Greenfield Primary School
Writing
Our carefully structured and progressive curriculum provides opportunities for pupils to become passionate authors whose skills, knowledge and interests are challenged and developed at all phases. The curriculum is clearly sequenced, demanding and enables progression from EYFS to Year 6. Consistency in the application of the school’s writing cycle enables children to build on prior learning quickly and with understanding. Vocabulary, grammar, spelling and composition are developed both explicitly and implicitly through school’s use of the environment and the use of the established writing cycle. Texts often underpin and support the writing unit and/or explore unit being covered. This gives children the opportunity to develop subject knowledge, recognition of text type features and become familiar with subject specific vocabulary.
The curriculum promotes positive attitudes and commitment to pupils' learning through celebration and support. Through carefully selected writing purposes, with a clear focus on intended audience, the curriculum prepares children for life in modern Britain. It promotes equality and diversity, promotes respect for the protected characteristics and provides meaningful opportunities for children to understand and respect differences and diversity.
English Curriculum
At Greenfield Primary School, we have a clear and ambitious vision for the literacy curriculum. We are passionate about ensuring all children become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers. We provide a happy and secure environment where our children - regardless of their background, needs and abilities - enjoy their literacy learning.
Our curriculum offer opens up the world to all learners in order for them to achieve and succeed. Our carefully planned and progressive curriculum, which is taken from the expectations set out in the National Curriculum and was developed through the use of embedding current research in literacy, equips all our pupils with many skills and opportunities. It is carefully sequenced from EYFS to Y6 using half termly progression documents that build on learning to enable incremental progression across all year groups. All relevant staff are aware of our curriculum rationale and aims and are key to its maintenance and delivery.
At Greenfield Primary, our literacy provision has a clear rationale as to how we meet and respond adaptively to the needs of the pupils in our setting. We have a lower than average proportion of children and English as an Additional Language (EAL) and higher than average proportion of Pupil Premium children. Communication and language start points are low on entry to school and school currently has a range of speech and language difficulties progressing through the roll. Our curriculum is ambitious and inclusive and takes into account the starting points, recent trends, barriers to learning and contexts of all children through baselining, transition data, collaborative working, gap analysis and unit planning. Our curriculum is readily adapted to meet the needs of all learners in order to provide them with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life, and staff have a good understanding of the importance of this. Staff have training to support placements within school and staff strengths and specialisms are utilised in key areas and with key needs.
Long and medium term literacy planning details how content is learnt at every stage of the primary phase and how resources will support this. Planning is focussed on clear progression across each phase, topic and lesson, exploits clear links with other areas and focuses on developing and extending transferable knowledge and skills in both reading and writing. Learning is demanding, builds on prior knowledge, has consistently high expectations and has clear links to the wider curriculum in order for it to embed and successfully progress to the next stage of their education. This challenge, celebration, support and demand is reflected in the school environment. Appropriate, linked vocabulary is displayed and referred to around the classroom using a tiered model of language system created by Isabel Beck and Margaret McKeon.
Our curriculum enables pupils to find their own voice, it introduces them to different cultures and experiences through the study and creation of high-quality texts, it prepares them for an ever-changing world and future and develops lifelong learners.
We prioritise addressing gaps in learning and modify the curriculum accordingly. Readers and writers requiring additional support are identified from data and teacher knowledge, and given further opportunities and support to develop their skills through specific intervention. These interventions are regularly assessed and planned for in collaboration with all adults working with the children. Teachers use formative and summative assessment to identify next steps in learning for the teaching of skills.
Assessment of written work takes place in many different ways. Teachers assess the work of pupils work during lessons and give verbal feedback within lessons so that children can edit their work immediately. This in turn enables staff to plan next steps and lesson sequences to focus on misconceptions and next steps resulting in pupils learning what they need to learn within the subject domain. In addition, staff teach children to effectively edit their own work through thinking out loud when writing models with the children and explicitly teaching pupils 'how' to edit. Children fine tune their editing skills through opportunities for peer-to-peer and self-editing and improvement through drafting and re-drafting. At the end of units of work, teachers assess an independent piece of work against a given the end of year / key stage expectations published by the Department for Education. These assessed pieces are kept in individual pupil folders which follow the children from nursery to Y6 to show progression and enable moderation to take place. Throughout the year we have termly writing moderation staff meetings and we also work with other schools in our locality to moderate writing. Our KS1 writing was moderated by the Local Authority in June 2022.
The Intent, implementation and Impact of our Curriculum – English- Writing: Reviewed March 2023
Intent
At Greenfield Primary School the teaching of English is the foundation of our curriculum. Our main aim is to ensure that every single child becomes primary literate and progresses to the best of their ability in writing. We strive for a high level of English for all, where expectations are continually high for all students. We aim to fully engage and develop the abilities of our pupils through the use of high-quality texts, immersing children in vocabulary rich learning environments and ensuring coverage of curriculum expectations and the progression of skills are met. The children at our school will develop a love for writing due to the encouraging and nurturing environment in which it is taught. Children are always encouraged to ask questions and engage in discussions with adults and their peers about what makes writing successful.
