Writing
English Curriculum-Intent, Implementation, Impact
Intent:
At Warren Dell, we believe that a secure knowledge base in English is crucial for children to be secure learners across the curriculum and so prepare them for the wider world. An English curriculum should ignite children with a love of reading, writing and discussion. Our curriculum is designed to acknowledge that each child comes from a unique background; recognising that the local area of South Oxhey is one with significant socio-economic deprivation. It is our job to provide a language rich environment and expose children to a range of high quality literature that they might not otherwise have. Throughout the curriculum, a heavy emphasis is placed on speaking and listening activities as we know that pupils’ acquisition and command of vocabulary are key to their learning and progress across the whole curriculum. We aim for a nurturing culture whilst also providing appropriate challenge for every child. Children take pride in their writing and are able to write coherently and adapt their style of writing in a range of contexts. All pupils are provided with many opportunities to develop and apply their writing skills across all areas of the curriculum. We aim for all children to become enthusiastic and independent readers and for them to develop a rich vocabulary with no limit to their aspirations.
Implementation:
The National Curriculum forms the basis on which our English curriculum has been built.
English units are planned around appropriately levelled, high-quality texts of varying genre and context with cross curricular links where appropriate. This includes unit plans produced by Herts for Learning, including whole school 'Explore and Engage' units. This enables us to develop confident, enthusiastic writers who can express themselves in a variety of different styles and across a variety of contexts.
Lessons often include a speaking and listening focus where practical peer work offers pupils the opportunity to rehearse and embed new skills in an engaging, exciting and interactive manner to inspire and enthuse pupils. Through these activities, our pupils develop their confidence in order to be able to independently apply these skills in their writing.
It is one of our priorities to ensure that all pupils have the ability to spell words efficiently and accurately, whilst drawing on knowledge of phonics and spelling patterns. In EYFS and KS1, the emphasis is on phonics, moving onto the whole school framework of spellings for support and structure.
In Years 3- 6 we use the scheme ‘The Spelling Shed’ in accordance with the National Curriculum (2014). Spelling rules are taught explicitly. A school focus is on encouraging and supporting pupils to apply their acquired knowledge in their written work across the curriculum.
Handwriting is taught weekly following the ‘Penpals’ teaching sequence. In EYFS and Year 1, pupils are taught to print letters using the correct formation and orientation. A variety of aides are available to support handwriting in the early stages. As correct letter formation and joining become established, the teaching focuses on consistency in size, shape and general clarity of writing.
In Year 2, pupils learn leading strokes and begin to learn how to join up their handwriting.
Impact:
At the end of each year we expect the children to have achieved Age Related Expectations (ARE) for their year group. Some children will have progressed further and achieved greater depth (GD). Children who have gaps in their knowledge receive appropriate support and intervention. Children at Key Stage 2 will do a mixture of previous SATS papers to help inform the teacher’s judgements on a half termly basis.
The impact of our writing curriculum will be measured through:
- Pupil voice interviews
- Book scrutinies, drop- ins, discussions with staff etc.
- Moderation and scrutiny of pupil’s books and professional dialogue between teachers to assess the quality of children’s learning
- Sharing good practice among staff
- Marking of written work in books, including Verbal Feedback, using the school’s marking policy
- Monitoring of progress from year to year to ensure pupils remain ‘on track’ from their starting point
- End of Key Stage assessment data
The implementation of this curriculum will ensure that, by the time children leave Warren Dell Primary School, they will be:
- Confident learners that have a love of reading and writing.
- Resilient, independent learners that recognise how English is relevant to their future and ensuring they have high aspirations moving forwards.
- Secure and fluent in their application of skills and knowledge so that they can read and write with regard to audience and purpose.
EYFS - Y6 Writing Progression MapY1-Y6 Spelling Progression