderated with the local schools once a year.