Intent for Writing
As part of our Gold Level Rights Respecting School, our intent is to ensure that every child receives a well-rounded learning experience and becomes a fluent reader, a skilled writer and confident speaker so that children can be the best that they can be and have aspirations of themselves now, and in the future.
It is our intention at Timothy Hackworth Primary School that all children from Foundation Stage to Year 6 are provided with many opportunities to develop and apply their writing skills across the curriculum. The school believes that English skills are vital to the development of children so that they are prepared for their future life. A broad and balanced English programme using objectives from the National Curriculum 2014, determines the skills that each year group and Key Stage must cover. Many of these writing opportunities are based around high quality texts, which reflects the importance we place on meaningful links between reading and writing.
Our Writing Intent is:
- for our children to be the best writers that they can be as part of our Gold Level Rights Respecting School;
- to foster a curiosity and thirst for knowledge and understanding about the world in which we live;
- to promote confidence and lifelong positive attitudes to writing through access to a wide range of literature and enthusiastic writing role models within our school and the wider community;
- to create positive writing attitudes;
- to promote independent writing;
- for pupils to be able to plan, revise and evaluate their writing;
- for our pupils to develop an awareness of the audience, purpose and context, and an increasingly wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar;
- to give children our children writing opportunities which cover a range of different purposes, audiences and forms;
- to broaden vocabulary through the use of and understanding of new words;
- teach pupils how to work out and clarify the meanings of unknown words and words with more than one meaning;
- show pupils how to understand the relationships between words, how to understand nuances in meaning, and how to develop their understanding of, and ability to use, figurative language;
- for pupils to apply their grammatical knowledge in their writing;
- for pupils to apply their phonetic and spelling knowledge in their writing;
- engage pupils with spelling and the rules that are applied through teaching the National Curriculum;
- for pupils to leave school being able to use joined, legible and fluent handwriting.
Implementation for Writing
Children in the EYFS learn early writing skills through a combination of adult-focused tasks and child-initiated activities. Writing is also taught through discrete sessions, planned around a text of fiction, non-fiction, or poetry.
Two-year-old children explore mark making, drawing lines, dots, and circles. Children in Nursery learn that symbols carry meaning. Adults may model writing to support children to develop their language patterns and thinking skills. Adults develop the foundational skills of composition by reading stories, talking to children, re-phrasing what they have said, modelling correct sentence structure and extending their vocabulary.
In Reception, the teaching of Shared Writing focuses upon the oral construction of a sentence, transferring into the simple written sentence, which incorporates teaching the following early writing skills: the modelling of vocabulary, orientation from left to right, finger spaces, capital letters and full stops, segmenting to spell using phonic knowledge; harder to read and spell (tricky) words, and modelling correct letter formation. Children are also encouraged to hold their pencils correctly and sit with an appropriate posture when writing at a table.
Within these sessions, children are encouraged to speak in full clear sentences, sharing their thoughts, ideas, and experiences, with adults modelling and developing their language, modelling correct grammar, and asking open-ended questions to encourage further thinking and discussion.
Those children who need it, access support in relation to gross and fine motor development, by being provided with a pencil grip or the development of finger strength through, for example, dough gym exercises.
Writing is encouraged across the whole of Early years through Continuous Provision, indoors and outdoors, such as in the role play areas, block area, art and craft area, and Maths area. Children are provided with numerous opportunities to make marks, and to write for a purpose, such as writing a shopping list, making a sign or label for a model, annotating their artwork, sending messages, keeping score in a game, or recording their investigations. Adults support children in child-initiated activities by encouraging writing for a purpose and, when appropriate, supporting the application of their phonic knowledge.
In Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, teachers plan sequences of lessons that explore quality texts and give pupils the opportunity to develop their writing skills. Teachers model, through Shared Writing, the required skills in relation to a range of writing genres and text-types. Children are taught to plan, draft and edit on a regular basis within meaningful contexts.
Carefully planned teaching sequences, enable the children to write using a range of purposes, audiences and forms. Quality texts are selected to provide the pupils with a range of models to support their own independent writing.
Handwriting sessions in the EYFS follow the Essential Letters and Sounds Programme. Children in Key Stage 1 progress to the Penpals with a printed script until the Summer term in Year 2, then children progress onto the Letterjoin Programme, with a joined script, throughout Key Stage 2. The children use separate handwriting books until the end of Year 3, and are expected to apply this cursive script into their daily writing.
Throughout Key Stages 1 and 2, Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling sessions are taught. Children are expected to apply these skills into their independent writing.
Please refer to our ‘Reading and Writing Overviews’ and ‘Writing Curriculum’ documents for further detail.
Intended Impact for Writing
- Pupils’ writing reflects all areas and skills of the Programmes of Study in the National Curriculum by the time they leave our school;
- Pupils of all abilities will be able to succeed in all writing lessons;
- Pupils efficiently produce writing across a range of genres and text types;
- Writing reflects an appropriate purpose, audience and form of the genre/text type;
- Sentence construction is accurate;
- Writing reflects cohesion and coherence;
- Writing is creative, imaginative and fit for purpose;
- Pupils develop their writing stamina;
- Writing reflects a range of ambitious and adventurous vocabulary;
- Pupils are able to produce handwriting that is joined; they can write with fluency and stamina;
- There will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils, for example, between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils;
- The numbers of pupils working at age-related expectations within each year group will be at least in line with national averages;
- The numbers of pupils working at Greater Depth within each year group will be at least in line with national averages;
- Pupils will be ready to write in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education.
