Writing

St Mewan CP School - Writing 

 

2022 - 2023

 

Intent:

 

The ability to write enables us to communicate our hopes, needs and individuality with clarity; it is essential to our pupils’ academic learning, personal communications and expression of self. It is therefore essential to our pupils current and future academic success and an essential part of them communicating their needs. Without the ability to write, we can limit pupils aspirations, achievements and positive mental health.  Therefore, we prioritise the teaching of writing from the moment children join our school in Nursery or Reception. We follow the Jane Considine ‘The Write Stuff’ approach to writing from Reception, which is based on reliable research-based pedagogy and aligns with the EEF guidance for the teaching or writing in the early years and primary phases. Our intent in our teaching of writing is that as soon as children join the school they begin to develop the foundational skills of writing which include high-quality speaking and listening opportunities; explicit vocabulary instruction and development; exposure to and exploration of high-quality, diverse texts of different genres; developing the gross and fine motor skills required for mark-making and eventually transcription; and explicit phonic instruction (using the RWI approach) to develop the ability to spell and write words clearly, as well as creative and immersive play and stimuli to engage and encourage young writers. Throughout the school we then continue to develop these skills, in the ways mentioned below, so that our pupils can become creative and functional writers of a variety of texts types and forms. Our aim is that every child, regardless of background and start-point, leave our school able to write clearly, confidently and effectively for a variety of purposes, audiences and text types. We aim to give out pupils, the knowledge and skills to be effective writers and the understanding of how to employ these skills effectively to be a successful writer. Our curriculum enables us to deliver the National Curriculum in writing in a way that challenges the most able and supports those with less literacy skill when the join us. We hope to inspire our children to not just see writing as a means to an end but something they are passionate about and can use to reach their full potential whether this be in a writing-based industry or an industry that just makes use of writing. We aim to develop writers who can share who they are and what they want to say.

 

Implementation:

 

Throughout our school the teaching of writing is delivered through the same core principles:

  •  High-quality texts and video stimuli for writing.
  •  Writing based on direct experience (we never ask children to write about something they have not experienced or explored in depth).
  •  High-quality modelled texts or WAGOLLS.
  •  Exploration of key features for each text ‘type’ (including grammar, punctuation register).
  •  Vocabulary development linked to the text, genre and purpose.
  •  Exploration of genre and purpose for every unit of work.
  •  Scaffolded writing units before independent units.
  •  Toolkits and success criteria in scaffolded writing.
  •  Self-generated plans and success criteria in independent writing.
  •  Independent writing following and linked to a scaffolded unit.
  •  Word level, sentence level and text level exploration and planning.
  •  Planning.
  •  Drafting.
  •  Editing and redrafting.
  •  Feedback that encourages individual application of learnt skills rather than passivity.
  •  Writing targets.
  •  Sharing of writing to an audience of some form.

This follows our CELT-wide approach to writing, which was written by our English lead who is the trust-wide English lead and a county moderator, as seen in the images at the bottom of this page.

Throughout our school the teaching of writing is delivered through the same core principles:

  •  High-quality texts and video stimuli for writing.
  •  Writing based on direct experience (we never ask children to write about something they have not experienced or explored in depth).
  •  High-quality modelled texts or WAGOLLS.
  •  Exploration of key features for each text ‘type’ (including grammar, punctuation register).
  •  Vocabulary development linked to the text, genre and purpose.
  •  Exploration of genre and purpose for every unit of work.
  •  Scaffolded writing units before independent units.
  •  Toolkits and success criteria in scaffolded writing.
  •  Self-generated plans and success criteria in independent writing.
  •  Independent writing following and linked to a scaffolded unit.
  •  Word level, sentence level and text level exploration and planning. 
  •  Planning.
  •  Drafting.
  •  Editing and redrafting.
  •  Feedback that encourages individual application of learnt skills rather than passivity.
  •  Writing targets.
  •  Sharing of writing to an audience of some form.

