Writing
'You can make anything by writing.' C.S. Lewis
Intent
When teaching writing and associated writing skills, we have the following intent for our pupils:
Through all processes involving the teaching of writing, the following skills will be developed: |
Additionally, we want our pupils to enjoy writing. We aim to develop, through our teaching of writing, the following attitudes: |
to write with confidence, clarity and imagination to understand how to write in a range of genres in fiction and poetry, using some of the structures of narratives in relation to setting, character and plot to write non-fiction texts, using the features of different forms to plan, draft, revise and edit, and sometimes publish their own writing, and to learn how to critically and constructively appraise the writing of themselves and others to develop a technical vocabulary through which to understand and discuss their writing to develop their imagination, creativity, expressive language and critical awareness through their writing |
curiosity and interest pleasure sensitivity critical appraisal independence and cooperation confidence perseverance reflection
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ImplementationWe have a consistent approach to developing writing skills in St Anne's: ● Essential writing skills (our ‘Must Dos’) are taught and practised until children are fluent. ● Transcription skills are taught discretely as well as regularly referred to within whole-class teaching. This supports automaticity with these elements of writing, freeing up working memory for other aspects. ● Children write for a range of purposes and audiences, learning different styles and skills. ● We follow a sequence of writing lessons, starting with reading a good example of what children will create, analysing it, practising the skills needed, planning our own versions, writing it and then editing. We sometimes publish this piece too! ● Leaders ensure that ALL staff receive focused and highly effective professional development. They provide regular training and feedback on their practice in order to ensure the bet outcomes for children. ● There is a clear, skills-focussed approach to the writing curriculum to ensure development of confidence and transferrable, cross-genre writing skills. ● Communication and language approaches include reading aloud to children and discussing books, explicitly extending children’s spoken vocabulary by introducing them to new words in context, and drawing attention to phonics understanding. This is then used more easily within writing. ● Read, Write, Inc. phonics supports children’s initial letter formation and spelling, as well as sentence-level practice. ● Writing assessment judgements are moderated internally to ensure consistency within and across school, as well as externally to support accuracy. ● Assessments are then used to identify and support pupils, either through catch up interventions or adapted teaching and learning. ● The lowest attainers, children with EAL and/or those with SEND are supported through adapted quality-first teaching, following the graduated approach when appropriate, as well as through specific interventions such as Fast Track Phonics, Colourful Semantics or Beat Dyslexia. |
Further information can be found in our Writing Policy.
Impact
Speaking to children, looking at books and being part of lessons, we know:
- most children enjoy writing, with the most common reason for loving writing being "It allows us to be creative!"
- children write widely and often, including in different subjects
- children's basic skills are improving, with fewer errors being made over time
- lessons are taught well, are engaging and appropriately challenging
- lessons develop writing skills over time
- most children enjoy reading
We're really proud of the attainment and progress that children make during their time at our school. Progress at the end of Y6 in 2023 was 'Well Above Average' (measuring 3.3, using DfE figures).
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2019 |
2022 |
2023 |
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EXS / GDS (%) |
National EXS / GDS (%) |
EXS / GDS (%) |
National EXS / GDS (%) |
EXS / GDS (%) |
National EXS / GDS (%) |
|
EYFS Literacy |
76 |
77 |
79 |
68 |
78 |
70 |
KS1 |
74 / 19 |
69 / 15 |
48 / 14 |
58 / 8 |
77 / 19 |
60 / 8 |
KS2 attainment |
91 / 32 |
78 / 20 |
72 / 20 |
69 / 13 |
82 / 26 |
60 / 8 |
KS2 progress |
+2.6 |
+0.3 |
+3.3 |
We learnt to write using a wide variety of activities, including elements of Talk 4 Writing, cross curricular writing, oracy strategies and explicit vocabulary learning.
What do we learn in Writing lessons?
At St Anne's we have a strong focus on getting the basics right and generally have a focus on a particular aspect of writing, such as sentence structure or description. Through a variety of text types, we model and practice these skills. In addition to Writing lessons, we consolidate our skills through cross curricular writing.
The document below sets out what we learn in different year groups.