Writing at Castercliff Primary Academy.

Please see below for the units and text types your children will cover in each year group.

Also below is an outline of the key grammar features used in writing for each year group.

At Castercliff Primary Academy, we recognise that English skills underpin all elements of the school curriculum. Considering the fundamental importance of Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing in everyday life, we are driven by the need to develop each learner’s writing ability, thus enabling them to play a full part in society. From mark-making in EYFS to extended writing in Year 6, the teaching and learning of Writing at Castercliff is an engaging and developmental process.

We aim for all children to be able to:

• Write with confidence, fluency and understanding, orchestrating a range of independent strategies to self-monitor and correct.
• Have an interest in words and their meaning, developing a growing vocabulary in spoken and written forms.
• Understand a range of text types and genres to be able to write in a variety of styles and forms appropriate to the situation.
• Consolidate and apply taught literacy skills and key grammar features within their written work.
• Develop the powers of imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness.
• Have a suitable technical vocabulary to articulate their responses.

Intent:

At Castercliff Primary Academy, we recognise that writing is integral to all aspects of life and we mindfully endeavour to ensure that children develop a lifelong, healthy and enthusiastic attitude towards writing. The skill of writing enables pupils to communicate with themselves and others while documenting and conveying their knowledge and ideas. We recognise the importance of developing vocabulary skills and children are encouraged to explore vocabulary within writing lessons. Key grammar skills are carefully planned for within written lessons to enable children to feel secure when making independent choices within their writing.

What can you typically expect to see in a writing lesson at Castercliff Primary Academy?

Units of work in writing will always include some aspect of oracy, reading and writing. Units of writing typically last between 2 and 4 weeks, depending on the unit of work. The nature of a writing lesson will very much depend on which phase a class is at in the unit.

Units typically begin with an exciting hook to draw in the children and create fascination. This will then lead into a reading phase, where children will be given the opportunity to investigate, discuss, explore, analyse and respond to the text type being studied. Following on from this, children will move into a writing phase, where daily writing opportunities will be provided. During this phase, children will gather content, explore vocabulary and will be given time to discuss their sentences before writing them. Talk for Writing may also be used in classrooms to help children with rehearsal of sentences, story plots and language. Opportunities to edit and improve writing during this phase will allow children to reflect on their work before they write their independent piece. As the children move into the independent writing phase, they will be given time to plan their independent piece before writing their independent piece. The children will then be given a lesson to edit their independent piece.

“I like using the planning sheets because it gives me ideas to help me think of good words.” Year 4 child (Pupil Voice).

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar:

Spelling, punctuation and grammar are embedded within the writing curriculum so children learn and apply skills in context developing an understanding of writing styles specific to the genres they are studying. Children are explicitly taught spelling patterns subject to their year group through a carefully designed scheme by the school and these increase in complexity as the year progresses. Children are taught to use a continuous cursive style of handwriting to write legibly, fluently and with increasing speed. They are taught to vary their writing style so it is appropriate to their task, for example using print when labelling diagrams or filling a form.