Writing Curriculum

Implementation in school

Spelling

In EYFS and year 1, spelling is taught through our Floppy Phonics programme. This includes time given to learn non-decodable High Frequency Tricky Words.

From year 2 to 6, daily spelling lessons incorporate the study of grapheme and phoneme correspondences and the etymology of words. Time is given to investigate the morphology of words and how the prefixes or suffixes can alter the meaning of the words in sentences. Children in Key Stage 2 have 10 words to focus on each week, all with a matching phoneme and they are encouraged to learn these at home ready for a dictation every Friday. These dictations also include grammatical features appropriate to the year groups. The spelling lists are generated from different vocabulary: current subject specific vocabulary, high frequency words and/or the Statutory Lists for years 3 and 4, and 5 and 6. (See Spelling Programme of Study https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7de93840f0b62305b7f8ee/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_English_220714.pdf)

Handwriting

Nelson Handwriting programme is established from EYFS to year 6. onwards. It matches Floppy’s Phonics letter formation in early writing. Time is given to the start of every writing session to focus the children on letter formation and in how the joins are formed between different letters.

In Key Stage 2, children are encouraged to join their handwriting throughout the curriculum and will use a pen or a pencil depending on their individual needs. Interventions are used to support children who are not meeting the expectations within their year group.

Oracy

Pupils are given time to verbally rehearse and develop oracy skills through partnered and group talk. Their ideas are generated through this talk which is always based around vocabulary, structures and themes we have experienced through the curriculum, particularly through our reading. We model and support children in listening to others to help their responses be impactful and take learning on.

Non-fiction units

High quality example texts are used from year 1 to year 6 from which features of the different genres are identified alongside the text’s desired audience and purpose. The unit will cover the teaching of these structural, grammatical and other specific features. Independent writing tasks will be generated from topics being covered in the class. Planning, drafting and editing takes place to produce a final written outcome.  These units are purposeful and linked to a specific topic to further children’s understanding of where this type of writing fits into their world. Vocabulary is generated continually through the unit of work. Time is given to focus on the generation of the vocabulary related of the topic we are writing about. It is also generated through specific teaching of grammatical concepts appropriate to the year group.

Narrative units

Generation of vocabulary

At Sapperton, we use The Write Stuff planned units of work to teach narrative writing. One unit is completed each half term. These units are supported by high quality texts or films, covering the range of genre and so enabling progression of skills and knowledge. Each unit is made up:

·        Experience Sessions that provide the ‘hook’ or experiences children need to create ideas and imagination.

·        Sentence Stacking lessons incorporate the generation of ideas and vocabulary, high-quality modelling and an opportunity for children to use the practiced skills independently. Age-appropriate objectives for composition, language choices, punctuation and grammar are weaved through the teaching of these lessons.

·        Independent Writing includes: planning, drafting, editing and publishing of a narrative text based on learning from the unit.

Editing

Purple pens are introduced from year 1 to show editing choices in the pupils’ writing. Throughout Key Stage 1 and 2, regular opportunities are given for children to edit their own writing and that of their peers’. (See Skills Progression in Writing document for how this is taught in the different classes.)

Free Write Fridays

Pupils will create independent writing during each Friday session. This provides all pupils with a freer choice over the genre they write and gives more opportunity for creativity at this level.

Inspiration is given to the whole school during part of Tuesday’s worship and children will be given time to discuss what they may write about. On a Friday, children will be given more time to discuss their thoughts and then have time to produce their writing.

Year Group

Writing Curriculum

EYFS

Writing is taught through well organised activities which are either directed or child-initiated. The learning environment promotes writing through a range of resources which enables our pupils to practice writing for different purposes and audiences, with time allocated to see what good writing looks like. Provision for writing is provided in our outdoor area as well as in the classroom, including activities to develop fine motor skills. The pupils also participate in daily phonics sessions, following our phonics programme, Floppy Phonics. This teaches children the early writing skills of letter formation and applying learnt phonemes and graphemes into word writing.

Key Stage 1 and 2

Children write every day at Sapperton. Two pieces of independent writing are generated to finish each teaching unit every term. Other pieces of independent writing are generated through our Free Write Fridays and in other areas of our curriculum, such as science. Children in EYFS also write independently in Continuous Provision activities.

Our writing units consist of the following stages (see Writing Flow Chart for more details):

·        Engage and Establish

·        Explore and Experience

·        Evolve and Evaluate

·        Exhibit

Independent writing involves the following skills:

The planning stage - Pupils will plan their writing using a range of text type writing frames to organise their ideas such as story mountains, plot point planning, mind maps, and a range of skeleton frames. Pupils may will work both independently and collaboratively during this stage generating ideas and talking their ideas through with their peers.

The Drafting Stage - Pupils will write the text with constant reference to planning and any previous learning.

Editing - Pupils will edit regularly as they draft their text, looking for corrections and other aspects they can improve.

Publishing – When appropriate, pupils will publish their draft work to best match the given audience and purpose. This can include using ICT if appropriate.

Writing Area

Year 1

Year 2

LKS2

UKS2

Spelling

·        Segment spoken words into individual phonemes and then represent the phonemes by the appropriate grapheme(s).

·        Spell some words in a phonically plausible way, even if sometimes incorrectly.

·        Misspellings of words that pupils have been taught to spell to be corrected.

·        Move towards more word-specific knowledge of spelling, including homophones.

·        Segment spoken words into phonemes and then representing all the phonemes by graphemes in the right order.

·        Spelling phonically plausible, even if not always correct.

·        Misspellings of words that pupils have been taught to spell to be corrected.

·        Apply knowledge of suffixes from word reading to spelling.

