Writing Curriculum intent

Our writing curriculum aims to inspire children to want to write through the use of high-quality texts that immerse them in language and stimulates their imagination. These texts have been carefully selected to ensure progression across the school and to link to key topics; they can include poems, narrative, non-fiction or multi-media. Each year group has a long term map for English which sets out the learning journeys children will complete in each term in each year group; this ensures that children are exposed to a range of genres such as diary writing, narrative, journalistic writing, information texts and poetry.

Throughout writing, children take pride in their learning and are encouraged to let their imaginations flourish. Writing is broken into clear learning journeys which encompass exciting, inspiring hooks; clearly taught skills (which include grammar) and apprentice writes, leading up to a final piece of writing which children edit and celebrate. Throughout the learning journey, children have the opportunity to participate in a range of speaking and listening activities to develop their learning through the use of oral skills; these techniques include role play, echo reading, hot-seating, interviews and talk partners. Through learning journeys, children revisit and build on their writing skills to ensure they are confident writers by the time they leave us in Year 6.

Handwriting is taught discreetly at Wellstead following the Kinetic Letters Scheme. The scheme acknowledges the importance of addressing both the cognitive and physical demands of learning to write and aims to build up children’s whole body strength, teach the correct pencil grip and build up speed to become fluent writers.  In EYFS, the children are first introduced to different animal positions to build up their strength to be able to write. EYFS also benefit from Fit to Write which builds up their core muscles, their gross motor skills and then their fine motor skills. In the Kinetic Letters scheme, the children are introduced to the letters through engaging books and songs and have the opportunity to write these in the air before practising in sand trays, foam, playdough and chalk as well as pens and pencils. The EYFS environment is built to promote writing and provides children with many opportunities to write in their discovery time. A well resourced shed is outside and is filled with writing supplies that children can access. The staff build up their curriculum around the children’s interests and the cohort's needs and adults use questioning to develop children’s thinking skills and encourage a love of writing. In their writing, children are encouraged to form their letters accurately following the Kinetic Letter scheme and use their phonetic knowledge that they have been taught in discrete phonics lessons from Phonics Shed (see Phonics). Children also participate in Drawing Club where they are immersed in stories to develop their love of reading, writing and storytelling. Through using this approach, the children’s imagination and creativity is developed.

This EYFS approach is built upon in Year 1, who continue to develop children’s love of writing through imaginative play, discovery time and engaging writing lessons. Handwriting and phonic lessons are taught daily and for those children who need further support, interventions are carefully planned to ensure the children make accelerated progress.

The Kinetic Letters handwriting scheme continues throughout the school and by the end of KS1, children form letters accurately and make them a consistent size. In Year 3, children are taught to join and by the end of Year 4, the aim is that children are fluent with their handwriting. Following on from Phonics Shed, Spelling Shed is the spelling scheme that has been embedded across the school from Year 2 to Year 6. Clear lesson plans for spelling are accessed by the teachers with spellings being sent home to be learnt for the following week. Dictation is completed every week as a way to reinforce children’s spelling knowledge as well as sentence structure. Some children will require additional support for their spellings and might learn the spellings for a different year group. By the end of Year 6, the aim is that children have understood a wide range of spelling rules that enables them to attempt any given word in their writing.

From EYFS to Year 6, we have a big focus on vocabulary choices. We recognise that children need to be taught higher-level vocabulary to be able to become successful writers. Children are taught this vocabulary through speaking and listening activities, reading and dictionary work. By the end of Year 6, children are confident with using Tier 2 language in their writing (effective word choices) and Tier 3 language (subject specific words) to make their writing exciting to read. Throughout Wellstead, children are taught to be reflective (one of our school values) and use a purple pen to edit their work in order to improve it. Children are given the opportunity to peer assess their work as well as self assess and have regular conversations with their teachers about their work.

We ensure that all children can access the writing curriculum with support given to SEND children in order for them to make sufficient progress - this might mean them working on or consolidating learning objectives from a previous year group. SOLO is used to ensure that children have sufficient scaffold to reach the objective and higher ability children are challenged throughout lessons.

Along with discrete writing lessons, children have the opportunity to write across all areas of the curriculum, including using different genres such as writing a diary as a historical figure in history or writing an explanation about rivers in geography. This additional writing provides children with the opportunity to see the purpose of writing as well as practising their skills. Writing is displayed around the school so children feel pride in their work and understand the purpose for publishing. As a school, we use national events such as World Book Day and National Poetry Day to inspire the children with their writing further. By the time children leave Wellstead, they should be competent writers who can write with speed and accuracy in a range of genres. They should be able to write imaginatively as well for particular purposes, changing their voice appropriately to address their audience.