Writing

Purpose of the Curriculum

At Smith’s Wood Primary School, Literacy is an essential part of our learning every day. The purpose of our Literacy curriculum is for children to have an abundance of opportunities to write in a variety of different genres, as well as showcasing their own personal flair for writing.

Each week, daily lessons lead to an extended piece of writing on a Friday. This extended write is an opportunity for the children to encompass everything they have learnt so far, as well as use features appropriate for the specific genre of writing they have looked at that week.

Teachers at Smith’s Wood Primary School encourage creativity and provide exciting and engaging stimuli for writing. Both texts, as well as visual Literacy, are used to engross children with their weekly writing projects. Many of these writing stimuli also link to topics which are taught in those year groups. For example, in year 3, ‘The Jungle Book’ is used to inspire writing during their Rainforests topic, using both clips from the movie, and extracts from the book. In addition, ‘How To Train A Dragon’ is used in year 4 alongside their Vikings topic; using clips from the movie and the book to enthuse children’s writing.

Each half term, children are assessed on a piece of writing. Throughout the year, children participate in three year group led writing assessments, and three whole school writing assessments. These whole school writing assessments are thoughtfully planned, and again, use visual literacy to help inspire them. For example, during Autumn 2, a variety of Christmas adverts are used as a stimulus for the assessments.

Every term, writing moderation meetings are held internally at Smith’s Wood Primary School, whereby we ensure that children are where they need to be at that point in the year. As well as this, each year group has the opportunity to externally moderate their Literacy work throughout the year. This allows teachers the opportunity to discuss children’s extended pieces of writing, and talk over whether those children are meeting age related expectations.

Aim of the Curriculum

(What does the Writing curriculum aim to ensure all pupils know or can do?)

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.

Key Stage 1 Curriculum Overview

Year 1

Pupils’ writing during year 1 will generally develop at a slower pace than their reading. This is because they need to encode the sounds they hear in words (spelling skills), develop the physical skill needed for handwriting, and learn how to organise their ideas in writing.

Pupils entering year 1 who have not yet met the early learning goals for literacy should continue to follow their school’s curriculum for the Early Years Foundation Stage to develop their word reading, spelling and language skills. However, these pupils should follow the year 1 programme of study in terms of the books they listen to and discuss, so that they develop their vocabulary and understanding of grammar, as well as their knowledge more generally across the curriculum.

Year 2

In writing, pupils at the beginning of year 2 should be able to compose individual sentences orally and then write them down. They should be able to spell correctly many of the words covered in year 1 (see English Appendix 1). They should also be able to make phonically plausible attempts to spell words they have not yet learnt. Finally, they should be able to form individual letters correctly, so establishing good handwriting habits from the beginning.

Key Stage 2 Curriculum Overview

Year 3/4

Pupils should be able to write down their ideas with a reasonable degree of accuracy and with good sentence punctuation. Teachers should therefore be consolidating pupils’ writing skills, their vocabulary, their grasp of sentence structure and their knowledge of linguistic terminology. Teaching them to develop as writers involves teaching them to enhance the effectiveness of what they write as well as increasing their competence. Teachers should make sure that pupils build on what they have learnt, particularly in terms of the range of their writing and the more varied grammar, vocabulary and narrative structures from which they can draw to express their ideas. Pupils should be beginning to understand how writing can be different from speech. Joined handwriting should be the norm; pupils should be able to use it fast enough to keep pace with what they want to say.

Year 5/6:

Pup Pupils should be able to write down their ideas quickly. Their grammar and punctuation should be broadly accurate. Pupils’ spelling of most words taught so far should be accurate and they should be able to spell words that they have not yet been taught by using what they have learnt about how spelling works in English.

During years 5 and 6, teachers should continue to emphasise pupils’ enjoyment and understanding of language, especially vocabulary, to support their reading and writing. Pupils’ knowledge of language, gained from stories, plays, poetry, non-fiction and textbooks, will support their increasing fluency as readers, their facility as writers, and their comprehension. As in years 3 and 4, pupils should be taught to enhance the effectiveness of their writing as well as their competence.

Key Stage 1 Objectives

Year 1

Composition:

Write sentences by:

saying out loud what they are going to write about
composing a sentence orally before writing it
sequencing sentences to form short narratives
re-reading what they have written to check that it makes sense
discuss what they have written with the teacher or other pupils
read aloud their writing clearly enough to be heard by their peers and the teacher.

Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation:

develop their understanding of the concepts set out in English Appendix 2 by:
leaving spaces between words
joining words and joining clauses using and
beginning to punctuate sentences using a capital letter and a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark
using a capital letter for names of people, places, the days of the week, and the personal pronoun ‘I’
learning the grammar for year 1 in English Appendix 2
use the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 in discussing their writing.

Key Stage 2 OBJECTIVES

Year 3/4

Composition:

Plan their writing by:

discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar
discussing and recording ideas
draft and write by:
composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures (English Appendix 2)
organising paragraphs around a theme
in narratives, creating settings, characters and plot
in non-narrative material, using simple organisational devices [for example, headings and sub-headings]
evaluate and edit by:
assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements
proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences
proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors
read aloud their own writing, to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear.

Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation:

develop their understanding of the concepts set out in English Appendix 2 by:
extending the range of sentences with more than one clause by using a wider range of conjunctions, including when, if, because, although
using the present perfect form of verbs in contrast to the past tense
choosing nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity and cohesion and to avoid repetition
using conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to express time and cause
using fronted adverbials
learning the grammar for years 3 and 4 in English Appendix 2
indicate grammatical and other features by:
using commas after fronted adverbials
indicating possession by using the possessive apostrophe with plural nouns
using and punctuating direct speech
use and understand the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 accurately and appropriately when discussing their writing and reading.

Year 5/6

Composition

Plan their writing by:

identifying the audience for and purpose of the writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for their own
noting and developing initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary
in writing narratives, considering how authors have developed characters and settings in what pupils have read, listened to or seen performed
draft and write by:
selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning
in narratives, describing settings, characters and atmosphere and integrating dialogue to convey character and advance the action
précising longer passages
using a wide range of devices to build cohesion within and across paragraphs
using further organisational and presentational devices to structure text and to guide the reader [for example, headings, bullet points, underlining]

Evaluate and edit by:

assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing
proposing changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning
ensuring the consistent and correct use of tense throughout a piece of writing
ensuring correct subject and verb agreement when using singular and plural, distinguishing between the language of speech and writing and choosing the appropriate register
proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors

Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

Develop their understanding of the concepts set out in English Appendix 2 by:

recognising vocabulary and structures that are appropriate for formal speech and writing, including subjunctive forms
using passive verbs to affect the presentation of information in a sentence
using the perfect form of verbs to mark relationships of time and cause
using expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely
using modal verbs or adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility
using relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that or with an implied (i.e. omitted) relative pronoun
learning the grammar for years 5 and 6 in English Appendix 2

Indicate grammatical and other features by:

using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing
using hyphens to avoid ambiguity
using brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis
using semi-colons, colons or dashes to mark boundaries between independent clauses
using a colon to introduce a list
punctuating bullet points consistently
use and understand the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 accurately and appropriately in discussing their writing and reading.