Writing at All Saints

Intent

Writing is essential to learning and enjoyable in its own right. It is a developmental process and each child’s achievements are valued at every stage. Writing includes different genres for a wide variety of purposes and audiences, including the application of skills and knowledge and understanding of punctuation, grammar, spelling and handwriting. Children are enabled to articulate themselves clearly and communicate effectively with others. They also gain an understanding of how language works by looking at its patterns, structures and origins.

Impact

The impact of our teaching of writing at All Saints CE Primary School & Nursery is that high standards of literacy will be promoted and the children will develop a love of literature and creativity; pupils will be able to articulate themselves clearly through the written word.

We aim to ensure that pupils can:

• write for a range of purposes.
• use styles of writing appropriate to the purpose and the intended audience.
• have an interest in words and their meaning and a growing vocabulary.
• plan, revise and edit their own writing.
• have a good understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for written and spoken language

 
How do we teach writing?

Writing opportunities and learning objectives are planned and taught by the class teacher and supported by the English leader. Children have opportunities to use relevant experiences and rich texts, on which to base their writing. Activities are planned in such a way as to encourage full and active participation by all children irrespective of ability. Children are encouraged to use new technologies in a variety of ways including improvement of spelling and for the exploration of different presentation formats to suit the purpose and audience of the piece of writing.

Teachers make use of rich, stimulating texts to plan a structure of teaching and learning focused on developing age-related expected skills. This integrated strategy of combining reading and writing provides the children with the language and structures upon which to develop their own ideas and creativity.

English skills books are used from Y2 – Y6 to provide an opportunity for the children to practise and master key elements of spelling, punctuation and grammar, which are then applied to writing. This book is also used as a comprehension evidence book, where key reading objectives are identified, and work collected.

The use of lined paper will not be used for publication of writing as it hinders the use of illustrations and format of the piece; line guides are available for pupils. Project writing of all types will be published around school in wall displays and also in presentation books for personal use.

Pupils’ own illustrations and personal writing style will enhance presentations of their work. Photocopied sheets of standard illustrations are not considered appropriate when used excessively as pupils’ own work is always superior because it is unique.

Writing stages

Before pupils begin to write at school, they bring skills and knowledge of the spoken language, of written language, of story and of print from their normal day-to-day experiences.

Beginning writing

The teacher gives support by giving opportunity for free writing in role-play and having a writing table available for mark making. Skills are directly taught by staff to support letter formation activities. Opportunity is given for exploration of mark making materials such as pencils and pens. Writing displayed around the classroom show pupils that writing holds meaning and is a form of communication.

Emergent writing

The pupils begin to write recognisable words that are often phonetically correct in a structure of a story or sentence. The compositional aspects are quite advanced whereas the transcriptional skills may not be as developed. The support and collaboration of pupils and staff is the key to progress and development of writing at this stage.

Fluent Writing

Stories become more complex in structure. Pupils are initially fully involved with the process and find it difficult to abstract themselves from the writing. The writing process begins to be used but the drafting of a piece of writing can only take place when the writer is able to craft the writing from a de-centred position. Teachers’ sensitivity and professional judgement must be utilised to know when a child is ready to move towards the drafting stages of the writing process.

At All Saints, we believe that Writing has no purpose unless it is going to be read by someone. The audience may be as varied as the list below and the identification of the audience gives a focus for the children.

Writing purposes

Stories to be read                                                    Books to be published

Poems to be recited                                                Plays to be acted

Songs to be sung                                                    Newspapers to be circulated

Letters to be posted                                                Jokes to be told

Notes to be passed                                                 Cards to be sent

Cartons to be labelled                                             Instruction to be followed

Designs to be made                                                Recipes to be cooked

Messages to be exchanged                                    Programmes to be organised

Excursions to be planned                                       Catalogues to be compared

Memos to be distributed                                         Entertainment guides to be enjoyed

Cribs to be hidden                                                   Announcements to be posted

Posters to be displayed                                          Diaries to be concealed

Cross-curricular writing should be used as an integral part of projects.

Chronological writing                               Non chronological writing

Logs                                                                        Lists

Diary accounts                                                        Recipes

Step by step guides                                                Descriptions

Autobiography                                                        Notes (e.g. information)

Personal experience                                               Note taking

Poems                                                                    Maps

Ballads                                                                   Guides/brochures

Reconstructing incident                                          Information leaflets

Newsroom summation                                            Public notices e.g. No Smoking

Reporting (e.g. science investigation)                    Labels

Recipe method                                                       Diagram

Stories                                                                    Account

Instructions                                                             Letter

Directions                                                               Horoscope

Comic strip                                                             Poems

Play scripts                                                             Advert

                            Post cards

                            Presenting a point of view                                                                  

                            Newspaper

                            Plans

All Saints Learning Journeys

In order for our children to be fully involved in their own personal learning journey, we make use of our ‘Writing Learning Journeys’ so that the children are able to look at their progress and understand that their learning is part of a bigger picture. If you would like a copy of your child’s learning journey, please contact school.