Our writing curriculum is focused upon creating a culture where all children fulfil their writing potential from a personal, academic and social aspect. Writing enables our pupils to develop intrinsic human qualities such as creativity, expression, identity, imagination, confidence and many more. Further, our curriculum allows all children to progress and exceed in writing throughout every lesson, writing cycle, half-term, term and academic year. It is evident that our writing curriculum breaks down language barriers, cultural prejudices and societal differences, and as staff, we focus on promoting communication (particularly speaking and listening) as the key to our pupils’ success. We celebrate writing further by displaying it around our school where possible, allowing children to take pride in their work and have the opportunity to share it with their peers and visitors to our setting. Writing is not only taught daily as a discrete lesson, but it is at the cornerstone of the entire curriculum. Our Literacy lessons are linked wherever possible to our topic teaching so that writing is interwoven into most areas of children’s learning. We aim for our children to become creative writers that are not afraid to experiment with language and use the ideas and models of others to push their own thinking further.
The aims of our curriculum are strong and the aims of the relevant National Curriculum area are embedded within them, as well as being underpinned by precise, current, robust research, which is embedded throughout all aspects of each writing cycle. It is evident throughout Greenfield Primary School that staff of all levels and relevant governors are aware of the curriculum rationale and aims, which align with the National Curriculum (English Programme of Study).
Implementation
Greenfield Primary School has a precise rationale regarding how the curriculum is designed in response to the needs of the pupils in our setting, directly responding to starting points, recent trends and common barriers to learning relating to context. We recognise that each child has their own starting point upon entry to each year group and progress is measured in line with these starting points to ensure that all children can celebrate success. At our school, we have a higher than national average proportion of children with Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) and/or Pupil Premium (PP), however our curriculum is highly ambitious and designed precisely to give all pupils the knowledge and skills they need to succeed. In order to do this effectively, staff work collaboratively to ensure the curriculum is adaptable, which enables all pupils to access content and make progress.
Our school is made up of number mixed year group classes (three Y3/4 classes and three Y5/6 classes) however in a morning, these six KS2 classes split into eight classes (two Y3, two Y4, two Y5 and two Y6). Our writing curriculum is precisely sequenced bridging the gap between the EYFS and KS1 curriculum so that component skills and knowledge are incrementally progressed across year groups. Ahead of composite performances at key points of the curriculum, content curriculum is precisely planned – including language acquisition, which is embedded within a deliberate, explicit and systematic framework. Finally, in order to nurture, develop and stretch our children’s talents and interests, our writing curriculum is the vehicle to wider opportunities. Our younger children are taught phonics through the Read, Write, Inc. programme and the principles are applied when writing across the curriculum.
At Greenfield Primary School, we follow a clear writing cycle consisting of progressive steps in order to produce excellent pieces of writing. Our pupils and staff refer to this cycle as the six Ps.
The assessment of writing is consistent across the school. All teachers assess an independent piece of work against a given the end of year / key stage expectations published by the Department for Education. These assessed pieces are kept in individual pupil folders which follow the children from nursery to Y6 to show progression and enable moderation to take place.
Impact
The impact on our children is clear: progress, sustained learning and transferrable skills into secondary school and beyond. With the implementation of a consistent teaching approach to writing being well established and taught thoroughly in both key stages, children are becoming more confident writers and by the time they are in upper Key Stage 2, most genres of writing are familiar to them and all children are confident in their creative writing abilities.
As children move up the school, teachers can focus more deeply on writer’s craft, sustained writing and manipulation of grammar and punctuation skills to develop deep thinkers and greater depth writers.
As all aspects of English are an integral part of the curriculum. Cross curricular writing standards are improving and skills taught in the English lesson are transferred into other subjects. This shows consolidation of skills and a deeper understanding of how and when to use specific grammar, punctuation and grammar objectives. We hope that as children move on from us to further their education and learning, that their creativity, passion for English and high aspirations travel with them and continue to grow and develop as they do.
What the children can show for themselves at the end of their time with us.
- Children will have a wealth of writing, both in their writing portfolios (which move with children from nursery to Y6) and their exercise books from their time at Greenfield Primary.
- Children will have their own established writing process, strategies and routines for producing successful, meaningful and accurate writing which draws on high quality modelled texts for genres and a secure understanding of what is required in different types of writing.
- They will have artefacts and memories of the impact their published and performed writing has had on the local community and beyond.
EYFS Writing
EYFS Sentence Sense Progression
EYFS Sentence Sense Progression with skills and teaching questions
KS1 and KS2 Writing
Writing Progression Years One - Six