Our Writing Story

At Old Clee Academy, we aim to build happy, confident and resilient Writers!

National Curriculum Intent

The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written language, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
• use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate

Our Intent

We intend for the pupils of Old Clee Primary Academy to have the desire to write and see the value and beauty in the written word. It is our aim that pupils will develop into independent and imaginative writers who can communicate their thoughts, opinions and ideas in written form. We want our pupils to write with confidence, clarity and accuracy as well as with purpose and emotion. Pupils will be able to apply their writing skills across the curriculum and will be inspired to write in a range of subjects. Throughout their learning at our school, pupils will be given the opportunity to write for a range of purposes and audiences within a variety of contexts.

At Old Clee Primary Academy, we aim for our pupils to:

• Enjoy their writing experience and be inspired to write independently.
• Use what they have read or listened to in books as stimulus and inspiration for their writing.
• Apply a wide and rich vocabulary that they have acquired from a range of subjects and topics.
• Be able to write for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences in an engaging manner.
• Use the most accurate form of English grammar and the most appropriate register for the writing task.
• Be able to use joined, legible handwriting.
• Apply spelling rules and patterns accurately, making phonetically plausible attempts with ambitious vocabulary.

We teach writing in a progressive manner from EYFS to Year 6 with our key aims in writing being:

• To use a wide variety of writing styles and genres, so pupils can communicate effectively in written forms.
• To practice their handwriting and other presentational skills.
• To appreciate how speaking and listening, reading and writing are integrated.
• To develop their ability to communicate orally for a range of purposes and audiences.
• To become confident, thoughtful and enthusiastic readers who read for pleasure.

Our Implementation

Every morning, our pupils will have writing lessons within their daily English learning which includes handwriting, Sphonics and a ‘No Nonsense Literacy’ text. In addition to this, children are given many opportunities to apply their writing skills across the wider curriculum.

In EYFS, children begin their writing journey and learn the foundations of written English. Through adult-led Talk For Writing sessions, children learn letter formations and the fundamental skills of writing. Within continuous provision areas, there are a varied range of engaging mark-making and writing opportunities provided for the children. Our children are encouraged to regularly engage with writing and all staff work incredibly hard to inspire a desire to write in all children.

In order to build upon the writing foundations, writing lessons in KS1 and KS2 can take many forms and structures, depending on the nature of the task and the stage of the writing process. Writing teaching sequences centre on an engaging stimulus or concept which will often be a high-quality book or an intriguing picture/video from ‘No Nonsense Literacy’. Children learn to continue their development of fundamental writing skills and advance upon these skills as they progress through school. They do so through the creation of shorter pieces as well as extended pieces of writing which generally run over a two or three week period in order for children to fully immerse themselves in the book and writing process.

As part of the writing sequence, children learn how to plan their ideas, draft their writing, review their own work and the work of their peers and make consequential edits and redrafts. On some occasions, our pupils are then able to publish their pieces of work and will be given further opportunities to apply the specific writing skills learned in the different writing genres.

When planning, drafting and editing their work, children learn to base their ‘writerly knowledge’ on the context, audience and purpose of the writing. Children are taught grammatical concepts within the writing process through the ‘No Nonsense Literacy’ units and are then expected to apply these aspects of English to their own extended pieces completed in the final week of writing.

As a school, we combine different approaches to the teaching and learning of writing and adapt these to suit the needs and interests of our children. ‘No Nonsense Literacy’ is our main approach to writing that we utilise, in which the children learn the text, practise the text and write independently over a two or three week period in order to fully immerse them within the book. We have implemented this to enable children to complete a selection of reading and writing tasks all based around a high-quality text. This has been further enhanced by our recent journey towards becoming a thinking school. Metacognition underpins everything that we do at Old Clee. We aim to develop creative thinkers, resilient problem solvers and reflective questioners who are equipped with the skills and knowledge to make a positive impact in the world around them.

Grammar/Spelling

For occasions when teachers believe children would benefit from the discrete teaching of grammatical concepts in order to ensure full coverage aside from the grammar covered within ‘No Nonsense Literacy’, we deliver one grammar lesson a week. This is adapted to the children’s needs by the class teacher to aid the children’s learning.

Handwriting

Our children in EYFS focus on learning the correct formation of lower-case and upper-case letters. This is absolutely crucial for children to then be able to progress onto a joined, legible and fluid handwriting style.

The children in KS1 and KS2 follow the ‘Letter-join’ scheme. Teachers use this scheme to help children learn a cursive, joined handwriting style. Children learn when to join and when not to join letters as well as the formation of all letters in a cursive style. Letter-join is an interactive approach to handwriting, incorporating the opportunities to practise on the interactive whiteboards, on iPads and in their books. Pupils are taught the different handwriting letter families to support them with their formation.

Our Impact

The impact of the teaching and learning of writing at Old Clee Primary Academy will create independent and inspired writers, who display a desire to create original pieces of text in response to a range of stimuli.

• Children will have regular opportunities to write, using and adapting ideas, vocabulary and structures from texts and authors/writers they have studied.
• They will be able to write fiction, non-fiction and poetry, spanning a range of genres.
• When given a stimulus, children will be able to follow the writing process of planning, drafting and editing/redrafting.
• Pupils will have mastered the fundamental skills that underpin writing, at their level, and will be able to manipulate these to fit the context, audience and purpose of the text.
• Within their writing, children will use the most appropriate and accurate form of English grammar, punctuation and spelling.
• Children will write with a joined, cursive handwriting style, which is legible and fluid.
• Writing stamina will have increased for children as they progress through school, leading to pupils who can create extended pieces of text.

This impact will be seen through work recorded in children’s books and work on display around school. Writing impact will also be measured in relation to end of key stage standards across school.

Example of children Peer Assessing

Example of Progression in Writing

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Each year group will focus on a weekly KIRF (Key Instant Recall Fact), which focuses on the curriculum objectives in SPaG to ensure that all skills are spiralised throughout the year and deepened with each re-visit.  There has been a higher focus on teaching SPaG objectives and teaching the application of these skills during the writing process. Teachers will promote the application of our SPaG objectives in all curriculum lessons.

Example of Progression in SPaG

Priorities in Writing for 2023-24

• To ensure staff are confident with using the ‘No Nonsense Literacy’ writing units across the Academy. Staff have had training sessions and now need to complete the sequences ensuring they are tailored to the needs of their class and will produce a high quality piece of independent writing by the end of the 2 or 3 week unit.
• To use the new Long Term Plan for coverage across fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Staff will need to follow the document to ensure they have an appropriate level of coverage and range of genres over each term.
• To teach grammar skills through the ‘No Nonsense Literacy’ units where possible and teach any skills that aren’t covered discretely. Teachers need to be aware of the skills they are teaching over the year and any that aren’t covered through the units will need to be taught as a grammar lesson throughout each term.