This follows our CELT-wide approach to writing, which was written by our English lead who is the trust-wide English lead and a county moderator.

 

Nursery:

 

In the nursery, we develop writing in the following ways:

  • Daily adult-led and independently accessed mark-making activities.
  • Daily adult-led and independently accessed fine-motor skills activities.
  • A writing area with phonic prompts
  • Deliver of the Nursery RWI approach from the summer term.
  • Texts selected with phonological awareness and high-quality vocabulary in mind to prepare children for writing.
  • Daily adult-led and independently accessed speaking and listening activities.
 

Reception:

 

In Reception, we develop writing in the following ways:

  • Daily adult-led and independently accessed fine-motor skills activities.
  • A writing area with phonic prompts.
  • Delivery of the RWI approach from the very beginning of reception (daily).
  • Daily exposure to a carefully mapped reading curriculum and texts carefully selected for stimuli for writing, both of which link to the wider curriculum and provide high-quality models and good-quality vocabulary. Writing units are ordered depending on the vocabulary used and how this aligns with pupils writing development (i.e. CVC words). 
  • Weekly guided writing tasks.
  • DFE and EEF backed Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) assessments using Language Screen, from the start of reception, in order to identify pupils with less development speaking and listening, narrative, phonological awareness and vocabulary skills. NELI intervention is then introduced for these pupils to maintain a ‘keep up not catch-up’ approach.
  • Gradual Introduction of the EYFS Write Stuff approach (as follows:) to meet the needs of our growing writers at their challenge point:
 

Autumn:

 

  •  RWI introduced including sound writing in books from the start.  
  •  NELI assessment from entry.
  •  RWI assessments in Week 3. From week 3 to Christmas, RWI is grouped across EYFS.
  •  Fast-track tutoring is introduced for phonics to maintain a ‘keep up not catch-up’ approach.
  •  Name writing (from Week 3 after an initial settling and observation period).
  •  Weekly guided writing ability-based tasks (linked to the RWI assessments done in Week 3).
  •  Daily writing lessons focussing on the introduction of Grandma Fantastic and her vocabulary focus using a combination of ‘The Write Stuff’ selected texts and the St Mewan Reading Curriculum selected texts.
  •  Independent mark making and fine motor skills activities available as part of daily continuous provision including adult-led activities.
  •  NELI groups as required.
 

 Spring:

 

  • RWI is now delivered in homogenous groups across KS1 and EYFS. Set 1 groups (ABD) include fine motor skills intervention. Set 2 groups include handwriting.
  • Fast-track tutoring continues for any child falling behind.
  • Daily modelled CVC Fred Talk writing activities at the start of the day.
  • Weekly guided writing ability-based tasks (linked to the RWI assessments).
  • Daily writing lessons continue with Grandma Fantastic’s vocabulary focus in the delivery of ‘The Write Stuff’ and introduce ‘The Write Stuff’ plot points and lenses.
  • Independent writing in continuous provision including words and simple sentences (child-led)
  • Fine motor skills groups taking place daily.
  • Handwriting intervention commences for those children teachers have identified as needing additional support.
  • NELI groups as required.
 

Summer:

 

  • RWI continues as in the Spring.
  • Fast-track tutoring continues for any child falling behind.
  • Daily modelled simple sentences writing activities using Fred Talk at the start of the day.  
  • Weekly guided writing ability-based tasks (linked to the RWI assessments) using the Write Stuff texts. 
  • Daily writing lessons using ‘The Write Stuff’ continue with Grandma Fantastic’s vocabulary focus, plot points and lenses. Meaningful moments are also introduced so ‘The Write Stuff’ EYFS model is running in full.
  • Fine motor skills groups continue to take place daily.
  • Handwriting intervention continues for those children teachers have identified as needing additional support.
  • NELI groups as required.

