Writing

At Bankfields Primary School, through our creative English curriculum, it is our aim to ignite a love of writing underpinned by a sound understanding of grammatical constructs and spelling strategies. Writing is an integral part of our whole curriculum; all pupils are provided with many opportunities to develop and apply their writing skills across the curriculum. It is our intention that pupils develop a clear understanding of the writing process to establish themselves as independent authors. Pupils are taken on a writing journey through writing projects, which build their knowledge of writing in context and establishes a clear purpose for writing.

Pupils are provided with opportunities to explore a variety of genres through text interrogation of model texts to develop their knowledge of language and organisational features for a range of genres. It is our intention to broaden our pupils’ exposure to high level vocabulary to allow pupils to apply their understanding of vocabulary and grammatical features within and across the English curriculum to enable our pupils to communicate creatively and imaginatively using Standard English.

Guidance from the Writing Framework highlights the important role of the reception year in building the foundations for writing. These foundations support our children throughout primary school and prepare them for secondary education. To ensure children get off to the best start and have the best chance of later success in writing, it recommends a focus on building these foundations through oral composition and through developing handwriting and spelling. This means keeping things simple and doing them well. Children need to be able to compose orally (say out loud what they want to write) and know how to form letters, spell and punctuate correctly.

Handwriting instruction will start at the beginning of reception, alongside phonics, and continue throughout the reception year and beyond. The guidance explains that pupils should not be expected to produce extended pieces of writing. Rather they should be given plenty of opportunities to practise handwriting and spelling, write dictated sentences and develop oral composition.

The Writing Framework explains that writing depends on articulating and structuring ideas, which the national curriculum refers to as composition. It recommends that the best way to teach pupils to write is by teaching them to master sentences. Sentence-level teaching, which focuses on pupils’ understanding about how to construct sentences, is a key component of our writing curriculum. The guidance highlights that, in the early stages of learning to write, sentence-level composition should be practised orally. Once pupils have a good understanding of how to write a sentence, paragraphs can be composed with much greater ease.

At Bankfields Primary, teachers are proactive in identifying when pupils need support in an aspect of writing and, recognising limited capacity, that they provide support within the writing lesson to ensure pupils’ progress. By having a sound knowledge of the pedagogy of teaching writing, teachers respond flexibly to the challenges particular pupils face. When pupils need further support, teachers focus on understanding the specific barriers they face with writing, ensuring they are taught in a way that is accessible for them and enables them to make progress.

Teachers at Bankfields Primary ensure children have sufficient knowledge and background information of topics to support them in the writing process. Staff take ownership of planning and resourcing, ensuring lessons are adapted and responsive to meet the needs of all children. Children will have the opportunity to write for sustained periods most days through mini-writing lessons focused on the different elements linked to a writing genre and they will develop the skills to talk and present their writing in positive and constructive ways.

Three Stage Writing Process
There are three stages to the writing process:
Stage 1 – The Investigation Stage
Stage 2 – Teaching and Collaboration Stage
Stage 3 – Show Me Stage

Stage 1 – The Investigation Stage

• The class will discuss the genre, audience and purpose of the text. Teachers will share model texts, and the class will analyse the text.
• In addition, children will explore a range of other texts within the genre including examples that the teacher has written. This may include examples that have different purposes, audiences.
• Children will explore techniques, discuss preferences giving reasons why and make reasoned judgements on effectiveness. They will explore techniques used in reading and writing in greater depth such as, facts and opinions, chronology, making predictions, summarisation, authorial intent, inference and the expression of feelings.
• The class will explore other genres and writing opportunities that cross over into the unit being taught. Children will be taught to read as writers, collecting ambitious words and phrases along the way in vocabulary books.

Stage 2 – Teaching and Collaboration

• Modelled and shared writing will ensure that children have examples of what a great piece looks like. Teacher led instruction through the teaching model: I do, we do, you do or shared, guided, independent will build confident and creative writers across school.
• This is done through mini lessons, where a different component of the writing is taught each day. Taking examples of children’s work and identifying strengths and making improvements.
• Focusing on different elements each day through short writing pieces e.g. setting the scene, character description, introductions, conclusions, argument for and against, presenting evidence, development of points.
• Bringing in other genres that link for opportunities for shorter pieces of writing.
• Editing and improving short pieces.
• Extending vocabulary on working walls.
• Drama, discussions, hot seating, marketplace research activities.

Stage 3 – Show Me Stage

• Box planning for final piece.
• Children have a range of options to choose from linked to the project area.
• Children write their sustained piece of writing linked to the given genre.