Intent

At Raglan Primary School, our ambition is for every child to write with fluency, accuracy, confidence and independence.

We believe that writing is a key skill for life and that every child should leave Raglan with secure transcription and composition skills so they are ready to succeed at secondary school and beyond. We ensure that meaningful writing takes place across all curriculum areas so the children can apply their transcription and composition skills when writing for different purposes and audiences.

We believe it is important that writing is inclusive and that all children enjoy writing and have the time think creatively and write at length. Through a text-based approach, we aim to ensure all of our children develop a genuine love of language and the written word. We want our children to be confident communicators and understand that they all have a voice and there is a purpose to their writing. Our aim is that they see themselves as authors who confidently follow the writing process of gathering their ideas, planning, writing and then editing.

Our writing curriculum is planned to develop the appropriate subject specific knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum.  We plan for our children to acquire an ever increasing vocabulary, a solid understanding of grammar and the ability to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they have learnt. We want them to write clearly, accurately, and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. From the outset we encourage our children to take pride in the presentation of their writing and rigorously teach handwriting so that our children develop a good, 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.

Implementation

The teaching of writing begins in Nursery with a focus on mark-making and giving purpose to their marks, gross and fine motor skills, pre-writing shapes and name writing. These skills are built on in Reception and into Key Stage 1 and 2 so that the children leave Raglan as fluent and confident writers, who can write with accuracy and for a range of purposes and audience, across all curriculum areas.

At Raglan, the children are taught the skills of composition, planning, writing for different purposes and audiences, and editing, through whole class English lessons. English lessons also provide the opportunity to practise and secure fluency and accuracy in transcription skills: grammar, punctuation, spelling and handwriting. All adults model the skills of composition and transcription in English lessons and across the curriculum.

English lessons are text-based, providing the children with an exciting ‘hook’ and the opportunity to explore a range of different text types to expand their vocabulary and gather ideas for their own writing. The children learn how to plan their own piece of writing for a specific purpose and audience before having the opportunity to write at length.

English lessons are planned so that all children are able to access the learning at an age appropriate level. Teachers target support where necessary, which may involve a greater level of scaffolding or modelling, access to additional support materials or a greater level of challenge. All children learn through a combination of whole-class sessions, smaller, adult-led group sessions and individual, targeted feedback.

From Year 1, the children finish the writing process through discrete editing sessions during which they receive whole-class, group and individual feedback on how to improve their piece of writing. The children learn how to proof-read and edit grammar, punctuation and spelling within their piece of writing, securing accuracy in transcription, and how to rewrite a section of their writing, so that it has greater impact upon their audience.

 

Reception and Year 1 – Continuous Provision

In Reception and Year 1, the children have whole-class English sessions to explore their focus text and gather vocabulary and ideas. They then have regular small, adult-led focus groups in which adults model and support the children to develop their oral composition and transcription skills. Children receive immediate, individual feedback to support them to secure transcription skills within the early stages of writing.  In Reception, the children have one adult-led focus group a week and at the beginning of Year 1, the children have two to three adult-led focus groups a week. By the summer term of Year 1, the children learn through whole-class English lessons, ready for the transition to Year 2. The children further practise their transcription and composition skills through continuous provision. The children have access to a range of writing materials and are able to develop their transcription and composition skills, as well as their love of writing.

 

Grammar and Punctuation

At Raglan, we teach grammar and punctuation through writing. In English lessons, the children revisit previously taught grammar and punctuation concepts and are taught the grammar and punctuation concepts for their year group. The teacher models how to use these concepts within a piece of writing, teaching the children the correct terminology, their purpose and the correct application. The children then have the opportunity to practise and apply these grammar and punctuation concepts within their own writing. From Year 2 to Year 6, the children also revisit and learn grammar and punctuation concepts through short starter activities at the beginning of English lessons. Grammar and punctuation planning follows Appendix 2: Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation of the National Curriculum.

 

Spelling

Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are taught spelling in daily Phonics lessons following the Raglan constructed synthetic phonics programme that has a clear order to the teaching of sounds and letter groups as well as the introduction of prescribed tricky words. We ensure that there is full fidelity to our programme across the school.

In Reception, the children are taught the process of segmenting whole words and selecting letters to represent those phonemes and how to spell a range of ‘tricky words’. In Year 1 and Year 2, the children continue to have daily Phonics lessons that introduce alternate spellings of phonemes they have learnt previously and embed their knowledge of spelling two and three syllable words. They will also learn spelling rules for adding a range of suffixes. The spelling of tricky words is taught continuously throughout the phases.

Throughout Key Stage 2, the children are taught spelling through regular, discrete spelling lessons. Through different games and activities, the children revisit their previous spelling learning and learn new spelling rules, patterns and common exception words. They then practise and apply what they have learned within writing games and activities. Spelling learning follows Appendix 1: Spelling of the National Curriculum. This spelling learning is revised, modelled and practised through writing in English lessons. Some children will also receive targeted phonics support to secure their learning from Key Stage 1.

From Year 1, the children will practise and apply their spelling learning through weekly spelling home learning activities.

 

Handwriting

In each year group, there is regular, discrete and direct teaching of handwriting during which teachers model the correct letter movements, formation and joins. At Raglan, we have high expectations for the children’s handwriting and encourage the correct letter movements, formations and joins across all curriculum areas.

The children in EYFS and Year 1 follow the Printed Letter Handwriting Policy.

The teaching of handwriting begins in Nursery, when the children develop their gross and fine motor skills and practise pre-writing patterns and shapes through a variety of activities and different materials. Children will be shown how to sit comfortably for writing and how to hold a pencil correctly using the tripod grip. In Reception, the children continue to develop these fundamental skills and they are taught how to correctly form printed letters in their daily Phonics lessons, supported by the phonics letter shapes. In Year 1, the children continue to learn how to sit correctly for handwriting using the tripod grip and will practise the printed letter formation they learnt in Reception. They will be taught to write legibly using upper and lower case letters and then learn the correct joins.

In Years 2-6, the children continue to follow the Continuous Cursive Handwriting Policy.

In Year 2, the children continue to learn to write legibly using upper and lower case letters with correct joins through regular and discrete handwriting lessons. In Key Stage 2, the children improve the quality, speed and stamina of handwriting through regular, discrete and direct teaching of handwriting. In Year 4, all children learn how to use a handwriting pen within their discrete handwriting lessons before using a pen when writing across the curriculum. By the end of Key Stage 2, all children should have the ability to produce fluent, legible and speedy joined-up handwriting.

All adults model the correct letter movements, formation and joins when they are writing. The letter movements, formations and joins that the children learn in discrete handwriting lessons are practised and applied when the children are writing across all areas of the curriculum.

Impact

By the time the children leave Raglan, they will be fluent, accurate and confident writers who have secured the composition and transcription skills that enable them to successfully write for a range of purposes and audiences, across all areas of the curriculum.

The children will be able to write with independence and creativity, enabling them to communicate effectively and confidently through the written word.

The children will enjoy writing and have a genuine love of language and the written word, understanding that they are all authors, they all have a voice and their writing is meaningful.