English Writing
Intent
Writing is nurtured at our school from an early age through mark making and activities to develop fine motor skills. In KS1, children are taught to use finger spaces, full stops and capital letters and progress to using other forms of punctuation such as question and exclamation marks. They are also taught about using engaging and meaningful vocabulary to make their writing interesting. By the end of KS1, pupils begin to evaluate and make some improvements to their writing through editing with purple pens.
In KS2, pupils build on the foundational skills of writing and improve the accuracy of grammar, punctuation and spelling. Through our Learning Lines, children are taught to apply the National Curriculum skills within a variety of different genres. We also have ‘Writing Process’ weeks each half term in which the children are taught the skills of planning and drafting an extended piece of writing, organising their work coherently and the processes of evaluation, editing and publishing. We believe that all pupils should be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing, in part by developing a good, joined, handwriting style by the end of their Milton Mount journey.
Implementation
Classroom Organisation
EYFS and Year 1 English taught within the provision.
Whole class English lessons are taught across the school from Year 2 onwards. When teaching skills, year groups are to Learning Lines to practise a skill within sentences before using it in longer writing. Genres are taught in Writing Process weeks in which the children use the skills they have been taught that term. All learning should be aimed with the skills at the expected standard with scaffolding clearly available to support lower attaining writers and to challenge those aiming for greater depth.
Monitoring
Regular monitoring ensures that standards remain high in the teaching of writing. Examples of monitoring include learning walks, books scrutinies, governor visits and meetings, teacher records and peer monitoring across schools within our trust. Feedback given from any of these forms of monitoring is acted upon in a timely manner where required.
Marking and Feedback
Feedback should be given, where possible, within the lesson either verbally or written. All marking and feedback is given in line with our marking policy.
Summative Assessment
Summative assessments will be entered onto Target Tracker termly. Teachers will use their professional judgment, with the aid of the statements set out in the National Curriculum and Milton Mount assessment grids. Once a term, moderation will be the focus of a staff meeting, details of which will be given out ahead of time.
Impact
- Pupils will enjoy and feel confident writing across a range of genres
- Pupils of all abilities will be able to succeed in all writing lessons
- Pupils will have wide-ranging vocabulary and be able to write for a range of different purposes.
- The percentage of pupils working at EXS within each year group will be at least in line with national averages
- The percentage of pupils working at GDS within each year group will be at least in line with national averages
- There will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils (e.g. PPG vs Non PPG).
