INTENT

At Earl Spencer, we believe that all pupils should be able to confidently communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions through their writing. We want pupils to 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 in primary school. We want them to write, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. We believe that all pupils should be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing, in part by developing a good, joined, handwriting style by the time they move to secondary school. We believe that all good writers refine and edit their writing over time, so we want children to develop independence in identifying their areas for improvement in all pieces of writing and edit their work effectively during and after the writing process. We do not put ceilings on what pupils can achieve in writing and we do not hold pre-conceptions about any pupils’ ability to make progress. We understand the importance of parents and carers in supporting their children in developing grammar, spelling, and composition skills, and so we want to encourage a home-school partnership that enables parents and carers to understand how to enhance the skills being taught in school.

 

Implementation

Classroom organisation:

We teach English as whole class lessons so that all children have access to the age-related skills and knowledge contained in the National Curriculum. Within lessons, teachers and teaching assistants target support for slower graspers to enable them to achieve at an age-related level wherever possible. This may involve a greater level of scaffolding and access to additional support materials such as Writers Toolkits, Word Banks or a greater level of modelling. Rapid graspers are given opportunities to extend their writing in a variety of ways, including by showing greater control in their writing, a deeper understanding of the impact that their writing has on the reader and using a higher level of vocabulary and grammar features.

The process of writing at Earl Spencer Primary School is

Learning about the text: The purpose of this stage is to capture the children's interest and help them get to know the text well. This is through both 'reading as a reader' - exploring and sharing personal responses to what they read - and through 'reading as a writer' - recognising and investigating the features the writer uses to engage and manipulate the reader. It often will involve some form of learning and remembering of trickier or interesting sections to be used as an initial model for writing. Each sequence will contain some or all of these:

•         a hook into the text
•         reading and responding to the text
•         comprehension activities
•         retelling the text
•         talking about the text
•         in role in the text/drama
•         vocabulary work - 
•         analysing the text
•         grammar in context
•         identifying the structure of the text

Practise writing: During this stage, children try out the elements of writing they are less sure of so that they can use this experience when writing independently. This means they need opportunities to explore the language and structures they've been learning about and will be supported by their teacher(s). In teaching sequences, this section tends to include many of the following:

•         generating ideas to write about and one idea chosen
•         a shared activity to generate content for the chosen content
•         recording key ideas alongside the structure of the text
•         telling and talk to generate the text
•         story mapping the text where necessary
•         modelling / shared writing
•         editing writing
•         proof-reading writing.

Independent Writing: Children choose their own content to write about and collect ideas. These can then be recorded on the text structure chart as one method of planning, but individual sequences may suggest several alternative ways to plan and organise a piece of writing. Children write their text using proofreading and editing to improve it.

Spellings:

Spellings are taught according to the rules and words contained in Appendix 1 of the English National Curriculum.  In Key Stage 1 Teachers use the Essential Letters and Sounds scheme to support the development of spellings in EYFS and Year 1. In Year 2 the children use Essential Letters and Sounds spelling to ensure the reinforcement of phonics and the development of key spelling skills. Teachers use the Spelling Shed Scheme in Key Stage 2 to support their teaching and to provide activities that link to the weekly spellings. Children are given spellings to learn each week and are given a spelling test the following week.

When marking work, teachers identify up to three words that children have spelt incorrectly from within that child’s known ability and they write these at the end of the work, so the child has the opportunity to write the correct spelling three times.

Grammar and Punctuation:

Grammar and punctuation knowledge and skills are taught through English lessons as much as possible. Teachers plan to teach the required skills through the genres of writing that they are teaching, linking it to the genre to make it more connected with the intended writing outcome. Teachers sometimes focus on particular grammar and punctuation skills as standalone lessons, if they feel that the class need additional lessons to embed and develop their understanding or to consolidate skills.

Marking and Feedback:

Feedback and marking should be completed, where possible, within the lesson. All marking and feedback is given in line with our marking and feedback policy,

Summative Assessment:

Formative assessments are entered into Insight throughout the year. Teachers will use their professional judgement to determine whether a child is working within age-related expectations, above or below. They will base their judgements on the quality of the extended writing that pupils produce at the end of each unit, and determine to what extent pupils have met the agreed success criteria for that genre of writing.

INTENDED IMPACT

• Pupils will enjoy writing across a range of genres

• Pupils of all abilities will be able to succeed in all English lessons because work will be appropriately scaffolded
• Pupils will have a wide vocabulary that they use within their writing
• Pupils will have a good knowledge of how to adapt their writing based on the context and audience
• Pupils will leave primary school being able to effectively apply spelling rules and patterns they have been taught
• Parents and carers will have a good understanding of how they can support spelling, grammar and composition and home, and contribute regularly to homework
• The % of pupils working at ARE within each year group will be at least in line with national averages.
• The % of pupils working at Greater Depth within each year group will be at least in line with national averages
• The will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils (e.g. disadvantaged vs non- disadvantaged)

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