English (Writing)

At Broseley C of E Primary School, we understand that writing is an important tool to allow our children to communicate in a variety of situations. We aim to provide children with the ability to enjoy the writing experience whilst mastering the four main domains of writing: to entertain, to inform, to persuade, and to discuss. To thrive as a Global Citizen, we believe children need to show prowess in all four areas to communicate effectively throughout life.

Our aim is to make writing enjoyable for children to allow them to express their thoughts and ideas creatively. We understand that writing is a cognitively demanding process but endeavour to provide speaking and listening opportunities within teaching units to build a deep understanding of the text being studied. As James Britton stated, “Writing floats on a sea of talk.” As part of their writing units, children take part in a variety of role play activities to help internalise the text they are working with.

How writing is taught at Broseley C of E Primary School

In years 1 – 6, lessons begin with a spelling and grammar focus; this focus is then built upon throughout the lesson. To begin, teachers will model the grammar focus with lessons ending on children independently applying their knowledge. All teaching around learning different writing techniques happens within a genre, such as poetry, story writing, diaries, newspaper reports or explanation texts.

Children use their unit of work to independently draft a final piece which is then edited independently and with the help of peers before publishing their piece of work. Our goal is always to provide a purpose for writing: children love to display their work around school and perform certain aspects in assemblies.

Writing in the Early Years

In EYFS, children are exposed to a variety of writing activities throughout their continuous provision and with their phonics teaching. They follow The Drawing Club for their discrete writing lessons which immerses children in a story with a focus on vocabulary whilst allowing children’s creativity and imagination to flourish. Writing lessons in EYFS focus on bringing joy to writing tasks and children take part in active lessons which include role play to build memorable experiences.

Inclusivity

Writing is a challenging skill to master; with this in mind, teachers endeavour to provide scaffolds in lessons to allow all children to achieve the same lesson objectives. Support in lessons includes the use of phonics writing mats, sentence starters, and images to support descriptive writing. Interventions are also delivered to support all children who are displaying difficulty in any aspect of their writing.