Intent

At Springwood Junior Academy we want our pupils to see themselves as successful writers who understand the purpose of each stage of the writing process and are proud to share their outcomes. Our writing curriculum supports pupils to be confident to write for a range of purposes and audiences and to understand the importance of writing within wider learning and life. Real life experiences, high-quality texts and wider curriculum learning provide the stimulus to write, with a focus on engaging pupils’ interest and developing a rich vocabulary bank to support composition. Through effective modelling and specific targeted sentence level learning our pupils will apply their knowledge of the features of each text type to draft, revise, edit and publish high quality pieces of writing that meet or exceed the age-related expected outcomes for their year group.

Implementation

Our writing curriculum follows the ‘Purpose for Writing’ approach which organises writing genres by the following reasons to write:

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, the ‘Communication and Language’ and ‘Literacy’ areas of learning support pupils in developing their English skills. The FS2 curriculum and print rich learning environment ensure pupils have access to focussed, teacher led writing tasks as well as opportunities for child-initiated activities within continuous provision. Sentence dictation activities that match phonics knowledge develop writing confidence and independence whilst oral sentence composition supports vocabulary development and use of imagination to create simple narrative.

 

Thorough phonics assessments completed by the Early Years teachers enables a smooth transition into Key Stage One and ensures pupils continue to make good progress. Lessons are planned to cover all objectives set out in the statutory English curriculum and develop pupils’ understanding of the writing process. 

 

As children move into Key Stage 2 and write extended texts, they are encouraged to proof read their own work to enable them to identify improvements. As they build their knowledge of writing, teacher marking and feedback encourages independence. Children respond to this marking using a green pen to enable them to see the progress they have made. Publishing work is a celebration of written work to be proud of. 

Our Writing Process

Our pupils experience all stages of the process of writing during a two or three week unit of work that begins with immersion into a high quality text, moving from reading into writing. On completion of a published piece of work, opportunities are then provided for pupils to share their writing aloud as an author and celebrate their successes. The steps of our writing process are detailed below.

We believe foundations in spelling should be put in place from an early age. Within FS2 and KS1 the focus is on phonics and pupils are immersed in the world of phonics as soon as they enter school and access a daily lesson. The pupils in Y1 and Y2 also learn the common exception word lists for their year groups. As pupils move towards the end of KS1 the focus changes from phonics to the acquisition of spelling rules and strategies. Within Y2, pupils begin to learn words from the national curriculum word list. Key spelling strategies and rules are taught within the classroom and pupils receive weekly spelling lists or individualised spelling lists to learn at home. Alongside learning spelling rules and strategies Y3/4 and Y5/6 are also expected to learn the words lists as stated in the national curriculum.  

At Springwood Junior Academy, we want all our pupils to achieve high standards of presentation in their work. We want all pupils to take pride in their writing and believe that if a pupil is proud of the standard of presentation they have achieved; they will be more enthused and motivated to write again and again. High standards of handwriting and presentation encourage pupils to become more willing writers.

Fine-motor skill development and correct pencil grip are key to developing handwriting. In FS1 (Nursery), FS2 (Reception) and Year 1, children have regular ‘Dough Disco’ sessions, these sessions are fun and engaging but are designed to strengthen the children’s finger muscles in order to have better control over their pencils.

 

As our pupils begin to learn to form letters correctly, pupils are taught handwriting rhymes to support them to remember the correct formation and shape. These rhymes are used consistently across all lessons. Within FS2 and KS1, letter formation is modelled and practised within daily phonics lessons as well as focused handwriting sessions. Our KS2 pupils have regular handwriting lessons to practise different joins alongside opportunities to present written work in a neat, legible, joined handwriting style.

Impact

Pupils at Springwood Junior Academy have the knowledge and skills to write successfully for a purpose and audience. The implementation of our writing sequence ensures pupils become increasingly confident writers with the ability to plan, draft and edit their work. Sentence level skills are secure and are applied accurately and consistently in the wider curriculum. Our pupils enjoy writing for pleasure and leave our school with the writing skills needed to continue their learning journey successfully into secondary education.