 

Year 1:

 

 

We transition pupils gradually from the continuous provision model in Reception to the more formal structured learning of KS1 over the Summer term. Writing in year 1 develops as part of this as follows:

 

Autumn:

 

  • RWI continue daily in homogenous groups,
  • Fast-track tutoring continues for those not progressing at the expected rate.  
  • Daily writing lessons following the EYFS ‘The Write Stuff model’.
  • Handwriting intervention as required.
  • Daily handwriting time and weekly handwriting sessions with direct instruction.
  • NELI groups as required.

 

Spring:

 

  • RWI continue daily in homogenous groups,
  • Fast-track tutoring continues for those not progressing at the expected rate. 
  • Daily writing lessons begin to transition to the KS1 model, but continue to use Grandma Fantastic to maintain an explicit focus on vocabulary. Initially one plot point a day is covered, then two, working towards 3 in the summer.
  • Handwriting intervention as required.
  • Daily handwriting time and weekly handwriting sessions with direct instruction.
  • NELI groups as required.
  • In year 1, we focus on the following ‘The Write Stuff’ lenses:

 

Summer:

 

  • RWI continue daily in homogenous groups,
  • Fast-track tutoring continues for those not progressing at the expected rate. 
  • Daily writing lessons follow the KS1 ‘The Write Stuff model’ incorporating Grandma Fantastic to maintain an explicit focus on vocabulary.
  • Handwriting intervention as required.
  • Daily handwriting time and weekly handwriting sessions with direct instruction.
  • NELI groups as required.
  • In year 1, we focus on the following ‘The Write Stuff’ lenses:

o   The Fantastics: Feeling, Asking, Noticing, Touching, Action, Smelling, Tasting, Imagining, Checking/Hearing

o   The Grammaristics: Basics, Purpose, Paragraphs (as required), Past & present tense, and Punctuation (appropriate to year 1).

o   The Boomtastics: Onomatopoeia, Alliteration, Rhyme, Repetition.

 

Year 2:

 

By Year 2, children are accessing ‘The Write Stuff’ format in full without the use of Grandma fantastic to raise the profile of vocabulary, however a focus on vocabulary is maintained at an age-appropriate level. Pupils complete ‘The Write Stuff’ scaffolded and independent units during the Autumn term after which they switch to a focus on producing lots of independent writing (in preparation for moderation in the Summer) using visits, trips and cross-curricular experiences as a stimulus for writing.

In Year 2, we focus on the following ‘The Write Stuff’ lenses:

  • The Fantastics: Feeling, Asking, Noticing, Touching, Action, Smelling, Tasting, Imagining, Checking/Hearing
  • The Grammaristics: Adverbs, Basics, Dialogue & contracted forms, Purpose, Paragraphs (as required), Past & present tense, and Punctuation (appropriate to year 2).
  • The Boomtastics: Onomatopoeia, Alliteration, Rhyme, Repetition.

 

Years 3 -5:

 

In Years 3-5 we following ‘The Write Stuff’ model in full, aiming to complete a balance of fiction and non-fiction pieces across the year, as well as a poetry unit in each academic year. The Write stuff provides a spiral curriculum which revisits lenses and key skills in writing (grammar, punctuation, spelling, word level, sentence level and text level work) across the whole school to consolidate skills, apply them to new contexts and connect concepts in writing.

In Year 3, we focus on the following ‘The Write Stuff’ lenses:

  • The Fantastics: Feeling, Asking, Noticing, Touching, Action, Smelling, Tasting, Imagining, Checking/Hearing
  • The Grammaristics: Adverbs, Basics, Dialogue & contracted forms, Purpose, Paragraphs, Past & present tense, and Punctuation (appropriate to year 3).
  • The Boomtastics: Onomatopoeia, Alliteration, Rhyme, Repetition, Simile and Metaphor (appropriate Year 3).

