WRITING
"Writing is the painting of the voice"
INTENT
At Prince Albert Primary School, we believe that a high-quality writing curriculum will equip our pupils with the language skills they will need for education and beyond. Our intention is to ensure every pupil becomes a confident writer and speaker by the time they leave our school. We aim for our pupils to be able to write coherently across a range of text types and for different audiences. We strive to promote and instil a love for writing into all pupils at all ages.
Our writing curriculum aims to develop the acquisition of knowledge and skills in line with the National Curriculum expectations and beyond. Writing is a key driver of our curriculum, allowing all pupils to unlock the power of language both spoken and written. It is designed to provide a relevant, progressive and well- structured curriculum which provides pupils with the opportunity to develop and master a broad range of skills.
IMPLEMENTATION LONG TERM OVERVIEW
At Prince Albert, we use the ‘I am a Clever Writer’ approach as a basis for teaching writing skills. We ensure our pupils write every day, practising newly taught skills discreetly before layering them with previously taught skills. We are dedicated to engrossing pupils in the writing process, giving them opportunities to write for a range of purposes. I am a Clever Writer is a 'clearly structured approach to teaching writing' where each strand of writing is broken down into small steps to allow pupils to experience success with their writing. Teaching sequences are carefully planned to ensure opportunities for consolidation and the development of skills. These strands are taught to match the curriculum for each year group, becoming increasingly complex over the course of the year as the pupils become more highly skilled and confident. Pupils are provided with meaningful contexts and purposes for writing, including writing from different perspectives.
Our teachers create their own modelled texts based on the stimulus text to model to the pupils how to include the identified features in their own writing. These are produced for both fiction and non-fiction sequences of learning. Teachers clearly model writing skills to ensure pupils achieve the best outcomes.
At the end of each sequence of lessons, which usually lasts around a week, the pupils take part in an extended writing activity on a text type. The different aspects of spelling, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary taught during the week should be evident in the pupil’s extended writing.
Throughout Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, stimuli from a range of sources such as videos, music, images, novels, picture books and extracts are used to enrich the writing process. As all aspects of writing are an integral part of The curriculum, cross-curricular writing opportunities are utilised to show consolidation of skills, progression and a deeper understanding of how and when to use specific grammar and punctuation skills.
In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), pupils are provided with opportunities to explore, learn and use words and text in a broad range of contexts, including through stories, role play and drama. A literacy rich environment is used as a stimulus to support pupils to write in a variety of contexts with as many ‘real-life’ experiences as possible.
Handwriting is given a high importance at our school. Pupils are introduced to the individual letters and rigorously taught correct formation from the very beginning of their time in school. As pupils progress through school, there is an increasing focus on fluency, consistency and speed.
IMPACT
Progress is closely monitored by the subject leader and the senior leadership team through regular school monitoring activities. This is then used to inform next steps for pupils, staff development and the implementation of writing across the school.
At Prince Albert, our pupils are enthused about writing across a range of genres, can write for a range of purposes and audiences, and become confident and effective communicators. Pupils see themselves as writers, taking pride in their written work and developing their own ideas as creative writers. Pupils meet, or exceed, their potential, and we measure this against the age-related expectations for each year group. By the time pupils finish year 6, they have the skills to produce written work, in all areas of the curriculum, to a high standard.