CAPTAIN WEBB PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY
Writing Curriculum Statement
Intent
At Captain Webb Primary School, we intend for our children to leave as confident, capable and independent writers, who not only understand the purpose and importance of writing but also enjoy the writing process. We intend for children to use their writing skills across the curriculum.
Our overarching principle about learning is: ‘Knowing more and remembering more’. We have designed our curriculum so that more time is given to embed key knowledge, make connections and be ready for the next stage of a child’s learning journey. Through their growing knowledge and understanding, we want all children to be able to communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions confidently through their writing.
Unapologetically ambitious, our writing curriculum focuses on excellence by learning from outstanding writers. We want our children to draw upon a rich exposure to quality literature so that throughout the writing process, they can write as a reader and read as a writer.
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, audiences and purposes. We believe in setting high standards in the presentation of writing along with setting the important foundations in spelling and grammar.
Implementation (Planning an inclusive curriculum).
Our inclusive knowledge-based curriculum plans for success. We teach the National Curriculum, supported by a clear skills and knowledge progression. This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children. Within English lessons, we are teaching all children to have a deep and secure understanding of the concepts that they are being taught. In order to do this, our curriculum is designed to reduce cognitive load by ensuring we structure and design lessons in small coherent steps, which organically allows opportunity for the promotion of retention. This allows for an inclusive learning environment where all children are supported to transfer learning from short-term to long-term memory. Please see the link below for the whole school writing progression knowledge and skills grids.
Spoken language is the first and most important resource that young writers have. Our writing curriculum, places quality literature and spoken language at the forefront of all writing units. Children need to have a wide experience of story, knowledge of written language and how this works and knowledge of how print works as a means of communication.
Young children can compose long before they can transcribe and many teaching approaches at this stage focus on easing the burden of transcription and enabling children to compose more freely. Therefore, initially a child needs the help and support of another person, usually an adult, in order to write conventionally. This support can be gradually withdrawn as transcription becomes easier and the child increases in independence, finding their voice as a writer.
Our teaching of writing across the school is linked to a class text, carefully chosen to inspire and excite the children. All writing units will start with a stimulus, which could be a high quality reading text or a memorable experience.
Our teacher’s plan exciting memorable experiences every half term. These class visits provide the children with meaningful experiences to support them in writing for a range of purposes and illustrate how their writing skills can be applied to real life contexts.
Children are expected to transfer their key topic knowledge and vocabulary into their writing and vice versa to transfer their spelling, grammar and punctuation knowledge into their topic work. We expect the high standards for writing in Literacy lessons to be evident within the work in all books.
At Captain Webb Primary School, we believe that writing is strengthened by instilling a love for reading within our pupils.
In EYFS, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 English is taught on a daily basis. Every year group has a Yearly Curriculum Map that outlines where narrative or non-narrative are taught and links to other curriculum areas such as reading and humanities.
Detailed Medium Term planning supports teachers to plan a sequence of progressive weekly lessons and over time, giving the children time to master new concepts. Within this document, key objectives and vocabulary are outlined.
The Writing Process
We organise intended learning into units of writing. These group the knowledge, skills and understanding that we want children to remember, do and use. We start with a high quality and inspiring text , identifying points within the text at which a piece of extended writing could be crafted, building lessons from this point up. For extended pieces, teachers use key skill checklists to support the writing process.
• PRIOR ASSESSMENT & TARGET SETTING – Using the previous writing unit to determine what the pupils need to develop, gaps in learning and any objectives that need specifically focusing on in this next unit.
• GENRE – This is the text type. We consider what we want pupils to write and why (purpose, audience and intended impact).
• CONTEXT – This includes any hooks into writing and any knowledge or experience that pupils require to write a particular piece. (Quality texts, memorable experiences or cross curricular links)
• TEXT / READINIG ANALYSIS – This requires effective models of the genre to build up pupils’ understanding of texts in this particular style. Opportunities to unpick modelled texts, consider the author’s choice of language and vocabulary and identify any SPAG features.
