Intent
At St Mary’s, it is our intention, to develop the necessary spoken language, reading, and writing skills so that children express themselves creatively and imaginatively, and communicate with others effectively. We strive to ensure that all children are equipped with the essential tools to become enthusiastic and independent learners, whilst at St Mary’s and beyond.
Aims
- to develop writing skills through composing, planning, drafting and editing
- to use punctuation correctly
- to create and shape sentences and texts
- to use a range of spelling strategies
- to understand text structure and organisation
- to write legibly and fluently
- to understand and use Standard English
- to have an awareness of audience and purpose and adapt writing appropriately
Implementation
At St Mary’s, our writing curriculum allows children to develop their writing skills through composing, planning, drafting and editing. They are taught to appreciate and apply ambitious vocabulary, develop a strong understand of spelling, grammar and punctuation and create and shape sentences and texts. It is important to that we give children the opportunities to be creative, imaginative writers, and enable them to write for a range of purposes.
We follow the ‘Talk for Writing’ process in EYFS and Year 1. The aim is for the children to orally retell stories first - to help them develop their vocabulary base and understanding of story structures before they then apply this to their writing. Children in Year 2 and beyond write frequently, at length, in English lessons and in wider areas of the curriculum. This encourages children to apply their English knowledge in all lessons and high expectations are set when writing across the wider curriculum.
Discrete spelling, punctuation and grammar lessons are taught across both key stages, usually at the beginning of the English lesson. This enables children to be familiar with the vocabulary needed and then apply this in their lesson. Vocabulary is also taught daily, alongside focused tasks, to enable all pupils to learn new words and use these in context.