Writing

In Hazlehurst Primary Academy the aim of our well- planned writing curriculum is to develop successful and confident writers. We teach the National Curriculum, which provides the necessary skills for our pupils to become effective communicators. Each child is seen as a writer and we provide daily opportunities for children to have meaningful opportunities to write.

Our staff are well trained in all aspects of teaching the writing curriculum. We prioritise the basic transcription skills of spelling and handwriting, so that children’s minds are free to be creative and independent writers.

Handwriting is clearly sequenced and children first master how to print letters and then by the end of Year 2, they are taught to master a fluid, joined style of handwriting. We use the ‘LetterJoin’ programme, and this can be accessed from home to further support children’s learning. Children in the EYFS have daily taught handwriting lessons that are appropriate to their stage of learning.

The importance of writing is shared with children from their first days in the EYFS. Here they are provided with learning activities that build both the physical and cognitive skills required to become a successful writer. They very quickly move from mark making to forming meaningful marks, letters and then words. During their daily ELS phonics lessons, children are taught to apply what they have learned into their writing.

Children are exposed to many books, topics and experiences; this provides them with models and inspiration for writing.

As children enter Key Stage 1 they master writing complete sentences. Teachers follow a clear progression plan of what to teach when, and this is continued into Key Stage 2. The writing curriculum is well sequenced to ensure children experience age appropriate challenge as well as a wide breadth of writing genres, styles and techniques. Over time, our curriculum allows children to: develop an awareness of the reader; write for a specific audience; demonstrate increasingly sophisticated vocabulary, punctuation and grammar.

We follow a six step sequence for teaching writing: Generate ideas for writing; Modelled and Independent Writing; Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation; Independent Writing; Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation and Independent writing, editing and publishing. Teachers use Boxing Up and plot patterns to help children plan their writing effectively.

A range of effective media (model texts, videos, fiction, non-fiction) is used to inspire and stimulate writing. We have a range of scaffolds in the classrooms to support independent writing. The children in our academy love using our sentence mats to help them add variety into their writing.

We regularly meet with other teachers in our academy to moderate assessments, compare writing and learn from each other.