Writing Curriculum

Intent

At South View Community Primary School, we believe learning to write is one of the most important things that a child will do at primary school. Almost all other areas of the curriculum are assessed through writing, so strong writing is one of the keys to academic success. Therefore, we will endeavour to deliver a rich and varied Writing Curriculum, in line with national expectations.

We want every child to see themselves as a successful writer. At the end of Year 6, every child will leave South View being able to write with confidence and accuracy for a variety of purposes and audiences whilst developing their own individual flair. Confidently, children will naturally draw on what they have read as models for their own writing. They will acquire a wide vocabulary through their love of reading and be able to select and use appropriate word choice, sentence structure and text in their writing for effect, understanding how their word choices impact their audience. They will be able to apply spelling patterns correctly using a neat, cursive, joined handwriting style. We believe that all good writers refine and edit their writing over time, so we want children to develop independence in being able to identify their own areas for improvement in all pieces of writing, editing their work effectively during and after the writing process to produce their best work.  Additionally, we want children to apply the skill independently across a range of different pieces, in different curriculum areas.

Implementation: Our Pedagogy in Teaching Writing

Teachers are currently using the National Curriculum alongside units of work provided by Literacy Counts to ensure coverage of National Curriculum objectives.

By implementing the Literacy Counts scheme of work, ‘Read to Write’ enables teachers to teach writing through comprehensive units that have been carefully constructed so the entire statutory curriculum for English is covered from Year 1 to Year 6.

The scheme provides cohesion and sequence to our writing curriculum allowing children to build on their knowledge in a clear and systematic way throughout each year and across their primary education. Each child is given the opportunity to revisit text types and text conventions over the course of the year, so children can retain the information learnt and build upon it. Several of these carefully selected Vehicle Texts have strong thematic links to the Science, History and Geography curriculums. This, in turn, helps build a rich curriculum where Intent and Implementation leads to Impact and improved outcomes for children.

At the heart of each writing unit is a high-quality vehicle published text – either fiction or non-fiction – which we believe will motivate and inspire children to write. Each class studies a different high-quality text every half-term which offers children engaging, yet challenging English lessons. The units of work centre on engaging, vocabulary-rich texts and year group expectations for spelling, grammar and punctuation are woven into each unit well and offer ample opportunities for the children to use and apply their knowledge.

The children are hooked into the text through thought-provoking activities, followed by a clear teaching sequence that not only supports the teachers with structure but allows children to immerse themselves in the text in a build-up to extended writing.

Each unit moves through the following four-part teaching sequence:

Impact

Children will make good progress from their own personal starting points. By the end of Year Six, they will be able to write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Our children 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.