In Year 4, we focus on the following ‘The Write Stuff’ lenses:

  • The Fantastics: Feeling, Asking, Noticing, Touching, Action, Smelling, Tasting, Imagining, Checking/Hearing
  • The Grammaristics: Adverbs, Basics, Complex sentences (basic level non-terminology specific), Dialogue & contracted forms, Purpose, Paragraphs, Past & present tense, and Punctuation (appropriate to year 4).
  • The Boomtastics: Onomatopoeia, Alliteration, Rhyme, Repetition, Simile, Metaphor (appropriate Year 4) and Personification.

In Year 5, we explore ALL ‘The Write Stuff’ lenses.

 

Year 6:

 

 

In Year 6 we focus on building on the scaffolded units and teaching delivered across the school to develop more independent writers, ready for Year 6 moderation and secondary education. Units of writing are linked to other curricular learning and follow a similar approach to ‘The Write Stuff’ but with less explicit scaffolding, so that writing can be deemed independent for moderation. Writing follows the same approach set out in the CELT moderation guidance above and progresses from experience of stimuli to vocabulary collection, sentence level work to text level work. Drafting is always completed before editing and redrafting. There are opportunities for feedback and development throughout, but this is focussed on independent application. In the Autumn term, there is a heavy focus on the grammar and punctuation that underpins writing and understanding how to apply this properly to meet audience and purpose. We also spend a lot of time on teaching explicit editing strategies that pupils can then use independently.

Please see the St Mewan Reading and Writing Overviews for further details on the texts and units we have selected for our curriculum to ensure that during their time with us pupils learn to write for a variety of purposes and audiences.

 

Intervention and extension:

 

  • Children in Year 4 upwards, who have significant gaps in their reading and writing, are assessed for ‘Freshstart’. This is usually for children who have joined us later in the school or more recently, who have gaps in their learning as a result of COVID. Those identified as needing this provision, take part in daily Freshstart Reading and Writing lessons, matched to their assessments until they have completed the programme. When they complete the programme, they re-join whole class reading and writing lessons, which may be delivered using adaptive teaching for a short period to enable them to reintegrated into class. However, this will be closely related to whole class teaching and learning in reading and writing and will include teaching and support provided by the class teacher. 
  • Handwriting interventions are targeted at those requiring them across the school as required.
  • Phonological awareness interventions are provided for those not progressing with phonic learning even after Fresh start tutoring.
  • Pupils are grouped by ability for spelling in KS2.
  • Fine motor skills resources such as thicker pens or pencils, pencil grips, hand-strengthening balls etc are provided for those identified as needing them and assessed for need by the English lead.
  • Writers are invited in to school to talk about the writing process and becoming a writer.
  • A writing club is provided in Year 6 for those with a passion for and skill in writing.
 

SPAG:

 

Spelling:

 

 

  • Throughout EYFS and KS1, children are taught to spell phonetically. Alongside this they are also taught ‘red words’ which are common exception words they just need to learn as they don’t follow phonetic patterns. In addition, in year 1 and 2, children have weekly spelling lists and a short period of spelling instruction, revisiting the words from the statutory Year 1 spelling list in year 1 and teaching the Year 2 spelling rules using the RWI spelling videos in Year 2. These spellings re then ‘dropped in’ or drawn attention to during writing opportunities that week.
  • In KS2, children are assessed annually for spelling progress, using the RWI Spelling assessments and are grouped by ability for spelling. They are then taught spelling at their challenge point weekly, through a spelling investigation format, that follows a mastery approach where pupils are encouraged to explore spelling patterns to establish the focus spelling role for themselves. This is then taught and becomes the focus for their spelling learning for the week.
  • Spelling errors are identified in work and children are encouraged to action these for themselves. Where a word is displayed on the wall or forms one of our ‘expected’ spellings for that phase, an orange dot indicates that children should find and correct this for themselves. This reduces passivity in spelling correction and encouraged pupils to actively engage in identifying their own errors.

