Great Dunmow

Writing

‘To strive for excellence in learning and all that we do’

Intent

At Great Dunmow Primary, we aim to ensure all of our children develop a genuine love of language and the written word by providing a broad and balanced curriculum, using a variety of text types as well as film clips and other mediums. Our curriculum aims to engage children and facilitate the learning of word and sentence level skills including grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Through our teaching of writing, we intend to allow pupils to gain the knowledge, understanding and skills they need in order to reach their potential as individuals and best prepare our pupils for KS3 and beyond.

Implementation

Writing is taught daily across the whole school where children are taught to write a wide range of non-fiction texts, as well as narratives and poetry during their school journey. Teachers model writing skills, including how to compose, edit and revise their writing.  Pupils are then taught to evaluate their writing and check their work independently for sense, accuracy and meaning.  Spelling, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation are taught in the context of pupils’ own writing, as well as through directed lessons.

 Sequenced lessons ensure that prior learning is checked and built upon and that National Curriculum objectives are taught through a combination of approaches:

• Exploring the features of different text types and modelled examples
• Planning, drafting, editing, up-levelling and presenting
• Independent writing
• Spelling, Grammar and punctuation lessons
• Handwriting practice
• Opportunities to participate in drama & spoken language activities

Writing is also a key feature in the wider curriculum throughout the school where children are encouraged to transfer skills taught in Literacy lessons into their written work during foundation subjects. In order to widen the children’s scope of vocabulary, a ‘key words’ display in each classroom is visible to everyone, with children being encouraged to refer to these words and apply them in their independent work, where appropriate.

Spelling

From Year 3, classes follow a progressive spelling scheme to improve accuracy. Through exploring patterns and rules, we aim to create confident and proficient spellers.

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. 

(Please see our Phonics Intent Statement for EYFS, Year 1, Year 2 and interventions for Key Stage 2)

Impact

 Formal and continued teacher assessments of each child’s progress is used throughout the school year to measure the impact of our curriculum and is an integral part of the teaching and learning process.

• Half termly independent writing is teacher assessed against the National Curriculum expectations.
• Regular moderation of children’s writing both within school and with other schools takes place to ensure consistency in assessment.
• The quality of writing is also evaluated through learning walks, drop ins and pupil voice discussions.

With the implementation of our writing curriculum, children develop the knowledge and skills needed to be able to write successfully across a range of genres, write for a range of purposes and audiences and become confident and effective communicators. They develop a genuine love and appreciation of writing and are confident to express themselves in a variety of ways, whilst developing the ability to plan, draft and edit their work. By the end of KS2, children are prepared for the next stage in their learning, leaving us as fluent and confident writers with a good grasp of punctuation and an awareness of grammatical features.  

Miss A. McCarthy – Writing Lead