Writing

To provide an writing curriculum that will enable our students to be successful writers who are able to develop and apply their skills in all areas of the school curriculum and the wider world. Pupils will develop a love of writing through weekly writing for pleasure sessions, using their creativity to discuss and share their ideas. Pupils will learn how to plan, edit and evaluate their own writing. They will also develop an awareness of the audience, purpose and context, and a wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. They will also have regular opportunities to use and apply speaking and listening skills in English lessons and across the wider curriculum.

The curriculum map is designed in such a way that children are able to build on their prior learning. Key genres are revisited to enable children to build up an understanding of features and vocabulary. Core grammar, spelling and punctuation are revised each year to enable a solid understanding. 

Children's knowledge of grammar, punctuation, spelling and composition is built upon throughout each year and across the year groups.

Progression in Narrative Writing (Reception - Year 6)

An example of how children are able to build on their prior learning can be seen through the sample of writing below:

In the Early Years, children progress through the different stages of early writing through a variety of adult-led and child initiated mark making activities within the continuous provision and carpet input sessions. Children will progress from initial mark making activities towards the application of their phonics knowledge in purposeful writing activities, such as writing letters, recording recipes or making design plans and instructions in the construction area. By the end of Reception, children will be writing short sentences with words with known sound-letter correspondence and components of correct sentence structure.

From Year 1-6, children have daily, hour long writing lessons designed and sequenced to enable progression of their compositional and transcription skills. Each new unit begins with a cold task which identifies the individual starting points for the children, with each writing unit planned to address misconceptions and teach the skills required for the genre. Every unit builds towards a final masterpiece, during which children are given the opportunity to innovate alongside demonstrating their knowledge and understanding of the skills. Key genres are revisited to enable children to build up an understanding of features and vocabulary. Core grammar, spelling and punctuation are revised each year to enable a solid understanding.

Within each lesson, there is dedicated time for the children to apply the grammar, punctuation and spelling skills learnt in their grammar lessons to their writing. By the end of KS2, children will be secondary-ready, independently able to apply their compositional, grammatical, spelling and punctuation learning to a variety of text types as well as confident in reflectively and purposefully editing and improving their own writing. Children will have been exposed to a variety of high-quality literature and will be able to apply their understanding of reading skills to understand these. They will also be able to discuss their own literary preferences and opinions.

At Noel Park, we aim to promote a love of writing across the curriculum. Weekly creative writing lessons, separate from the rest of the writing curriculum, provide opportunities for children to use their imagination and creativity to respond to a range of stimuli. From videos and pictures to soundscapes, children are encouraged to choose what they would like to write, making their own stylistic and linguistic choices whilst also experimenting with new vocabulary and sentence structures. Dedicated writing for pleasure days and events such as our Black History writing exhibition give children further opportunities to write for a purpose and share their love of writing with others.

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6