The spelling curriculum follows the RWI spelling structure but staff in KS2 are encouraged to use the strategies below to ensure that the morphology and etymology of words as well as their phonics are considered in greater detail. Spelling lesson structure:  

Explore 

Pupils are posed a hypothesis or given an investigation in order to explore the spelling rule or pattern for the week. 

Dissect  

Words are displayed and dissected using a stage and rule appropriate method which could include:   

  • Dots and dashes  
  • Highlighting/underlining parts of words to segment them. This could include looking at:    
  • suffixes and prefixes and/or the sounds they proceed/follow  
  • investigating root words  
  • compound words  
  • exploring double of letters  

This will also include a discussion of word definitions and word families.   

Teach  

The results of the investigation are shared and pupils are explicitly taught the rules and pattern for the week. The rule of the week is recorded on the spelling wall and modelled with a couple of the words from the weekly list.   

Spell 

The teacher reads out the words from the weekly list clearly and slowly and pupils use their phonic sound charts to attempt to spell them in their spelling journals using the rules and patterns they have explored.  

Check  

Pupils use ticks and circles to check their work and identify areas of focus for the week. Ticks for a correct letter/sound and circles for errors.  

Select 

 

Pupils identify words they need to focus on in their in-school and at-home spelling practice that week. They may highlight them in their handbook and on the ‘focus’ pages of their spelling and vocab book with the date.  

 

This follows metacognitive scaffolding procedures (activating prior knowledge – explicit instruction – modelling – memorisation – guided practice – independent practice - reflection) as well as low-stakes quizzing. All spelling teaching is planned and follows the spelling progression of skills which has been cross-referenced with the National Curriculum for spelling.   

In addition to the weekly spelling lists, some year groups have ‘special focus’ lessons to cover during the course of the year. Consolidation lessons are scheduled as part of the progression of skills to revisit prior learning. Year 3/4 and 5/6 repeat the statutory word lists and revisit rules. There are 14 units in year 3 and 4 and 12 in years 5 and 6. 

 

Punctuation & Grammar:

 

 

One writing lesson a week is dedicated to the explicit teaching of the punctuation and grammar skills required in each year group and required in the unit of writing being delivered. In year 6 additional daily SPAG activities activate prior knowledge and apply this to SATs-style questions in preparation for their assessments. Grammar and punctuation are always taught linked to writing, purpose and effect.

 

Handwriting:

 

 

Handwriting is delivered using the Twinkl Handwriting materials and the RWI writing rhythms. In EYFS handwriting activities take place daily. In KS1 handwriting instruction occurs once a week with daily revisiting of skills. In KS2, handwriting instruction occurs once a week. Handwriting in EYFS and Year 1 focusses on formation and size. In year 2 this is built upon and the beginnings of joining are taught. From KS2 joining, fluency and speed are the focus. Intervention groups are delivered when required. There is a progression of skills and knowledge for handwriting.

 

Oracy:

 

 

Oracy underpins the write stuff approach. Staff have had training on oracy approaches which can be used across the curriculum, from Voice 21 and the Kernow Oracy Project training and resources, and embed oracy across their delivery of the curriculum.

 

Impact:

 

The impact of our writing curriculum is continually evaluated and reassessed through, but not limited to, the following measures:

  • Half-termly and 'in the moment' RWI assessments. 
  • Termly data meetings to review pupils’ individual progress and progress of the class and identify where and which interventions are required for whom.
  • At least two writing clinics a year with the Writing lead to identify patterns and priorities for the cohort and individuals. Writing targets are established during this time. During this term handwriting, spelling and word and texts-level priorities are identified as well as teacher CPD needs.
  • Cross-trust and/or cross-school moderation termly, led and planned by the writing lead who is a county moderator. This uses the Babcock assessment materials.
  • Regular staff meetings focussed on improving writing.
  • Termly time for teachers with their year group partner, assessing writing.
  • Regular monitoring of writing lessons, planning and books by the English Lead.
  • Termly data drops and analysis of assessments and progress.