• ORGANISING IDEAS – This may include speaking and listening opportunities including drama. For example – retelling a text orally, hot seating a character, acting in role. Children will begin to organise ideas for their writing through lists, flow charts and / or writing frames. Teachers should be careful with the format used so we don’t limit ideas to small boxes which are not useful to follow when composing. Tools and approaches should enable pupils to plan ideas for the composition and the vocabulary they will use within the writing. Scaffolds to support this are useful.
• VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT – Consider words that will support pupils to improve their composition, draw attention to any taught spelling patterns. These should be taught within context with opportunities for pupils to apply within the composition of sentence structures.
• SENTENCE COMPOSITION – Plan for sentence composition linked to the genre type. Composition practice should link to the end outcome piece so pupils can draw on this practice to support independent composition. Sentence types, grammar knowledge and skills should be taken from the progression document.
• PUNCTUATION – Plan for punctuation linked to the genre. Practice composition should link to the end outcome piece so pupils can draw on this practice to support independent composition. Knowledge and skills should be taken from the progression document and assessment of pupils’ previous writing.
• MODELLED WRITING – Teachers usually prepare the models to support the compositional and transcriptional skills, and component knowledge being developed in the sequence. Using the model teachers diagnose the model with pupils so that they understand how this was composed. This builds their understanding of what a good one looks like. These models of writing are displayed on our classroom washing lines.
• SHARED WRITING – Using the planning and model how to compose the piece (parts of the piece) with the pupils. Teacher modelling is really important to develop writer’s voice and promote thinking. (Thinking out loud – articulating the processes of a writer.)
• GUIDED WRITING – Working with groups of pupils to specifically guide their writing skills. Assessment is key to delivering guided writing. Identifying the needs of the pupils, for example developing transcriptional skills for our lowest attaining pupils and providing challenge for our higher attainers. For example: teachers to guide writing to understand how to critically shape sentences for effect.
• INDEPENDENT WRITING - Pupils compose their own piece. This can be in parts as they work through paragraphs of the text or as a full piece. Redrafting and editing can be of sections to lead to more focused impact.
• RE-DRAFT AND EDIT – Teacher modelling of these skills is really important. Pupils are often not shown how to undertake this process effectively and therefore it can lose impact. After composition pupils may redraft sections of the writing to up level skills and improve the piece. Editing writing – pupils read through the writing and make correction in the writing. The pupils use the COMB materials to build their independence with proof – reading skills.
• PUBLISHED PIECE – Writing can be published in a range of ways. It is really important to develop pride in writing and allow pupils opportunities to make choices on how they want to publish material.
• APPLY TO A NEW CONTEXT – Pupils should have the opportunity to apply the style of writing to new context as this allows them to practise the skills. Teachers must ensure pupils have the knowledge to write in this context. Pupils should use and apply taught skills for subjects across the curriculum.
• ASSESSMENT & FEEDBACK – Teachers should analyse pupils’ writing against the writing moderation documents / termly targets for the year group. They should provide feedback to pupils on their successes and next steps. (Target Setting)
Staff follow our Marking and Feedback policy, to provide pupils with live feedback as much as possible so that children are actively involved in drafting, editing and improving their writing. From an early age, children are encouraged to proofread their work carefully to check for spelling and punctuation errors. By the time children get to Key Stage 2, they will plan, draft and edit independently, enabling them to fully take part in the writing process.
Modelled Writing using our washing lines.
The Importance of Vocabulary
We recognise the vital importance of exposing our pupils to a rich and varied vocabulary and understand that their acquisition and command of vocabulary are key to their learning and progress across the whole curriculum. We use model texts and class novels to teach vocabulary in context and encourage discussion around word choices when writing. Dictionaries, thesauruses and word mats are readily available throughout all writing lessons.
Guided writing sessions are used to target specific needs of both groups and individuals. All children are given focus spellings and are encouraged to integrate these into their writing. The weekly spellings are taken from the spelling rules being taught in their discrete RWI spelling session. (Refer to the spelling section below for more information.)
