Why do we write?

Without writing there would be no reading. The two come hand in hand like fish and chips! The primary reason for writing anything is to communicate with others, to stimulate interest or action from the reader. You may also use writing to help you to reflect on your experiences and learn from them. Without written language, people would not be able to share their ideas to people they've never met. Many inventions that we take for granted will not have been invented. We will also not be able to record our history, and would end up repeatedly making the same mistakes. Fortunately, we do not ever have to imagine such a world! All the stories that have been told exist because people learned to write and communicate. What could you write that would change the world?

Our Writing Curriculum

Planning writing is organised around the Teaching Sequence for Writing. This provides a clear learning sequence using a model text as the starting point to engage, exemplify and practice skills before progressing into extended writing episodes; this includes opportunities for drafting, editing and publishing writing.

Writing has a high profile across our curriculum and opportunities for writing are frequent and varied. Writing forms a key part of all subjects and opportunities are planned to enable children to use the skills they have learnt in English in other subjects. All children are given the opportunity to write for an extended period of time each week. As well as this, the writing curriculum is such that at times, writing is taught directly to pupils. This includes the teaching of writing and language skills for example technical vocabulary, spelling, grammar and punctuation. As with the reading, writing instruction is differentiated according to the needs of the children.

The teaching sequence includes opportunities for several different styles of teaching.
These include: modelled writing, shared writing, guided writing, paired writing and individual writing.

Substantive Knowledge 

In writing, substantive knowledge is the ability to effectively plan, draft, and construct writing for different purposes. When constructing writing, this involves knowledge of structural, grammatical and linguistic features as well as knowledge of handwriting and spellings.

Through deliberate practice, this substantive knowledge becomes automatic and fluent leading to mastery.

Disciplinary Knowledge 

In writing, disciplinary knowledge is the ability to evaluate and edit text and apply substantive knowledge to effectively write for a range of purposes. In both reading and writing, it is the process of thinking critically and creatively using the automaticity of substantive knowledge.

Assessment

To write at age related expectation it is important that our pupils know the different skills that they need to show in their writing and are taught to use them confidently. 

We ensure that we use the correct terminology when teaching skills and that we model them throughout our modelled writing.