·        Draw from and apply growing knowledge of word and spelling structure, as well as knowledge of root words.

·        Phonic knowledge continues; teachers draw attention to words that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far.

·        Understand the role of morphology and etymology, spell further homophones, spell words that are often misspelt.

·        Use further prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them.

·        Place the possessive apostrophe accurately in words with regular plurals and in words with irregular plurals.

·        Use the first 2 or 3 letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary.

·        Spell some words with silent letters.

·        Distinguish between homophones and other words which are often confused.

·        Use knowledge of morphology and etymology in spelling and understand that the spelling of some words needed to be learnt specifically.

·        Use further prefixes and suffixes and understand the guidance for adding them.

·        Use dictionaries to check the spelling and meaning of words use the first 3 or 4 letters of a word to check spelling, meaning or both in a dictionary.

Handwriting

·        It correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly begin to form lower-case letters in the correct

·        Direction, starting and finishing in the right place.

·        Form capital letters and digits 0-9.

·        Understand which letters belong to which handwriting families (ie. letters that are formed in similar ways) and to practise these.

·        Form individual letters correctly

·        Motor skills need to be sufficiently advanced to write down ideas that are compose orally.

·        Revise and practise correct letter formation frequently.

·        Write with a joined style as soon as they can form letters securely with the correct orientation.

·        Use the diagonal and horizontal strokes that are needed to join letters and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left un-joined

·        Increase the legibility, consistency and quality (ie downstrokes of letters are parallel and equidistant, and that ascenders and descenders of letters do not touch).

·        Using joined handwriting throughout independent writing.

·        Continue to practise handwriting and increase the speed of it, so that problems forming letters does not get in the way of writing ideas.

·        Understand what the standard of handwriting is appropriate for a particular task, for example, quick notes or a final handwritten version.

·        Use an un-joined style, for example, for labelling a diagram or data, writing an email address, or for algebra, and capital letters, for example, for filling in a form.

Grammar

·        Recognise sentence boundaries in spoken sentences and to use the appropriate vocabulary when their writing is discussed.

·        Use some of the distinctive features of Standard English in their writing.

·        The terms for discussing language should be embedded in the course of discussing writing with them.

·        Attention to be drawn to the technical terms in all feedback.

·        Grammar is taught explicitly as part of our writing lessons: terminology and concepts for Y3&4 are applied correctly and discussed in own writing or books that have been read.

·        Differences between Standard English and non-Standard English taught and beginning to be applied in writing (ie in dialogue in narratives)

·        Add to knowledge of linguistic terms, including those to describe grammar, so that it can be discussed in writing and reading.

Punctuation

·        Demarcate sentence boundaries.

·        Recognise the sentence type and which punctuation mark is necessary.

·        Leave appropriately sized spaces between words and correlate the number of words in the sentence to spoken.

·        Use basic punctuation accurately: capital letters, full stops, exclamation marks and question marks.

·        Use familiar and new punctuation mostly correctly.

·        Identify and use apostrophes for contracted forms and the possessive (singular).

·        Identify the purpose of commas in the following circumstances and use them accurately: in a list and in between adjectives.

·        Use commas in lists, between adjectives, after fronted adverbials and in direct speech correctly.

·        Direct speech punctuated with inverted commas and most of the other accurate punctuation.

·        Use the familiar punctuation in a variety of ways to evoke meaning or responses from the reader.

·        Indicate features in writing by: using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing, use hyphens to clarify meaning and avoid ambiguity, use brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis, use semi-colons, colons or dashes to mark boundaries between independent clauses, use a colon to introduce a list, punctuate bullet points consistently.

Composition

·        Compose sentences orally before writing them.

·        Sequence sentences to make a short text.

·        Reread writing to check that it makes sense.

·        Read aloud their writing clearly enough to be heard by their peers and the teacher.

·        Discuss what they have written with confidence and clarity.

·        Develop positive attitudes and stamina for writing by writing: narratives, real events, poetry and for different purposes.

·        Record ideas sentence by sentence.

·        Make simple additions, revisions and corrections.

·        Read aloud what has been written with appropriate intonation.

·        Develop and enhance the effectiveness of writing and the more varied grammar, vocabulary and narrative structures that is drawn on to express ideas.

·        Plan writing based on familiar forms.

·        Use simple organisational devices.

·        Suggest improvements and changes to grammar and vocabulary.

·        Proofread for spelling and punctuation errors.

·        Read aloud own writing using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume.

·        Enjoy and understand language, especially vocabulary, to increase fluency as readers, writers and comprehension.

·        Writing will be sufficiently fluent and effortless to manage the general demands of the curriculum.

·        Reflect on own understanding of the audience and purpose and make selections appropriately.

·        Plan writing to suit audience and purpose; use models of writing.

·        Develop character and setting in narrative.

·        Select grammar and vocabulary for effect.

·        Use a wide range of cohesive devices.

Fluency

·        Manipulate the key concepts at their curriculum level.

·        Use linguistic features in writing such as: alliteration, rhyme and repetition.

·        Know the meaning of words and include them in writing and discussions.

·        Manipulate the key concepts at their curriculum level.

·        Use linguistic features in writing such as: onomatopoeia and simile.

·        Develop linguistic knowledge to create more variation in grammar and vocabulary techniques.

·        Take an intentional approach to building on what has been learnt previously.

·        Manipulate the key concepts at their curriculum level.

·        Use linguistic features in writing such as: metaphor and personification.

·        Write down ideas quickly and key concepts are broadly accurate.

·        Quickly go back and edit work based on learnt knowledge and skills to do so.

·        Manipulate the key concepts at their curriculum level.

·        Use linguistic features in writing such as: pathetic fallacy and pun.