Writing
The purpose of writing within the National Curriculum is to ensure that pupils can write fluently, so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others. The National Curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge for writing and that they can write clearly and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.
Intent
At Bloxwich Academy Primary, we understand the importance of all children becoming competent writers, as it is a skill that is required to meet the demands of everyday life – to construct job applications, letters, emails, making lists and notes, participating in social media, just a few of the day-to-day tasks of being a member of the civilised world in which we live. Our children are taught the skills that are necessary for them to be able to communicate effectively in the written form.
Our approach to the teaching of writing enables the children to understand the range of thought processes they need to go through when constructing their writing, including ideas, plans and drafts, spelling and grammar. We also teach our children the importance of proof reading and editing their work so that they ensure they are communicating both effectively and coherently with their intended audience. It is essential that our children develop a love for writing and an appreciation of its educational, cultural and entertainment values.
Overview
Writing is taught daily within each year group from Years 1-6 and as part of the continuous provision on offer in EYFS.
Our writing content is based upon the Cornerstones topics. The overall aim is for the children to use the knowledge they have gained within their Cornerstones topics for History, Geography, Science, Art and DT as a basis for the content of their writing, therefore being able to concentrate on the writing skills during their writing lessons, such as sentence types, grammar and vocabulary used for effect. The Cornerstones projects are exciting and motivating for our children. They provoke thought, imagination and creativity and ultimately provide our children with knowledge that they can use within the content of their writing.
Progression Skills
The National Curriculum has expectations set for each phase (KS1, Y3/4, Y5/6) of the child’s journey throughout primary school. We have designed a writing tracker which enables teachers to assess children within specific objectives for each year group. This tracker details non-negotiables for the year group content, objectives that meet the expected standard and objectives that meet the greater depth standard. This assessment tracker can be used to identify gaps in pupils’ learning and informs future planning to address these.
