Writing lead – Mrs H Mathieson

Writing

Vision

At our school, we believe every child is a writer. We want our children to see writing as a powerful tool for thinking, expression, and connection — a craft to be enjoyed, refined, and celebrated.

We aim to develop confident, creative, and purposeful writers who:

· Understand the whole writing process – from generating ideas to drafting, revising, and publishing with pride.

· Write with control and intention, making deliberate choices about language, structure, and audience.

· Appreciate the power of writing to inform, persuade, entertain, and inspire others.

· Take joy in writing as an act of creativity and self-expression, and see themselves as real authors with something valuable to say.

Through a rich, purposeful, and inclusive writing curriculum, we nurture children who write with voice, confidence, and authenticity, and who carry their love of writing beyond the classroom.

Our Writing Curriculum

We are teaching ...

At All Saints, we believe that our English Curriculum should instil and develop a love of literacy through reading, writing and discussion. We support pupils by encouraging the habit of reading and writing widely and often, both for pleasure and information, and developing an appreciation for our rich and varied literary heritage. Pupils are supported in the acquisition of a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and the knowledge of linguistic conventions for writing and spoken language. We want pupils to flourish, to feel empowered and to be inspired to be confident readers, writers, speakers and listeners who are able to adapt their language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. We aim to provide the children with varied reasons for writing as well as extended writing sessions to build their writing stamina, and believe that this not only produces higher quality writing, but allows our learners to apply their skills to a range of different contexts. We aim to inspire our children and develop a love of writing.

We teach writing by ...

At All Saints, we use ‘The Literacy Tree’ to support our planning and teaching. Using a text based approach we immerse the children in rich literary experiences that spark curiosity and inspire meaningful reading and writing. Through drama, debate, and discussion, they explore important themes and write with purpose for real audiences. Lessons don’t happen in isolation. Through a carefully layered learning curriculum, we provide a comprehensive progression throughout the year and beyond. Writing opportunities are revisited to reinforce objectives and make learning stick.

Using ‘The Literacy Tree’ enables us to plan and deliver the 2014 Primary National Curriculum for English coherently and effectively. It provides smaller learning steps for each year group, based on the broad objectives from the National Curriculum. Additional objectives lead to a more rounded and complete English curriculum for our school.

Writing opportunities are planned for across the wider curriculum. We use a wide and varied selection of quality texts and resources to motivate and inspire pupils and we celebrate successes regularly in class, as a school and with parents.

At All Saints we teach children to write using print in KS1 and pre cursive summer term Year 2. Cursive writing is taught from year 3.

As a school we want to create ‘intelligent spellers’ who are interested in words and who understand how phonemes, morphemes and spelling conventions all link together in words. The Literacy Tree enables us to teach spelling rules and grammar through the text being followed by the class. In Early Years and KS1, we follow the Little Wandle scheme to teach phonics and spelling.

The children learn ...

Because of the use of thorough and progressive planning through The Literacy Tree, our children are resilient writers who enjoy showcasing their learning through purposeful activities and regular writing opportunities. They are able to edit and improve their work through peer and self-assessment. High expectations of presentation are reflected in the work in children’s books and on displays. Children are confident to share and refine ideas through collaborative discussions. We aim for our attainment at the end of EYFS, KS1 and KS2 to be consistently as high as National Average. By the end of Year Six, our pupils will be able to write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. They will acquire a wide vocabulary and have a strong command of the written word. Most importantly, they will develop a love of writing and be well equipped for the rest of their education.