Writing

What does Writing look like at Atherton St George’s CE Primary?

At Atherton St George’s CE Primary we aim to ensure all children become fluent readers, writers and speakers who are creative and enjoy English!

The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for writing and spoken language
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage!
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
• use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate

The programmes of study for writing at both KS1 and KS2 are broken down into:

• Transcription (spelling and handwriting)
• Composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing)

Pedagogy for teaching of writing

In order for children to embed their learning and use it in context time and time again, it is vital that this learning is deep and profound. This will enable children to become more intuitive and creative in their writing and ultimately in all other aspects of the curriculum. As a Trust, we endeavour to ensure teaching and learning facilitates deep and profound learning.

As part of the writing experience it is important that children gain access to powerful audio bombardment, so that they acquire ambitious vocabulary that support their language and therefore their writing. Studies have found that by age four, children in middle and upper class families hear 15 million more words than children in working-class families, and 30 million more words than children in families on welfare. This disparity in hearing words from parents and caregivers translates directly into a disparity in learning words. And that puts our children born with the fewest advantages even further behind. Among those born in 2001, only 58 percent of poor children started school ready to learn, compared to 75 percent of children from middle-income families. Originally developed to support phonological development, it can also introduce children to a wider vocabulary. Audio bombardment is a practice adopted across the curriculum in order to support the context of the schools and is particularly evident throughout the whole of the writing process.

Writing in the Early Years!

At Atherton St George’s the writing journey starts on entry at Nursery. Here the children use physical activity to develop their gross motor skills such as climbing, running and jumping but also threading, rolling and constructing playdough and early mark making for fine motor development.

What is Mark Making?

Before children start to form letters they need to learn how to make marks.  During this time, they are learning how a pencil/crayon/paintbrush works, how to hold it and how to control the marks they make.  This can begin with children create lines, shapes and patterns moving on to them writing their names using correct letter formation.

Writing Opportunities in the EYFS

Shared Writing

During these sessions, the children are encouraged to gather and idea share but is it is the adult who models and completes the writing. Staff will demonstrate how to copy words with the support of the sound mat (reading/phonics), how to use oral segmentation in simple words and how phonemes are represented by graphemes.

Guided Writing

During these sessions, the children are encouraged to become independent thinkers and writers. The teacher will work with a focused group once a week and during these activities, teachers encourage application of phonic skills and imagination in to their written work.

Independent Writing

The adults in the Nursery setting model writing at every opportunity and encourage them to write for a range of purposes eg shopping lists, postcards, birthday cards, letters, labels. Children in Reception complete independent pieces in adult led sessions but also within areas of provision which link to topics covered within the EYFS Toolkit

Phonics

In both Nursery and Reception, children participate in daily phonics sessions using Letters and Sounds.  See Phonics Curriculum Tab for more information on how we teach Phonics.

Environment

Both the indoor and outdoor areas of Nursery and Reception have opportunities for children to engage in mark making and writing. Creating real life focuses for the children motivates and encourages them to have an interest and purpose to write.

End of Year Expectations for Reception:

It is expected that children will meet the Early Learning Goal for Writing:

• 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.

 Writing Process Y1 to Y6

At Atherton St George's we teach English over a Two-Week cycle incorporating NC objectives from Spoken Language, Reading and Writing objectives. Each Two Week Cycle is based on our half termly Class Reader.