Writing at BCS

Intent

Why do we teach this? Why do we teach it in the way we do?

At BCS, we strive to help our children develop into articulate and creative communicators, who are well-equipped with the basic skills they need to become life-long learners.

We aim to ensure all of our children develop a genuine love of language and the written word, through a text-based approach; this links closely to the broader curriculum, ensuring that children’s English learning is relevant and meaningful: where possible we link our reading, writing and the topic that we are covering in History, Geography, Science and other curriculum areas.

 We ensure that children develop an understanding of the purpose of writing. By the end of KS2 all children will understand and have the opportunity to write for the 4 purposes or writing;

Implementation

What do we teach? What does this look like?

Our whole curriculum is shaped by our school vision which aims to enable all children, regardless of background, ability, additional needs, and to flourish to become the very best version of themselves they can possibly be. We teach the National Curriculum, supported by a clear skills and knowledge progression (see additional links for progression documents).

Teachers clearly teach and model writing skills and document the learning journey through consistent working walls; guided writing sessions are used to target specific needs of both groups and individuals. Children have opportunities to write at length, in extended, independent writing sessions at the end of a unit of work – applying their taught skills to an unsupported piece of writing. Spelling, punctuation and grammar is consistently taught throughout the writing purpose to support this.

Throughout the Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, we teach writing through a text-based approach, which allows us to meet the needs of the children that we are teaching – through choosing a text that will engage, inspire and motivate. As well as reading a wide variety of genres, children are given frequent opportunities to develop their skills in writing in different genres, for the different purposes.

Through covering one Writing purpose per half-term in depth, children are given the opportunity to put their writing skills into practice through two pieces of writing per half-term, applying the main features of the purpose.  Each half-term, children will produce a piece of writing that will be displayed on a special writing board in each class, this allows every child to have a written piece of work on the walls, which can be seen and celebrated by all, as well as knowing they are writing for a purpose and being seen as real writers.

In addition to this, pupils are taught focused, specific punctuation and grammar skills, appropriate to their year group, within our purpose for writing approach to planning, allowing opportunities to identify, practice and consolidate grammatical understanding. Children then apply the grammar and punctuation skills that they have learnt in their extended pieces of writing.

Spelling: At BCS, spelling is taught regularly in focused sessions within each class. Learning to recognise the high frequency words on sight is crucial in developing fluency and accuracy in reading and then writing. High frequency words are the words that appear most often in printed materials. Some of the high frequency words are referred to as ‘tricky words’, as the children are unable to use their phonic knowledge to decode every part of the word. Once children are confident in reading and spelling high frequency words, they are taught spelling rules and are encouraged to apply these rules in their writing. KS2 use a scheme called Spelling Shed to support with the teaching of the different spelling rules, this can also be accessed at home with a personal login. Spellings are sent home in each year group and are tested each Friday.

Impact

What will this look like?

By the time children leave our school they will: 

• Make good progress from their KS1 results
• Have a love for writing and write for enjoyment
• Be able to produce written work in all areas of the curriculum to a high standard 
• Be confident to write for different purposes

Hybrid Learning

(Please not that all these websites are external links)