Intent

We believe that English skills are vital to the development of our learners in preparation for their future life. All learners at Wentworth C of E should be able to confidently communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions through their writing being clear, accurate and coherent, adapting their language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. We want them to resourcefully acquire a wide vocabulary, a solid understanding of grammar and be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn throughout their time with us. A broad and balanced English programme using objectives from the National Curriculum, determines the skills that each year group and Key Stage must cover and we promote a wide range of genres through our curriculum in which a variety of resources are used to promote a writing culture. We believe that all learners should be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing, in part by developing a presentable, joined, handwriting style by the time they move to secondary school. Our view is that all good writers refine and edit their writing over time, so we want children to develop independence in being able to identify their own areas for improvement in all pieces of writing, editing their work effectively during and after the writing process. Children are given a range of writing opportunities including the use of paired, group and independent writing tasks. A culture of learning from each other is promoted through use of reciprocity which is developed across both key stages, so that the children learn to respond appropriately and supportively to each other - there is no limit to what our learners can achieve in writing. We understand the importance of parents and carers in supporting their children to develop grammar, spelling and composition skills, and so we want to encourage a home-school partnership which enables parents and carers to understand how to enhance and reciprocate the skills being taught in school.

The aims of teaching writing at Wentworth CofE Primary School are to develop learners who:

• Show high levels of achievement and exhibit inspired attitudes towards writing;
• Use and understand language as speakers, readers and writers.
• Are competent, confident and independent in the use of language in their writing.
• Have a wide and well-informed vocabulary bank.
• Have an awareness of different audiences and purposes for writing.
• Apply grammatical knowledge in their writing.
• Apply phonetic and spelling knowledge in their writing.
• Apply the English language in all areas of the curriculum.

Implementation

Our school provides daily Writing lessons that are progressive and support skill development through whole class lessons, so that all children have access to the age-related skills and knowledge contained in the National Curriculum. The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum is followed to ensure continuity and progression from entering FS2, through to the National Curriculum in KS1 & KS2.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum is divided into specific areas of learning and development. 'Communication & Language' is one of three significant areas that are fundamental to supporting learners' language development. 'Communication & Language' is made up of the following aspects: listening and attention, understanding and speaking. ‘English' is one of four specific areas which include the development of essential skills and knowledge and is made up of the two learning areas: reading and writing. Our learners develop through play, speaking and listening activities, teacher modelling, group work and self-exploration.

In writing lessons across both Key Stages, teachers plan a sequence of progressive lessons for a range of genres that explore and link to a quality, enriched text each term and give learners the opportunity to practice writing skills through the use of reciprocal learning structures with engaging, virtual experiences. Teachers model these skills on a regular basis and planning, editing, publishing, ICT and iPad-based tasks are planned as part of the writing teaching sequence. Quality first teaching of our writing may involve appropriate scaffolding and access to additional support materials such as Writers Toolkits, Word Banks, Rubrics and Teacher Modelling. For each quality text being explored in each class, a WAGOLL for each genre is created and supports learners in identifying and mimicking the identified features in their own writing following an imitate, innovate approach. This also includes project work during afternoons across a range of foundation subjects - our expectations of developing competent and coherent writers is embedded throughout our curriculum.

Our learners are given further opportunities to extend their writing and further their potential in a variety of ways, including through showing greater control in their writing, a deeper understanding of the impact that their writing has on the reader and by using a higher level of vocabulary and grammar features. Grammar and punctuation knowledge and skills are taught through writing session starters and hook focuses. Teachers plan to teach the required skills through the genres of writing that they are teaching, linking them to the genre to make skill learning and application coherent with the intended writing outcome. We also embed aspects of grammar teaching into our afternoon SPAG session, through which learners have the opportunity to practise and apply spellings, handwriting and specific, directed grammar tasks in both supported and independent tasks. Handwriting is thus taught regularly to the children and follows a cursive programme ‘Letter-join’ which can also be accessed at home. It is our expectation that all children apply their handwriting expectations throughout their everyday writing across the curriculum.

Impact

Learners enjoy writing across a range of genres and produce authentic pieces for an intended audience; published pieces are then bound into a class book and located within our library area to raise the profile of our children as authors. Learners of all abilities are able to succeed in writing because work is appropriately scaffolded by teaching staff and through our children being independently resourceful within classrooms. Learners across school are developing a wide vocabulary that they use within their writing and this skill is embedded throughout all subjects across the curriculum. Assessment for learning strategies are used on a daily basis which allow for a clear picture to be built of every child’s progress, any areas of strength or weakness which can then be addressed through planning and necessary interventions when needed. Learners have an active, reflective role in editing and improving their writing both independently and with peer support. As a result, they are able to articulate successes in their writing, as well as identify areas for development and appropriately adapt their work based on the context, audience and feedback provided. The impact of which is a continual and personal approach. The percentage of learners working at ARE and Greater Depth within each year group will be at least in line with national averages. Parents and carers have a good understanding of how they can support spelling, grammar and composition as a result of our parent drop in sessions each year through which we share teaching ideas and strategies to be used at home.

Assessment

Assessment in writing is completed termly. Learners complete independent writing pieces within each project, which are assessed against our writing criteria checklists for each year group. We aim for children to create at least 6 pieces of effective, authentic writing throughout the year covering a range of genres. Analysis of these assessments as well as in-school and MAT-wide moderation of our learners’ writing impacts upon teachers planning so that needs can be addressed. This ensures confidence and competence in all staff giving accurate judgements and developing excellent knowledge of both their own year group writing expectations as well as those before and after. These assessments are monitored by the SLT and are used within pupil progress meetings to ensure a range of coverage and progression in teaching and learning. Outcomes of work and published pieces in both writing and project books evidence the quality first teaching, high quality of work produced by our learners and the impact of varied and cross curricular writing opportunities that underpin our curriculum. These enable children to write authentically across a range of genres and adapt their writing successfully, considering the purpose and audience as emerging Authors.