Writing

Our aim is for all children to be excellent communicators both in spoken and written language.

At Churchfields, we have a high quality writing curriculum that meets and aims to exceed the requirements of the National Curriculum. We aim for all children to write both creatively and academically. We start all writing by making sure our children have something worthwhile to say and have time to develop the appropriate language and structures to do so effectively.

Being an excellent communicator starts with spoken communication so our children are writers from the very start of their time with us. “If you cannot say it, you cannot write it."

The programmes of study for writing at Key Stage 1 and 2 comprise of two key areas:

Transcription (spelling and handwriting)
Composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing)

It is essential that pupils’ competence develops in both of these two areas. In addition, pupils are taught how to plan, revise and evaluate their writing.

Writing down ideas fluently depends on effective transcription: that is, on spelling, quickly and accurately throughly knowing the relationship between sounds and letters (phonics) and understanding the morphology (word structure) and orthography (spelling structure) of words.
Effective composition involves forming, articulating and communicating ideas, and then organising them coherently for a reader. This requires clarity, awareness of the audience, purpose and context, and an increasingly wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. Writing also depends on fluent, legible and eventually, speedy handwriting.

Our writing progression document

Aims of the subject

Our aims in teaching English are to set high expectations matched to the ability of children and to provide equal opportunities for all children:

To develop the necessary skills to use language confidently, appropriately and accurately
To be able to speak clearly, fluently and cogently
To be able to listen to the spoken word attentively with understanding and pleasure
To be able to read a range of materials fluently and with understanding for enjoyment and for information
To be able to write effectively for a range of audiences and purposes using spelling, punctuation and syntax accurately and confidently and to develop fluent and legible handwriting

Audience and Purpose

Successful writing starts with a clear understanding of audience and purpose. We ensure children think about who will read what they have written and the effect they want it to have. Do they want it to: inspire, entertain, inform, explain, instruct, persuade, reflect or clarify thinking.

The Writing Process

We develop writers through:

exploration of high-quality texts and models
understanding of audience and purpose
high emphasis on vocabulary
use of drama and dialogue to develop confidence
the development of children as writers, evaluators and editors
promoting enjoyment of language play and manipulation
understanding features of text types
practice and experimentation with grammatical structures
ensuring their writing reaches its audience

We have developed a clear structure for our writing process. This process is followed for every written piece and the timescale adapted according the context of the writing.

This is part of a suite of excellent tools, resources and strategies to help children develop their ideas, plan, improve and present their writing.

We teach grammar alongside writing and reading, with purpose in mind. Teachers use the 'detail grid' to help make improvements to content and develop ideas.

Once a week, children in Year 1 to Year 6 have an extended ‘Friday Writing’ session. This allows children a regular session in which to produce more substantial pieces of work that reflects the purpose of the writing that week. It gives children the opportunities to apply their grammar and spelling learning from the week, build up stamina in their writing and allows time for presenting their work at the end.

We use our revising and editing tool 'ARMS and CUPS' to ensure there is a clear structure for improving the accuracy and effectiveness of writing. We teach spelling and handwriting discretely, ensuring that children have the necessary physical and technical skills in handwriting and spelling to enable them to write efficiently.

Our Writing Genres

Writing creatively and academically is developed through all writing types. We ensure we have an ambitious and engaging balance between different styles of writing. This is planned carefully to build up grammatical structures, organisation and sophistication and formality of the language or 'register' of the writing as the text types are revisited throughout the years. We delay teaching some text types as they are more complex or revisit those which need more practice in multiple contexts.

Our Overviews of Writing

Our whole school overview of writing shows the full coverage for each aspect of writing from Nursery to Year 6. We have a clear progression in the types of writing children experience to ensure a rich and varied curriculum with an appropriate range of narrative, non-narrative and poetry writing each year. It is shown alongside the text or stimulus for writing in our year overviews.

Narrative

Story-telling and story writing are key element in every year group. Different story types are built into our curriculum. Narratives cover common themes and structures of story including overcoming the monster, quest, voyage and return, rags to riches, rebirth, comedy, tragedy.

Non Narrative

Ensuring a clear purpose for writing means that for non-narrative writing there is often a clear link to other curriculum areas. Equally, this may be stimulated by a particular aspect of a class reading text. We have a clear structure to the development of non-narrative writing and each text type has clear articulation of the features expected in different year groups and model texts for teachers to use to guide the standard and style.

You can find further detail about the progression of each non-narrative style here:

Text type	Purpose
Review	to respond to a text, an event or viewpoint
Recount	to recount an event that has happened
Information	to inform the reader about a thing, idea or concept
Explanation	to explain why or how something happens
Procedure	to instruct what and how to do something
Persuasion	to influence someone’s thinking or behaviour

Poetry

Each year group have an engaging and diverse poetry curriculum with a range of classic and contemporary poets and poetry. Writing poetry is developed through exposure to the wide variety of styles and forms matched to specific year groups. We aim for children to write creatively through extensive exploration of ideas, playing with language and breaking the language rules in order to express ideas in original ways through their own poetry.

Assessment and Evaluation

Formative assessment is carried out through the marking of work in accordance with the school’s Marking and Feedback Policy and is carried out by the teacher (and ISA/TA where appropriate) in the course of their teaching. It records pupils who have not reached or who have exceeded the learning objectives, including notes to inform future planning and teaching.

Children’s books, teaching staff’s planning, marking and feedback are monitored half-termly by the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and regularly on a more informal basis by the Phase Leader and/or Subject Leader. Lesson observations are also carried out by the SLT together with the Phase Leader or Subject Leader to ensure appropriate standards of teaching and so that individual teacher needs can be assessed and addressed.

Formal summative assessment is carried out at the end of each National Curriculum Key Stage in Years 2 and 6, through the use of SATs and teacher assessment.

Years 1 - 6

Every child’s reading and writing is assessed against the National Curriculum Key Performance Indicators for each year group which provide an age-appropriate breakdown of reading and writing skills. We also use our Skills Assessment Sheets to inform our judgements.

Each child in Years 1 to 6 has an individual writing target bookmark. These targets are used whenever a child is involved in a writing task. The targets are dated and changed when the child has demonstrated that they have met the target three times, either in their English lessons or in cross-curricular written work. Where a child has met their writing target, a ‘T’ is marked at the top of the child’s work (see Marking and Feedback Policy). The Writing Skills Assessment Sheet for each year group (band) informs individual writing targets (see Assessment Policy).

EYFS

Nursery and Reception assess against ‘Early Years Outcomes’ a non-statutory guide for practitioners and inspectors and ‘Development Matters’ to help inform understanding of child development through the early years. The results of these assessments are used to award a Band (age) and Step and to track progress using both the Skills Assessment Sheets and Target Tracker throughout the school.

Reporting to parents is done on a termly basis through interviews and annually through a written report. Assessing writing in the EYFS is an ongoing process. Every child does a piece of weekly writing with an adult and is encouraged to have a go at writing independently. A dedicated extended session will be introduced as appropriate to the child’s ability.