Curriculum Intent: English-Writing
Characteristics of a Writer
- The ability to write fluently and with interesting detail on a number of topics throughout the curriculum.
- A vivid imagination which makes readers engage with and enjoy their writing.
- A highly developed vocabulary and an excellent knowledge of writing techniques to extend details or description.
- Well-organised and structured writing, which includes a variety of sentence structures.
- Excellent transcription skills that ensure their writing is well presented and punctuated, spelled correctly and neat.
- A love of writing and an appreciation of its educational, cultural and entertainment values.
Implementation
Writing
The approach to writing at St. Joseph’s is taught through the build up of skills and using shared writing to secure the basics of handwriting, phonics, spelling and grammar in relation to what children need to make progress in the text type being taught, leading up to a longer piece of writing.
Spelling
In school, we follow the Sounds-Write programme to teach phonics and writing.
Handwriting
We follow the Penpals Handwriting scheme. This is a whole-school programme designed to help all children develop a confident, legible and personal handwriting style and meet higher curriculum expectations. The programme includes resources for pattern practice and motor skills work as well as fun activities to bring handwriting to life.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary is a vital strand of reading and understanding. Vocabulary matters for many reasons:
- Children in Year 6 need to understand a wide range of words to succeed in their SATs.
- Words empower children to make sense of the world around them. A wide vocabulary helps them to put their emotions into words, socialise with people, imagine and wonder.
- Vocabulary growth is directly related to academic achievement.
- Expanding a child’s knowledge of words provides unlimited access to new information.
In school, we use a variety of approaches to help children develop their understanding of words and expand their vocabulary. This is not limited to English, but takes place across the curriculum and we aim to provide children with a language rich environment.
The key to developing your child’s vocabulary is exposure to new words, through real-life experiences and reading.
Oracy
Opportunities to develop oracy skills are built into the curriculum to allow for children to develop speaking and listening skills and share experiences to provide the basis of their writing.
Please see our Writing Curriculum Phases Overview which shows the accumulation of knowledge and skills from Nursery to Year 6.
Skills are developed across a range of different genres of writing please see the Progression through Genres for more details.
Please see our Reading and Phonics page for more information about how it is implemented across our school.
Aspirations For The Future
Pupils develop an understanding of how subjects and specific skills are linked to future jobs.
Here are some of the jobs you could aspire to do in the future as a Reader and Writer:
- Publicity Assistant
- Stage Director
- Song Writer
- Entertainment Manager
- Social Media Consultant
- Cartoonist
Inspirational Figure
Impact
Assessment
Through the explicit teaching of the Writing skills, both the teachers and the pupils assess their learning continuously throughout the sequence of learning, against the success criteria . Through timely feedback, children are encouraged to edit and improve their writing to build upon and develop their progress as a writer.
Please see the Marking and Feedback Policy for more information on how this is implemented.
Pupil Voice
We write creatively to express ourselves. My favourite genre of writing is suspense narratives.
Joel (KS2)
We use spelling shed to help us improve our spelling. I like it because it’s a fun way to learn.
Mia (KS2)
I love writing! I wrote about how door mice hibernate. I sound out the words and write them down.
Charlotte (KS1)
I like to write about my Mam and Dad.
Erin (EYFS)
We wrote a list.
Arthur (EYFS)
