Writing is an essential tool in the learning process. Children write to express their emotions, to convey their thoughts and opinions and to present evidence of research. By developing these skills we can equip our children to use writing across the range of curricular activities in which they are involved.
Teaching approaches and organisation of learning:
• all staff use a whole school approach to layout and structure with the use of our school writing scheme.
• children write for themselves, their peers, the school, and the wider community at times. We believe in giving the children the opportunity to write for a real purpose.
• the purpose of the writing is made clear to children before they begin. Are they trying to amuse, persuade or frighten the reader? This is supported through the prepare and plan cycle.
• teachers show children how to approach a writing task by writing themselves, explaining what they are doing as they go along (modelled writing) or by scribing the children’s ideas onto large sheets (shared writing).
• writing sessions include time for discussion and planning – we make time for the children to reflect upon their work and edit at various points.
• children work both independently and collaboratively during the planning and prepare stage.
The writing curriculum consists of 3 sections:
Know it – the essential knowledge needed for that year group. Directly correlates to NC requirements.
Teach it – a section for transcription which focuses upon spelling and handwriting, and composition which looks at the construction of writing.
Apply it – a progressive whole school approach to writing content.
We teach writing through a range of different methods, but always through the writing process of:
Read and Respond
The writing process begins by introducing the stimuli for writing (this could be a book, a piece of model text an animation etc). The children identify and discuss language, grammar, structure and organisational features, becoming familiar the text.
Prepare
The children are introduced to the writing task by identifying the context, audience and purpose. They will discuss and share ideas and gather information and vocabulary banks. They are taught to understand that language can have different functions (e.g. to enhance, evoke response, persuade or aid meaning), how to build cohesion through the use of paragraphs and will begin to experiment with a formal style of writing.
Plan
The children plan writing through discussing and recording ideas, continuing to refer back to the context, audience, purpose and the model text. Children are exposed to a range of planning formats – being encouraged to understand that different planning formats can be used for a range of genres.
Draft
The children draft and write through rehearsing and composing sentences, experimenting with language and sentence structures, selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning. There is a focus on organisational devices and how these work in the particular style of writing. It is recognised as good practice in this stage of the writing process for the children to complete a shared write. This is a joint construction of the text between the teacher and the children. The teacher is acting as the scribe but the children have ownership of the text. As they are not directly engaged in the physical demand of the writing, they are better able to concentrate on the compositional aspects of the work and contribute a wide range of ideas.
Evaluate and Edit
Once the drafting stage of the writing process is complete, the children are given opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing. They can propose changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning. The children are encouraged to ensure consistent use of tense and correct subject/verb agreement, selecting appropriate register. They precis longer passages and proofread for spelling and punctuation errors.
Publish
An opportunity for the children to perform/publish their own compositions. When publishing their independent writing, the children have a separate writing book that only has their final compositions in.
Lakes’ Scheme of work for Writing: