"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good." - William Faulkner 

"You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page" - Jodi Picoult

Writing Curriculum Intent

At Witherley Church of England Primary School, it is our intention to provide pupils with a high-quality education in English that will develop pupils' ability to speak, read and write with great fluency, master the mechanics of both reading and writing and develop a love and  true interest for English so they can communicate their thoughts, ideas and emotions effectively.

Writing is an integral part of our curriculum. Opportunities given to all children from Foundation Stage to Year 6 to develop and apply their writing skills across the curriculum. It is our intention that pupils develop a clear understanding of the writing process to establish themselves as an author in their own right.

Through our book-led curriculum, we foster pupils' interest in writing and offer a reason and context for writing that enables the children to write for  a range of purposes and audiences.

Pupils are taken on a writing journey that builds their knowledge of writing and allows the child to change their writing style accordingly to suit a variety of purposes. Children are taught, from KS1, to follow the planning, drafting and editing process, beginning with modelled support that progresses through to becoming increasingly independent as they move through the school. Children are then encouraged to pass on this mastery to fellow pupils using editing partners.   

In order to establish this, pupils will develop their knowledge of the features of different text types, audience, language and effective composition. It is our intention to broaden our pupils' exposure to high-level vocabulary to allow them to apply their understanding of vocabulary and grammatical features within and across the English curriculum. We intend that pupils learn how to understand the relationships between words, their definitions and how these are used, for effect, in context, whilst ensuring that children are supported in their spelling strategies.

We intend that pupils will be taught to control their speaking and writing consciously and to use correct Standard English.

Writing Curriculum Implementation

At Witherley Church of England Primary School, our English curriculum is taught from the objectives set in the National Curriculum.

We choose high quality age appropriate texts and sequence the lessons to cover the National Curriculum objectives. We use each book to create opportunities to develop reading fluency and comprehension with a focus on key reading strategies and skills; develop grammar and punctuation knowledge and understanding to use and apply across the wider curriculum; explore the writing structure and features of different text types, identify the purpose and audience; plan and write an initial piece of writing with a clear context and purpose before evaluating the effectiveness of writing by editing and redrafting.

At Witherley Primary School, we believe that writing is strengthened by instilling a love for reading within our pupils. We value the importance of reading to supplement writing, providing a purpose and a context to writing. We believe that pupils who are provided with a reason for writing demonstrate flair and effective writing composition, leading to high quality outcomes.

With every thematic unit that we start, we aim to choose a high quality text that sits parallel to the theme. We strongly believe that links should not be made if they are simply not there. As a result, some texts taught may not match the theme but will match the needs of the child, for their progression, that are taken from the National Curriculum. Each week, the children are taught to develop an understanding of the texts through exploring the key themes, events, and plot of the texts being studied. Pupils are taught the grammar from the National Curriculum that corresponds to the text types being written as part of the writing process. Children are then supported in how to apply the grammatical content taught in identifying features of a high quality modelled text, before progressing to plan, write and re-draft a written piece which is fit for purpose and audience.

How is English Celebrated?

At Witherley Primary School, we believe that Reading and Writing should be celebrated. Pupils are given positive reinforcement and praise for their efforts. As part of our weekly 'Celebration Assemblies', children are rewarded for their efforts in reading and writing, earning 'Writer of the Week' and 'Reader of the Week.' Children can receive a golden pen for 'Writer of the Week' and a bookmark for 'Reader of the Week'. Writing is also celebrated in classrooms where good examples of children's writing is displayed on the English Learning Wall. Children can also receive 'Class Dojo's' for their writing and reading (this incentive is in-line with the school's behaviour policy).  

Impact

We intend that the impact of our English curriculum will ensure our pupils are academically prepared for life beyond primary school and throughout their educational journey. We believe that through the book-led approach, pupils foster a love for reading that exposes them to a wide variety of texts and has a positive impact on their writing. We strive to ensure that pupils work hard to show progress and produce similar standards of writing across the wider curriculum.