English - Writing

Writing Intent

Our writing curriculum is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all children. It provides opportunities for children to develop as independent, confident and successful writers, with high aspirations, who know how to make a positive contribution to their community and the wider society. Our intent is for all pupils – irrespective of their needs, abilities or background – to learn to write fluently, developing their own writer’s voice. We aim to meet, and where possible exceed, the expectations laid out in the Early Learning Goals and National Curriculum, with pupils progressing appropriately across school. We recognise that spoken language underpins the development of Writing. The quality of language that pupils hear and speak is vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding Writing. We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in English, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. We believe that a secure basis in literacy 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. We cultivate a love of Writing and communicating through vocabulary rich and high-quality literature and a scheme of work developed by Vine Tree Primary School in conjunction with Literacy Counts. By inspiring and developing an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage and providing meaningful and exciting provocations to write, we develop a habit of writing widely and often. 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.

Writing Implementation

Organisation and Curriculum Coverage

Our Writing curriculum empowers teachers to provide high-quality teaching of writing through high-quality literature. Detailed units of work and writing journeys centre on engaging, vocabulary-rich texts, with a wealth of writing opportunities within and across the curriculum. They provide:

  • Clear sequential Episodes of Learning

  • Vocabulary learning and contextualised spelling, grammar and punctuation

  • Wider reading for the wider curriculum

  • Example Texts linked to writing outcomes (WAGOLL)

    Our English curriculum is developed around a sequence of high quality age-appropriate texts. We use each book to create opportunities to:

  • develop grammar and punctuation knowledge and understanding to use and apply across the wider curriculum, through sentence accuracy sessions;

  • explore the Writing structure and features of different genres, identifying the purpose and audience;

  • plan and write an initial piece of Writing with a clear context and purpose before evaluating the effectiveness of Writing by editing and redrafting.

    Building on this foundation, we teach literacy using a range of strategies which include:

  • Group Discussion – Children discuss and interrogate new ideas in pairs, a small group or whole class setting. They listen to and value each other’s ideas whilst taking on board feedback about how to improve their own explanations.

  • Partner Talk – Children work in partners to discuss their ideas. They are able to explain their ideas about texts they have read and prepare their ideas before they write.

  • Questioning – Teachers use a range of questioning strategies to establish children’s current understanding and develop their learning.

  • Modelled Writing – Teachers model Writing and editing to demonstrate the high expectations they have. They verbally ‘think aloud’ in order to make the Writing process explicit and provide a rich and varied vocabulary for the children to utilise in their own work. This happens daily, through sentence accuracy

  • Shared Writing – Teachers use the ideas from the children to create shared pieces of Writing. This enables the children to see the Writing process in action as well as having pride and ownership over the finished piece.

  • Editing – All children are signposted to regular opportunities for reviewing and editing their own and the work of others.

  • Working walls – Teachers and children regularly update working walls to ensure learning is documented within a unit of work. Class teachers ensure that the Writing process is clearly evident on working walls, with modelled examples being available to all pupils as the sequence of lessons develops.