Subject Lead:  Mrs Nicola Rillie 

                                                                 Intent, Implementation & Impact Statement 

At Weeton St Michaels, our curriculum is designed to develop children’s character, intellect and curiosity.  We have high aspirations for all our children and aim to offer them a broad, challenging and engaging curriculum. It is our aim, that by the time children leave our school they will:

•          Be kind, confident, well-mannered, thoughtful members of society   who embody our Christian values.

•          Be ambitious for their futures.

•          Have a love of learning. 

•          Respect each other regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, culture, gender, disability and wealth.

•          Be courageous advocates for the causes they believe in.

 

Intent

At Weeton St Michaels Primary School, we want all children to be able to confidently communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions through their writing and reach their full potential. We cover the National Curriculum and Early Learning Goals.

Our aims are to:

Guide and nurture each individual on their own personal journey to becoming successful writers.

Provide exciting writing opportunities and experiences that engage and enhance all pupils.

We want all children to acquire a wide vocabulary and to be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn throughout their time in primary school.

We want all children to have a solid understanding of grammar and apply it effectively to their writing.

We want them to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.

 We believe that all children should be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing, in part by developing a legible, cursive, individual handwriting style by the time they move to secondary school.

We want every child to have a good knowledge of phonics to springboard children to becoming fluent writers.

To plan a progressive curriculum to build upon previous teaching, with regular assessment to ensure each child’s needs are met to reach their full potential.

 

Implementation

At Weeton St Michaels Primary School, handwriting is taught 3x per week across the whole school. Each class studies a different high-quality text, lasting from a few weeks to a half term depending on text type, length and year group. We passionately believe that reading and writing are inextricably linked therefore studying the text in both reading and writing sessions encourages children to make links and become empathetic and ambitious writers.

Long, medium- and short-term planning and the use of progression maps ensure that a variety of genres are progressively taught and built upon both throughout the year and throughout the school.

Writing is also a key focus in the wider curriculum, especially in foundation subjects. Children are given the opportunity to transfer and build upon their knowledge of a genre studied during English lessons and apply this learning across the curriculum.

Children will acquire and learn the skills to plan, draft and refine their written work over time and are encouraged to develop independence in being able to identify their own areas for improvement in all pieces of writing.

Within each unit of work, sequenced lessons ensure that prior learning is checked and built upon and that National Curriculum objectives are taught through a combination of approaches/opportunities e.g.

Opportunities to participate in drama & spoken language activities

Exploring the features of different text types and modelled examples (E.g. Spotting features in a WAGOLL – What a good one looks like)

Handwriting practise

Vocabulary practise

Shared writing (modelled expectations)

Discrete Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar lessons

Independent writing

Planning, drafting, editing, up-levelling and presenting

Performing

Handwriting

It is paramount that children are rigorously taught correct letter formation from the very beginning of their time in school. During the foundation stage at Weeton St Michaels Primary School, the children are taught to sit properly to have the correct posture for writing, hold a pencil in the correct position and develop a legible handwriting style. Teachers are expected to role model the school’s handwriting style when marking children’s work, writing on the board and on displays around the school.

Early Years

In Early Years, writing is taught via the Early Learning Goals linked to the specific area writing. The majority of learning in this area occurs through adult intervention when the children are in continuous provision. Learning to write via letter formation and pencil grip is built into each topic of learning. 

• Write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.

 

• Spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters.
• Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others. y the end of Early Years, the children should be able to:

 

Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

We adapt planning to support the individual needs of each child using pupil passports to inform adaptation. All pupils falling behind from age related expectation will receive intervention to develop writing.

 

More Able Children

We ensure that more able pupils can work independently.  We provide all children with opportunities for deeper learning e.g., via QR codes activities, pupils can continue their learning outside of lesson time. We also enable them to challenge themselves to deepen their understanding of different genres of writing

Spellings

 

From Year 2, classes follow a progressive spelling scheme. Through exploring spelling patterns and rules, we aim to create confident and proficient spellers using a discrete teaching approach underpinned by phonics.

Children are also taught to

Spell accurately and identify reasons for mis-spellings.

Proof-read their spellings

Recognise and use word origins, families and roots to build their skills

Use dictionaries and thesauruses.

Impact

Teachers use assessment as an integral part of the teaching and learning process and link it clearly to the children’s next steps.

Formative assessment grids (statements taken from progression map)

Constructive marking with ‘next steps’ and ‘modelling’ where appropriate. Teachers leave next steps in books when marking to ensure that children know exactly what they need to do next to make progress in their writing and children are encouraged to respond to this in purple pen.

The impact on our children is that they have the knowledge and skills to be able to write successfully for a purpose and audience. With the implementation of the writing sequence being established and taught in both key stages, children are becoming more confident writers and have the ability to plan, draft and edit their own work. By the end of key stage 2, children have developed a writer’s craft, they enjoy sustained writing and can manipulate language, grammar and punctuation to create effect. As all aspects of English are an integral part of the curriculum, cross curricular writing standards have also improved and skills taught in the English lesson are transferred into other subjects; this shows consolidation of skills and a deeper understanding of how and when to use specific language, grammar and punctuation.