Writing

At Durrington All Saints CofE Infant School, we make the teaching of English the foundation of our curriculum. Our belief is that speaking and listening, reading and writing are the keys to all learning and our ability to communicate. We are determined to help our children develop into articulate and imaginative communicators, to support and enhance their thinking and understanding of the world around them through a broad, rich and engaging English curriculum.

The Durrington English curriculum gives children the opportunity to further develop and understand our key values: respect, honesty, perseverance, hope  and love. Through the teaching and learning of English, and an exposure to a language-rich environment, our students learn about themselves, their values, rights and responsibilities and enhance their ability to empathise. We place books, vocabulary and reading at the heart of everything we do, as tools to gain knowledge and develop emotional literacy.

Our aim is to ensure that every child progresses in speaking and listening, reading and writing. We mindfully endeavour to ensure that children develop a lifelong, healthy and enthusiastic attitude towards English, to equip our students with the necessary skills and passion to support them in their continued education.

Intent

Through our writing curriculum we aim to:

• Use high quality texts and models to enable pupils to accurately use grammar, vocabulary and punctuation.
• Make the planning, drafting, writing and editing stages of writing explicit so that children experience ‘live’ the choices a writer makes. 
• Provide children with the ideas, tools and techniques for writing so that they can communicate their own ideas.
• Where possible, link our writing curriculum with ideas explored in other areas of the curriculum , so that pupils can make links in their learning.
• Ensure that pupils are taught a range of genres across the school which means they can communicate their learning appropriately.
• Develop a consistent approach to teaching writing to close gaps and ensure that all children leave in year 2 being able to write accurately.

Implementation

At Durrington, we use the 2014 National Curriculum and the 2023 Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) for directing the teaching of writing. It underpins the whole of the curriculum, as the children develop their writing skills in all subjects and lessons.

Our writing curriculum develops progressively and ensures that children are taught how to write narrative, poetry and range of non-fiction texts. Our children revisit and consolidate their skills through different units and our daily writing lessons are enhanced with spelling and handwriting sessions throughout the week to ensure the children know, and can apply, those key elements of writing.

Within writing lessons, time is taken to explicitly teach vocabulary encountered in our stimulus texts, to enable our students to learn a variety of words and increase their own vocabulary and overall comprehension of a text. In EYFS and KS1, we use engage pupils with stories, using reading as a stimulus; giving them the motivation to write.

Transcription: 

Handwriting: From EYFS pupils are taught how to hold a pencil and to use the Little Wandle letter formation to be able to print words. All KS1 classes use LetterJoin: teaching of letter formations and joins are explicitly taught, modelled and practiced daily.

Spelling:  As the children progress through Key Stage 1, there is a weekly focus on 8 to 10 words which contain the graphemes they have been focusing on in their phonics or spelling lessons. These words are shared with parents and carers at the start of each half term and there is a weekly spelling quiz every Friday. Children are expected to, and reminded to, practise at home and the words are also practised multiple times in school throughout the week. 

Once the Year 1 Little Wandle phonics programme has been completed, Year 2 pupils move on to the Little Wandle spelling programme. This supports them to develop their application of phonics and explore spelling in daily lessons, where they are taught 'rules' and 'prickly words.'.

There is also a focus on the application of known spellings in writing lessons and children are encouraged to use sound mats and vocabulary walls to independently 'have a go' at their spelling in writing across the curriculum. Where errors are made in spelling, teachers direct the children to 'fix' the error by encouraging them to practise writing it correctly 'three times across the line.'

Punctuation and Grammar: Pupils are taught punctuation and grammar, in line with progression documents. This knowledge is then consolidated and revised during application in writing lessons.

Learning to write in EYFS

Continuous provision activities and diverse opportunities for mark-making enhance pupils’ fine motor skills for writing. Teacher-led sessions support letter formation and phonics-based spelling. Drawing Club is used to motivate pupils to write, with stories that enrich vocabulary. Over the year, pupils develop the ability to write letters, words, phrases, and sentences readable by others, preparing them for KS1.

EYFS use Drawing Club to start their writing journey, to build confidence and transcription skills for year 1 and 2

Lesson structure: 

• Reading the stimulus text

• Teacher models and leads discussion about the drawing based on character, setting or action

• Use of a ‘code’ to practice letter formation, application of phonics to spelling, number formations, developing to sentences through the year

• Pupils independently draw and write a code based on the character, setting and action from the book

• During the year, pupils progress to writing sentences and use opportunities in continuous provision to practice their transcription skills.

Independent Writing:

EYFS pupils are able to apply their phonics knowledge to write ‘codes’ and build towards writing sentences in Drawing Club. 

Learning to write in KS1

In years 1 and 2, pupils apply their learning from writing lessons to plan and write independently using the vocabulary they have gathered. They use oral rehearsal to practice saying their sentences first. They have the chance to practice writing in a range of appropriate genres. ​Pupils engage with stimulus texts to inspire writing, while discussions, teacher modelling, and scaffolds support sentence construction.

In Year 1, pupils sequence sentences and apply phonics to spelling. By Year 2, they write narratives, recounts, non-fiction, and poems. Pupils are taught punctuation and grammar explicitly at the start of writing lessons, in line with progression documents. This knowledge is then consolidated and revised during application in writing lessons. Pupils are supported to edit their work for  accuracy. 

Lesson structure: 

• PAG retrieval and practice: pupils start the lesson by recapping or practising a punctuation/grammar focus​

• Explicit input on the focus for writing: discussion of the part of the story or learning objectives for the day, recapping the stimulus text ideas or language​

• Modelling : teacher live models writing under the visualiser, drawing out learning and key reminders for pupils and gathering vocab for the working wall​

• Application: Pupils write, using supports as needed​

• Review and editing: Pupils are encouraged to review and edit their work for accuracy.​

Support and Challenge: 

All pupils are supported using working walls in the classroom and the structured explicit nature of writing lessons. Additional scaffolds and resources are provided as needed for pupils who need more support. Everyone is encouraged to make independent choices in their writing, using vocabulary they have gathered displayed on the working wall. ​ 

Editing and Presentation 

Pupils are encouraged to reread and check their work and are supported to edit their work with purple pen to make sure it is accurate. Pupils are encouraged to have high standards of presentation of written work across the curriculum. â€‹

Cross-curricular writing

Pupils have opportunities to write across the curriculum, and use the methods they know from phonics lessons, to segment and spell words. Working walls with vocabulary are used to support writing in other subjects, and pupils are expected to apply PAG learning in all areas of the curriculum. ​

Impact

The impact of our writing curriculum on our children is clear: progress, sustained learning and transferrable skills.  With the implementation of the literacy journey being well established and taught thoroughly in Key Stage 1, children become more confident readers and writers and are prepared for Key Stage 2.

In order to measure the impact of our curriculum effectively, we use a two-tier approach to assessment. Firstly, teachers use a range of strategies to take a snapshot of learning within the lessons and then adapt subsequent sessions and learning experiences accordingly so that all children make progress. Secondly, through summative assessments, we make more formal records of the children’s learning against age-related expectations and exemplification materials. We use NFER assessments to monitor the children learning against national standards and expectations.

By having such a continuous cycle of assessment, we can ensure that we meet our ambitions and that children leave us with the skills, passion and knowledge necessary to continue to excel in their secondary education. We hope that, as children move on from us to further their education and learning, that their creativity, high aspirations and passion for English travel with them and continue to grow and develop as they do.