Writing
“Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savour their songs.” – Nelson Mandela
What do we want for our children?
The study of English develops children’s ability to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of audiences and purposes. It is our desire that through our English curriculum children at Preston Park develop and maintain a life-long relationship with reading. Reading is power and ignites a love of learning in our children. It enables them to be curious in what they know and learn, and to be confident. Reading will aid our children to broaden their horizons and encourage them to take risks.
Since 2022, we have been following a teaching for mastery curriculum in English. Promoted by the Department for Education since 2015, this is largely based around employing approaches that help children to develop a deep and secure knowledge and understanding of the English language. Year on year they will acquire mastery in their understanding of the underlying structure and rules of spoken English, reading and writing, including style, genre, spelling, punctuation and grammar.
At our school, we support all children to make effective progress in English. Through purposeful models specific to our intent, all children will develop a richer vocabulary, enabling them to articulate themselves clearly and are equipped with the necessary social skills to succeed in life.
Fostering reflective and critical thinking means that all children can enhance their understanding through questioning and are empowered to be information literate. A focus on spoken language and comprehension will strengthen their understanding further and create more independent, civically engaged members of society.
We recognise the importance of cultivating a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We want to inspire children to be confident in the arts of speaking and listening and able to use discussion to develop their learning. We believe that a thorough grasp of literacy skills is crucial to a high-quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society. Our writing curriculum aims to develop the ambitious and articulate author that exists in each and every one of our children.
Children are enabled to express themselves creatively and imaginatively as they become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories, poetry, drama, as well as of non-fiction and media texts. Children gain an understanding of how language works by looking at its patterns, structures and origins. Children use their knowledge, skills and understanding in speaking and writing across a range of different situations.
How do we deliver this effectively?
Writing is taught through a well-considered and refined sequence where children learn the content and features of a model text linked to the purpose and genre they are focusing on. Fluency with the sentence structures and content is well-practised before children apply their learning in a new piece of writing, where they can demonstrate their newly-found proficiency. Each year group begins the teaching of writing by focusing on the key skills which we expect children to master. These are rigorously taught and practised so that children develop fluency with these skills.
All of our writing is driven through a love and exploration of high-quality texts. Texts are read and re-read, and children learn how to become authors themselves, writing for a wide range of audiences and purposes in order to entertain, inform, persuade, and express feelings.
Writing is a creative process which can set the children’s imaginations alight. Teachers model how to capture these ideas using the key skills, in addition to always inspiring children to use more ambitious vocabulary and sentence structures. This leads to very high-quality outcomes of which both teachers and children are rightly very proud.
We expect children to have very high standards of presentation in their writing and teach a cursive style of handwriting. We teach spelling to build on children’s foundational knowledge and understanding of phonics. Children learn the spelling patterns and rules which they must apply to increasingly ambitious vocabulary.
What does this look for our children?
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
We deliver English using Pie Corbett’s Talk for Writing approach. By focussing on the oral retelling of various text types, familiar structures become fully embedded in the long-term memory so that the children can later apply these structures to their own writing whilst developing the language techniques taught for the particular area of focus.
In EYFS, Tales Toolkit is used alongside Talk for Writing to encourage the independent invention of stories using a simple, familiar and repetitive structure. Both approaches are used within the provision – enabling the opportunity for independent invention – and through focussed writing practise, where children together learn a model text and work through an innovation stage to re-create a similar but adapted story.
Writing is also taught through the Prime Areas of Communication and Language and Physical Development and the Specific Area of Literacy. Within these areas, aspects of learning are enabled within the environment: The aspect of listening and attention is enabled through activities such as: making up alliterative jingles and drawing attention to the similarities in sounds at the beginning of words while emphasising the initial sound; listening carefully to different speech sounds; being aware of different voice sounds by using a mirror to see what their mouth and tongue do as they make different sounds; singing or saying rhymes and talking about the similarities in the rhyming words; making up alternative endings and encouraging children to supply the last word of the second line; listening areas where children can enjoy rhymes and stories; listening to stories with repeated refrains, dances and action songs involving looking and pointing, and songs that require replies and turn-taking; regular short periods when individuals listen to others, such as singing a short song, sharing an experience or describing something they have seen or done and using sand timers to help extend concentration for children who find it difficult to focus their attention on a task.
