Writing

Writing Curriculum
Intent, Implementation and Impact

"Everyone to Excel through Pride and Ambition"

Intent

At Montem Academy, we believe that the ability to write with confidence and accuracy is an essential life skill.

At Montem Academy, we aim, wherever possible, to create cross-curricular writing opportunities, as we believe that in order for children to see themselves as successful writers, they need to be involved in writing for a real purpose and for different audiences.

Implementation

Writing is an important part of our curriculum and is an integral part of all of our lessons. At Montem Academy, writing is taught in a range of ways:

Modelling Writing: The teacher talks aloud about the thought processes as a writer with the children. They model strategies in front of the children, communicating the strategies being used. Teachers may model writing skills such as punctuation, rehearsal, proofreading, editing, word selection, sentence construction and paragraphing.
Shared Writing: This is a collaborative approach in which the pupils contribute their ideas and thoughts for the teacher to write. The teacher models and teaches specific writing skills and there is the opportunity for discussion to choose the most effective or suitable ideas.
Supported Composition: The children work in pairs to provide the next sentence of the text. This may follow the modelled or the shared writing process.
Guided Writing: Pupil groups are needed and are identified through ongoing assessments. The teacher or other adult works with the group on a carefully selected task appropriate to that group’s needs and targets. This will focus on a particular aspect of the writing process rather than writing a complete piece. Misconceptions, gaps in learning and common errors will be addressed through targeted group work.
Independent Writing: Children are given opportunities to apply their understanding of the text type in their own writing. They are encouraged to plan, draft, write, edit and publish their work, applying the skills they have learnt throughout the unit of work in that particular genre.

In Reception

Writing is taught through well-organised activities which are either teacher-led or child-initiated. The learning environment promotes writing through a range of resources which enable our pupils to practice writing for different purposes and audiences. The pupils also participate in daily phonics sessions following our phonics programme: read, Write Inc.

In Year 1

In Year 1, pupils follow the Read Write Inc programme which supports the teaching of phonics whilst providing pupils with opportunities to apply their phonics knowledge to their reading and writing. Pupils are taught in ability groups based on their needs.

The pupils write every day, rehearsing out loud what they want to say, before spelling the words using the graphemes and ‘tricky’ words they know.
They practice handwriting every day: sitting at a table comfortably, they learn correct letter formation and how to join letters speedily and legibly.
Pupil’s composition (ideas, vocabulary and grammar) is developed by drawing on their own experiences and talking about the stories they read.

As pupils become secure in their phonic knowledge, pupils are provided with more opportunities to write at length in their Literacy lessons.

All pupils are provided with opportunities to apply and practice their writing skills in other subjects including: Science, History and Geography.

Year 2 and Key Stage 2

At Montem Academy, pupils in Year 2 and Key Stage 2 are explicitly taught the key skills of writing which they then apply to their writing across the curriculum. Writing is taught in blocks which last for 2 to 4 weeks. Pupils write a range of text types across groups. Writing is linked to their whole class, Big Read Book and Foundation lessons. Writing is taught in 4 stages.

Stage 1: The explicit teaching of age appropriate skills: Pupils work in small groups or pairs exploring literary devices, text type features, grammar, and composition and effect. They will demonstrate their understanding and knowledge of the taught skills through a range of practical activities. Pupils are encouraged to talk and discuss their ideas and learning, so that the learning is internalised and committed to their long-term memory.
Stage 2: Planning: Pupils will plan their writing using a range of text type writing frames to organise their ideas, such as Story Mountains, mind maps, and a range of skeleton frames. Pupils may work in pairs or independently during this stage, generating ideas and talking their ideas through with their partner.
Stage 3: Pupils apply their existing and newly acquired knowledge to the text type being taught. During this stage, the teacher will model how to apply their skills to their writing. The teacher talks through the writing process with the children, highlighting not only the key skills but also the basic skills required to be a competent writer. Pupils will complete their writing over the course of the week.
Stage 4: Edit (and publish: During this stage, the teacher will model to the pupils how to edit and improve their writing. During the Green Growth session, pupils will edit a paragraph ensuring that they address the areas for improvement identified by the teacher.

Impact

The impact of the curriculum will be that all pupils at Montem Academy not only achieve the age appropriate standard at the end of Key Stage 2, but are also enable to:

Write with confidence, clarity and imagination;
Understand and apply their knowledge of phonics, grammar and spelling accurately;
Understand how to write for a range of purposes and audience, in a range of genres (including fiction, non-fiction and poetry), using the appropriate style, structure and features;
Plan, draft, revise and edit their own work, and learn how to self and peer assess against the success criteria;
Develop a technical vocabulary through which to understand and discuss their writing;
Develop their imagination, creativity, expressive language and critical awareness.