The children are given the opportunity to write at length daily and all pupils complete an extended, independent piece of writing at the end of a unit of work known as their hot write. Teachers use the hot writes to measure the progress made within a unit of writing and targets are set in readiness for the next piece of writing. Here is an example from Year 2
Staff follow our Marking and Feedback policy, to provide pupils with live feedback as much as possible so that children are actively involved in drafting, editing and improving their writing. From an early age, children are encouraged to proofread their work carefully to check for spelling and punctuation errors. By the time children get to Key Stage 2, they will plan, draft and edit independently, enabling them to fully take part in the writing process.
Early Years
Our curriculum maps are carefully planned to have breadth and depth and introduce quality core concepts, bodies of knowledge and key concepts which will be built on in Year 1. The ambitious curriculum is a carefully devised sequential offer to ensure the children become fluent in essential foundational knowledge necessary for writing. This enables our pupils to know more and remember more ready for future learning. End points are identified in the EYFS writing progression document.
The teachers plan effective writing units based on high quality writing texts. The plans include rich opportunities (through self-initiated learning and taught lessons) for pupils to develop their understanding of phonics application through Read, Write, Inc. Their writing involves transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition of sounds that they have previously been taught - articulating ideas and structuring them in speech, before writing. Reception and Year 1 are taught spelling patterns as part of their daily phonics lesson.
At Captain Webb, we identify children who need additional support and provide intervention in the most effective and efficient way that we can. We run phonics, reading and writing intervention groups and ensure that our lessons are effectively differentiated to maximise each child’s potential.
Spelling
The ability to write ideas down fluently requires a good understanding of spelling. In Reception and Key Stage 1, we follow the Read Write Inc Phonics programme to teach pupils how to write phonemes as graphemes. Please click on this link to find out more about Read Write Inc Phonics Spelling.
From Year 2 to Year 6, we use the follow on programme Read Write Inc. Spelling. These schemes ensure full coverage of, and progression within the National Curriculum requirements. To find out more about the Read Write Inc Spellings programme please click on this link.
Handwriting
Handwriting is taught in line with the National Curriculum objectives. In the Early Years, pupils complete fine motor activities to develop hand/finger strength and are taught how to hold a pencil correctly. In Reception, all pupils are taught how to form their letters correctly using the Read Write Inc Phonics programme. For more information, please click on the links below.
From Year 2 onwards, through daily handwriting lessons, we begin to explicitly teach correct joins, consistent letter size and clear ascenders and descenders. We follow the Nelson Handwriting scheme. Additional support is given through handwriting interventions where needed.
Please refer to the handwriting policy below for more information on how handwriting is taught at Captain Webb
Impact
In order to identify the impact our curriculum is having on our pupils; we check the extent to which learning has become permanently embedded in children’s long-term memory in addition to looking for excellence in their outcomes. When undertaking these we ask the following key questions:
• How well do pupils remember the content that they have been taught?
• Do books and pupil discussions radiate excellence?
• Does learning ‘travel’ with pupils and can they deliberately reuse it in more sophisticated contexts?
Each year group has writing assessment criteria that aligns with the whole school writing progression map. We make assessment judgements termly. Three pieces of writing will be assessed every term throughout the year using the assessment grids. These grids match the termly targets set out in the year groups progression map. Evidence of the core knowledge and skills for each term will demonstrate if a child is working towards, at or above age related expectations. Teachers record the summative assessments on O Track. These assessments are moderated by SLT each term.
Formative and Summative Assessments
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End of unit assessments (Hot Writes)
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End of term assessments (3 pieces of writing evidence)
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Internal Moderation of termly assessments.
Internal Monitoring
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Termly Pupil Progress Meetings
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Lesson Monitoring and Book scrutiny
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Pupil Voice
External Moderation
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Cluster Group Moderation.
Assessment data shows that..
77% reached ARE at KS2 with 2% reaching greater depth.