‘A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them.’ (National Curriculum)
Aims:
At Roseberry, we are committed to ensuring that every child (by the end of Year 6) can write independently, with confidence, across a range of genres. We recognise that the ability to communicate in written form is a fundamental skill for accessing all other areas of our curriculum. We intend for all children to understand the stages of the writing process in order to be equipped with the skills needed to be successful in their future lives including education and employment. We aim to inspire our pupils with writing opportunities that have a purpose and audience showing their enthusiasm and passion.
Children attending Roseberry typically have limited life experiences and little exposure to texts so all staff endeavour to impart the importance of writing. Due to the lack of language and limited vocabulary children bring to school, we strive to provide language rich environments and a curriculum where children actively engage with high quality vocabulary with the aim to support the writing process across the curriculum.
At Roseberry we endeavour to:
- Demonstrate the characteristics of our bespoke Avatars through the writing process;
- Develop an extensive base of grammatical skills, knowledge and vocabulary;
- Embed spelling rules and strategies so that writing fluency is not hindered;
- Develop children’s exposure to quality texts in a wide range of genres;
- Teach the key features of genres and how these have different purposes and audiences;
- Provide opportunities for children to convey their thoughts through drama and discussions, in order to prepare for written work;
- Provide experiences which are imaginative, purposeful and inspiring;
- Share and model aspirational writing;
- Encapsulate children’s interests and spark their imagination, allowing them to express their creativity, like Artie Creative;
- Equip them with the cultural capital that they need to access all opportunities available to them in our society and, understand that the drafting and editing process is important to showcase your best work;
- Promote children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development supporting and guiding them to navigate their emotions, develop self-awareness and empathy whilst recognising their right to be listened to;
- Support all children to access the curriculum and record their knowledge and understanding.
How is this delivered?
- From the very beginning of their educational journey, children are exposed to opportunities to develop their early writing skills such as mark making, fine motor skills and gross motor skills and through activities that link to the children’s interests across the Early Years provision;
- Teachers deliver phonics lessons daily using Read, Write Inc. so that delivery is consistent; children are taught how to write graphemes and use these when segmenting to spell words.
- Teachers plan from the Progressive Writing Skills Framework to teach spelling, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, handwriting, planning, drafting and editing;
- The writing team work with staff to map out the genre coverage. Teachers plan from our bespoke Genre Progression Framework which is split into 4 purposes for writing: to entertain, to inform, to persuade and to discuss. Within these 4 areas the children apply a range of features across a variety of text types to ensure progression of skills year upon year;
- Teachers use our bespoke ‘Sequence for Writing’ document to ensure a consistent approach across all writing sessions leading to an independent write. This is broken down into stages which involve: a WAGOLL, teaching new grammar and genre skills, planning and drafting/editing;
- Teachers expose children to higher order vocabulary through the use of carefully chosen texts from a range of genres (WAGOLL) to enrich their vocabulary resource bank.
- Teachers assess each independent write against our Roseberry age related expectations document to inform future teaching and learning;
- Lessons are carefully planned to give all pupils, including disadvantaged and those with SEND access to writing related activities. This includes personalised planning and teaching, guided group work, writing interventions and reactive teaching to close gaps in learning;
- Rights are referenced and appropriate links made to being listened to, provided with true and accurate information;
- Technologies are used to support and complement learning, including home learning and tailored learning in the classroom, for all pupils including those with SEND;
- Technology enhances the writing opportunities for all children by giving writing a purpose, for example: writing and performing a podcast, recording oral storytelling to entertain or using apps such as ‘Animate Anything’ to write and speak in role.
What will be achieved?
Children will write with confidence, clarity and imagination, understanding and applying their knowledge of phonics, grammar and spelling accurately. Children know how to write for a range of purposes and audiences, in a range of genres (including fiction, nonfiction and poetry), using an appropriate style, structure and features. Children can plan, draft and edit their own work, and learn how to self and peer assess against their success criteria. Children make language choices with an awareness of formality and are not afraid to draw upon a range of sources and devices to enhance their vocabulary.