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English Writing

Mr Osborne

English Writing Lead

'All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down.' Friedrich Nietzsche 

'I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of.'  – Joss Whedon 

 

Why teach writing? 

At Bude Primary Academy Juniors we aim for all of our children to be able to write independently in a variety of genres and for a range of purposes with fluency, accuracy and enjoyment.  We believe children should understand from an early age that their writing needs to be accurate, legible and set out in an appropriate way.   It is our hope for them that they will learn to explore and immerse themselves in the writing process while being creative, see the value of it and for them to leave us as confident, accomplished writers. 

 

How we teach writing? 

Through creativity and exploration, modelling and passion we make every daily writing lesson fun -filled. We have aligned all strategies we use with the National Curriculum to ensure that all objectives are covered accordingly. In addition, we strive to link all writing where appropriate to our 'Learning Projects.'  We use jane Considine unit plans to support our planning.

As they move through the school, children develop an understanding that writing is essential to thinking and learning but also enjoyable in its own right.  They learn the main rules and conventions of written English and start to explore how the English language can be used to express meaning in different ways.  Powerful teaching techniques such as shared writing and sentence stacking mean children are exposed to high quality demonstration, exploration and discussion of the choices writers make.  Children use the planning, drafting and editing process to improve their work and alongside effective on the spot marking and explicit teaching of precision and editing skills they are encouraged to become reflective, resilient learners. 

Sentence-level activities are covered in every lesson. The same activities can be used across year groups (where appropriate), with the pupils’ application of curriculum content driving the level of rigour and challenge. Within these activities, teachers have the chance to develop precision and nuance in relation to syntax, grammar and language use. The activities also help to develop an understanding of sentence boundaries and punctuation for use in both reading and writing. 

Specific skills are developed in relation to summarising, developing opinion-based pieces and writing at length. In relation to this latter point, we have structured expectations across school so that the focus is on creating quality over quantity, with pupils working towards longer pieces of writing in Year 5 and Year 6. 

All children receive daily teaching of spelling through the RWI scheme. Alongside this, pupils are taught strategies to independently deduce the meaning of new words such as considering context cues and exploring the morphology of words. Children also learn about the etymology of words and their relationships with other languages: this helps to promote curious learners, a respect for other cultures and consolidates long term learning. 

We have developed a colourful semantics approach to the teaching of grammar and this supports pupils who need additional support with their writing. 

 

What difference does learning to write make? 

Children will: 

  • Plan their writing, draft and write, evaluate and edit and proof - read for spelling and punctuation errors. 

  • Be able to write in a variety of genres, independently and legibly with an open mind and at ease adapting to audiences. 

  • Write for purpose.

  • To have a secure understanding of spelling, punctuation and grammar to develop a true understanding of English and to be successful. 

  • Learn that mistakes are powerful.

  • Leave us with the necessary skills to access the writing demands of the secondary curriculum and for them to be successful writers throughout their lives.    

Bude Primary Academy - Juniors
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