Writing Curriculum
Intent
At Snapethorpe Primary School, English sits at the heart of our curriculum – it is through language, story and text that children learn to form concepts, connect ideas and express themselves. Through the varying dimensions of literacy, children learn to both make sense of the world and shape their place within it.
Through the teaching of reading and writing, we place a heavy emphasis on developing a child’s vocabulary and love of reading. We value reading as a key life skill and we are dedicated to enabling our pupils to become lifelong readers.
We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and encourage them to use discussion to communicate and develop their learning.
We believe that children need to establish a secure knowledge-base in English, which follows a clear pathway of progression, as they advance through the primary curriculum. Securing these skills is crucial to a high-quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society.
Implementation
At Snapethorpe Primary School, we have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects. We have a well-organised English curriculum and framework, that provides many purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion. We use a wide variety of quality texts and resources to motivate and inspire our children, ensuring that cross curricular links are woven into the programme of study.
We have developed a holistic approach to our English curriculum, encouraging our children to make links within and across different texts and other curriculum subjects. We believe that linking reading, writing and curriculum sessions together, will allow children to develop a deeper understanding of the English curriculum and transfer new skills across the curriculum.
Teachers plan coherent and well-sequenced English lessons, which are adapted to the particular needs of each child. We help each child maximise their potential by providing scaffolds and support where appropriate whilst striving to make children independent workers once we have helped to equip them with the confidence, tools and strategies that they need. We identify any children who require additional support to keep-up with the curriculum.
Throughout the teaching sequence, children are be taught through:
- Preparation for the sequence, through familiarisation with text type
- Analysis / deconstruction of text, identifying text and sentence level features of model texts
- Vocabulary collection for use in word banks and display within the classroom
- Modelled writing (demonstration) – teacher models the process
- Talk for writing (oral composition), imitating and rehearsing sentences
- Shared writing (we all have a go together)
- Supported composition - drafting (independent/group/shared/response partners)
- Continue to model spelling and handwriting skills as part of the sequence
- Guided writing – supporting individuals at the level of need
- Opportunities to write daily and build their stamina for writing
- Opportunities to proof read, edit and redraft their writing
- Regular independent application – purposes and audiences for writing are essential.
Impact
With a coherent and well-sequenced English curriculum, the impact is clear: progress, sustained learning and transferrable skills. The impact across the English curriculum can be seen through:
- Pupils being exposed to a broad range of texts and authors.
- Pupils having a good range of vocabulary that they are able to use in discussions and apply in their writing.
- Pupils having a good knowledge of how to adapt their writing for different purposes and audiences.
- Pupils having a good knowledge of spelling patterns and rules and have a toolkit of different strategies to support the continual learning of new spellings.
- Pupils being able to identify, use and apply grammatical features in their writing effectively across the curriculum.
This will enable pupils to achieve in line with the National Curriculum age-related expectations.
