Writing

In Writing the children will leave Foulds having developed the knowledge, skills and understanding laid down in the National Curriculum for English to the maximum of their potential. Along this journey, their character will also evolve, due to the writing contexts and experiences we provide, and as they are encouraged to question and to develop Foulds values such as resilience, respect and teamwork during the writing process, as well as a growth mindset. We want our children to have positive attitudes towards Writing and its contribution to society, as well as an awareness of the impact they can have on their community through their own writing. Perhaps some will be inspired to become future poets, authors and writers. Each child will understand the purpose of their writing; whether they are writing to entertain, inform, persuade or discuss, and who their intended audience is. They will have the tools required in writing to enable them to be secondary ready.

Writing is taught throughout the week, through specific Literacy lessons but children also have opportunities to orally compose and write throughout the school day such as during Speaking and Listening activities, Reading sessions, Phonics lessons, soft starts and as they study other subjects. Writing opportunities are also encouraged during child-initiated play, especially in EYFS and KS1.
Writing objectives to be taught for each year group are detailed in the ‘Pixl’ Programs of Study.
Children are encouraged to think about Purpose, Audience and Text Type, ‘PAT’ when writing.
Children write to entertain, to inform, to persuade and to discuss as they progress through the school.
Children’s writing progresses throughout the school in terms of text features included, composition, grammar, punctuation, spelling, handwriting, adverbials, conjunctions etc.
Our Long Term Plans follow a 2 year cycle and detail examples of texts that can be used to provide contexts when teaching Writing objectives. These texts have been carefully chosen by staff members, in consultation with the Writing/Reading Leads, to help maximise children’s engagement and enjoyment when writing, to enable them to make good or better progress, to inspire creativity as well as provide challenge, and to allow pupils to consider their place in the world.
In conjunction with the Writing Subject Leader, Staff are able to make changes to the contexts within which writing objectives are being taught, for instance if they feel that they want to update texts or follow their children’s interests.
The curriculum makes an effort to be experience rich, providing children with personal experiences that they want to write about such as hooks, trips, theatre experiences, visitors/speakers, themed days etc. We celebrate World Book Day and National Poetry Day.
In KS1 and KS2 children usually study texts for 2-3 weeks. Week 1 is an ‘Immersion’ week, Week 2 (& 3 if needed) moves onto ‘Invention’, where they might be ‘imitating’ and/or ‘innovating’. During the writing process children are immersed in and become really familiar with a text type. Children see examples of great writing and are encouraged to collect phrases and new vocabulary for use in their own writing. They engage in planning, drafting, sharing ideas, writing, responding to marking, editing, re-drafting and publishing - either a section or a whole piece of work where appropriate.
An emphasis is placed on editing, with children being shown examples of writing and having opportunities to engage in discussions about how the writing could be improved. Children are encouraged to take a lead in their own learning and look for ways to edit and improve their own work. Peer marking is also used, where children work together, identifying positive aspects of the work as well as giving advice/ideas of things to improve and/or change.
Children use a red pen to edit their work, thinking about next steps.
In KS1 and KS2 children have a Literacy book where the majority of writing is recorded, however writing can also be found across the curriculum, such as in their Science books or Topic folders.
Children also have a Free Write folder and engage in free writing of their own choice or linked to a given stimulus. During these sessions teachers work with individual children, giving feedback on their writing at the time of learning.
During lessons, supportive, differentiated resources are provided and children are encouraged to develop their metacognition and think about what helps them to learn effectively, or what they could do if they were stuck, such as using vocabulary mats, picture prompts, sound mats, or grapheme boxes to help with segmenting and blending etc.
The children are given a personal dictionary in KS1 which follows them throughout their journey at Foulds. Children are also encouraged to develop the skill of independently using dictionaries, especially in KS2.
Phonics - EYFS and KS1 follow ‘Supersonic Phonics’ scheme.
Non-negotiables - We value non-negotiables - the minimum that we pledge no child (unless they have a specific learning need which means they have a different focus) will leave each year group without.

Handwriting:

Teachers model pre-cursive and cursive handwriting when writing and marking. We have high expectations of our children’s handwriting and expect handwriting to be cursive and neat. Children are taught handwriting in Yr1 – 2. Precursive handwriting is taught in Year 1 and cursive handwriting is taught in Year 2. In Lower Key Stage 2, whole class handwriting sessions also take place at least once a week. Across the school where children need fine/gross motor skills and input in letter formation, this is also taught in small groups. Pencils will be used for writing until at least Year 3 and then, when deemed appropriate, children will move onto pen. The pens that children should use are fine liner pens not biros.

We use ‘Supersonic Phonics Friends Handwriting’ rhymes to help with letter formation and resources such as Writing Repeater to assist with modelling and teaching handwriting pre-cursive and cursive script.

We also encourage all displays to have cursive script in KS2.

Spelling:

EYFS and KS1 follow ‘Supersonic Phonics.’

In KS2, teachers teach to the expectations of statutory spellings. We follow the Purple Mash scheme.

Children have 1 taught spelling lesson each week and 2 x ‘soft starts’ with a spelling focus.

Grammar -

Grammar content (National Curriculum Appendix 1 & 2) is taught in context, as texts are studied.

Staff refer to ‘Grammatical Terminology’ to ensure coverage.

EYFS standards are detailed in the Early Learning Goals for ‘Literacy’ and ‘Communication and Language’.