St Anne's CE Primary School

Writing

'You can make anything by writing.' C.S. Lewis

Intent

When teaching writing and associated writing skills, we have the following intent for our pupils:

Through all processes involving the teaching of writing, the following skills will be developed:

Additionally, we want our pupils to enjoy writing. We aim to develop, through our teaching of writing, the following attitudes:

to write with confidence, clarity and imagination

to understand how to write in a range of genres in fiction and poetry, using some of the structures of narratives in relation to setting, character and plot

to write non-fiction texts, using the features of different forms

to plan, draft, revise and edit, and sometimes publish their own writing, and to learn how to critically and constructively appraise the writing of themselves and others

to develop a technical vocabulary through which to understand and discuss their writing

to develop their imagination, creativity, expressive language and critical awareness through their writing

curiosity and interest

pleasure

sensitivity

critical appraisal

independence and cooperation

confidence

perseverance

reflection

We want to inspire children to be gain essential life-long skills in writing.
We are inspired to write because of our wonderful range of up-to-date books in our school library, our chosen class texts and engaging reading corners. These fuel our inquisitive minds and motivate us to emulate them, becoming writers ourselves.
Staff in school inspire us by being great writing role models.
We learn about diverse authors, raising our aspirations.
We are inspired to write using exciting ‘hook’ lessons such as drama and art. These support creativity which to shine
Our writing curriculum is bespoke to our school. We teach writing units that match our children’s interests and needs, inspiring them to learn more.
Children are inspired to have the fluency, skills and attitudes to become good writers.

With our positive mindsets, writting lessons are the right level of challenge for us to improve our writing skills: not too easy and not too hard.
We use our St. Anne’s Learning Powers to overcome difficulties when writing - it's not always easy and that's OK! With continued hard work, we'll overcome these difficulties.
Model texts challenge us because they are chosen to stretch our understanding of vocabulary and other writing skills.
If we have SEND, we are challenged at a level that is appropriate to us.
We are challenged to write in all subjects, learning rich, subject-specific vocabulary and use our oracy skills to articulate our ideas.
We have high aspirations for all our children andchallenge all pupils to to write for different purposes and audiences, being able to express their thoughts, feelings and understanding through writing.
Our writing curriculum is just as challenging and ambitious as the National Curriculum in our aim to give all children the knowledge they need to succeed in life. We strive for all children will leave our school ready for their next stage in learning.
Skills are built sequentially, increasing the challenge as children progress throughout the school, with teachers revisiting important skills regularly until they are understood properly and children are able to use them effectively.

Our writing curriculum aims to cultivate courageous advocates among our pupils by providing real, meaningful topics to write about that children care about.
Through reading, children learn to form positive and healthy relationships, respecting the creations of God in all their manifestations, and fostering an environment of unity, compassion, and appreciation for the richness of human and natural diversity.
Writing helps us understand and respect others, developing our empathy skills. This happens through learning about authors and the contexts that some books are written within, as well as through writing stories where we can imply feelings, thoughts and motivations of characters.
We write about significant issues and changes that have happened and are happening in the world now, such as global warming and pollution, teaching us to care for our planet and each other.

Our writing curriculum aims to foster respect and promote an understanding of the diverse beliefs and cultures of individuals within our local, national, and global community.
Through writing, we express ourselves and learnt to value our own opinions and those of others.
We learn to give each other feedback on our writing, showing respect for their skills and ideas.

Implementation

We have a consistent approach to developing writing skills in St Anne's:

● Essential writing skills (our ‘Must Dos’) are taught and practised until children are fluent.

● Transcription skills are taught discretely as well as regularly referred to within whole-class teaching. This supports automaticity with these elements of writing, freeing up working memory for other aspects.

● Children write for a range of purposes and audiences, learning different styles and skills.

● We follow a sequence of writing lessons, starting with reading a good example of what children will create, analysing it, practising the skills needed, planning our own versions, writing it and then editing. We sometimes publish this piece too!

● Leaders ensure that ALL staff receive focused and highly effective professional development. They provide regular training and feedback on their practice in order to ensure the bet outcomes for children.

● There is a clear, skills-focussed approach to the writing curriculum to ensure development of confidence and transferrable, cross-genre writing skills.

● Communication and language approaches include reading aloud to children and discussing books, explicitly extending children’s spoken vocabulary by introducing them to new words in context, and drawing attention to phonics understanding. This is then used more easily within writing.

● Read, Write, Inc. phonics supports children’s initial letter formation and spelling, as well as sentence-level practice.

● Writing assessment judgements are moderated internally to ensure consistency within and across school, as well as externally to support accuracy.

● Assessments are then used to identify and support pupils, either through catch up interventions or adapted teaching and learning.

● The lowest attainers, children with EAL and/or those with SEND are supported through adapted quality-first teaching, following the graduated approach when appropriate, as well as through specific interventions such as Fast Track Phonics, Colourful Semantics or Beat Dyslexia.

Further information can be found in our Writing Policy.

Impact

Speaking to children, looking at books and being part of lessons, we know:

most children enjoy writing, with the most common reason for loving writing being "It allows us to be creative!"
children write widely and often, including in different subjects
children's basic skills are improving, with fewer errors being made over time
lessons are taught well, are engaging and appropriately challenging
lessons develop writing skills over time
most children enjoy reading

We're really proud of the attainment and progress that children make during their time at our school. Progress at the end of Y6 in 2023 was 'Well Above Average' (measuring 3.3, using DfE figures).

	2019		2022		2023
	EXS / GDS (%)	National EXS / GDS (%)	EXS / GDS (%)	National EXS / GDS (%)	EXS / GDS (%)	National EXS / GDS (%)
EYFS Literacy	76	77	79	68	78	70
KS1	74 / 19	69 / 15	48 / 14	58 / 8	77 / 19	60 / 8
KS2 attainment	91 / 32	78 / 20	72 / 20	69 / 13	82 / 26	60 / 8
KS2 progress	+2.6		+0.3		+3.3