Writing

We recognise that writing is a key skill for life and should be taught through a wide variety of activities from Reception all the way through to Year 6.

Speaking and Listening

The teaching of writing begins with children being given the opportunity to do lots of ‘Talk for Writing’ so that they develop the crucial speaking and listening skills needed in order to write.

Throughout their time at school, all pupils will be expected to orally rehearse what they plan to write ahead, often through pairs or group discussions before putting pen to paper. This is why children are encouraged to speak in sentences and give detail in their speech.

Handwriting

At Palterton Primary School, children are taught how to make all the correct letter shapes before learning how to join them fluently and develop a neat, cursive handwriting style.

We currently follow ‘Letterjoin’ as our model for handwriting and teach handwriting explicitly in Reception in letter families.

Spelling

Once children are confident in their use of phonics, usually in Years 1 and 2, children will start to bring home a list of spellings to learn every week. These words will follow the National Curriculum spelling programme and will contribute to the children developing their skills as English language users and independent writers.

Grammar and Punctuation

The National Curriculum places great emphasis on grammar and punctuation. At Palterton Primary School we therefore ensure children are systematically taught grammar and punctuation as part of their English lessons.

Writing for a purpose

Teachers plan for opportunities for purposeful writing, whether in Science, DT, ICT or even Theme work, enabling children to explore the writing process in several subjects. Teachers set pupils writing tasks in a wide variety of genres including several fiction, non-fiction and poetry. They model the writing process and share with the children good examples of each writing type and success criteria so that the children know what to do in order to succeed.

Children are encouraged to draft and re-draft in order to continually improve their writing. Afterwards, they are given the opportunity to assess their success using their success criteria and re-edit to further improve.