Key Stage One (Years One and Two)
| Year One | Year Two | |
| Autumn Term |
Non-chronological reports Narrative (retell and innovation) Poetry Day |
Non-chronological reports Narrative (retell and innovation) Character descriptions Letters
|
| Spring Term |
Instructions Narrative (retell) Action narrative (innovation) Personal recount Speech writing |
Fantasy narrative Diaries Personal recount Narrative (retell, first person) |
| Summer Term |
Letters Diaries Personal recount Older literature (retell) Narrative (retell and innovation) |
Personal recount Instructions Fantasy narrative Setting descriptions Character descriptions |
Lower Key Stage Two (Years Three and Four)
| Year Three | Year Four | |
| Autumn Term |
Non-chronological reports Setting descriptions Narrative (retell) Diaries Historical narratives Personal recount |
Non-chronological reports Setting descriptions Narrative (retell) Stories that raise issues and dilemmas Letters |
| Spring Term |
Adventure narratives Setting descriptions Character descriptions Letters Persuasive letters Stories that raise issues and dilemmas |
Stories set in imaginary worlds Diaries Older literature (retell) Play scripts |
| Summer Term |
Non-chronological reports Diaries Explanation texts |
Myths and legends Older literature (retell) Setting descriptions Character descriptions Persuasive speech |
Upper Key Stage Two (Years Five and Six)
| Year Five | Year Six | |
| Autumn Term |
Non-chronological reports Letters Newspaper reports Setting descriptions Character descriptions Short stories Narrative (innovation) |
Non-chronological reports Setting descriptions Character descriptions Diaries Historical narrative Explanation text |
| Spring Term |
Stories set in imaginary worlds Stories from other cultures Personal recounts |
Suspense narrative Balanced arguments Formal persuasive letter Setting descriptions Character descriptions Diaries Older literature (short story) |
| Summer Term |
Stories that raise issues and dilemmas Newspaper reports Older literature (short story) Science fiction narrative Persuasive letters |
Personal recount Short stories Newspaper reports Diaries Setting descriptions Character descriptions |
Progression in Skills and Understanding
We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in literacy which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. Teachers therefore plan ensuring a model of progression is sustained throughout school. In this way, children progressively develop their writing of different genres year on year, building on and deepening their writing skills. Our long-term plans ensure a range of fiction and non-fiction genres year on year which may be influenced by the core text and/or other curriculum learning. Medium-term plans are written for all learning journeys. Teachers will use their subject knowledge about the end of year expectations for the year group they teach, alongside our ‘Progression in Writing Document’ to ensure pitch is high. Model texts should always be aspirational; they should demonstrate the level of writing expected from the children whilst exposing them to the higher standard and a range of writerly tools which are specific to the writing focus.
How does our Writing curriculum contribute to and develop our 21st Century learners?
The impact on our children is that they have the knowledge and skills to be able to write successfully for a purpose and audience. With the implementation of the writing sequence being established and taught in both key stages, children are becoming more confident writers and have the ability to plan, draft and edit their own work. By the end of key stage 2, children have developed a writer’s craft, they enjoy sustained writing and can manipulate language, grammar and punctuation to create effect.
As all aspects of English are an integral part of the curriculum, cross curricular writing standards have also improved and skills taught in the English lesson are transferred into other subjects; this shows consolidation of skills and a deeper understanding of how and when to use specific language, grammar and punctuation.
We strive to ensure that all children meet the ‘Expected Standard’ and ‘Greater Depth Standard’ at the end of Key Stage 2.
Research
Research frames our thinking in what we teach and how we deliver it to our children to ensure teaching and learning has maximum impact.
Please see references to the research linked above:
[1] https://clpe.org.uk/system/files/Writing%20in%20Primary%20Schools_0.pdf
[3] https://www.talk4writing.com/
[4] https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/literacy-ks2
