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    • How do we teach writing at our school?

    Writing is a key focus for us this year. We want to develop children's imagination, for children to be able to express themselves clearly and to have the secretarial skills to produce high quality writing. We use real books to do this.

    Children are expected to join their handwriting  as they progress through the school. We consider good presentation to be an important element of writing.

    Please open the PDF below to see how we teach writing across the school.

    We also teach phonics and spelling through a scheme called "Read Write Inc". (See the section "How we teach reading").

    You can also find some helpful parent guides about how to pronounce  the phonics we teach in the "Curriculum section".

    What do we expect children to learn about in writing as they progress through the school?

    1. Progression+in+narrative+texts.pdf
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    2. Progression+in+non+fiction+texts+(1).pdf
      PDF File

    What should children know about grammar each year?

    1. Year-1-GPS-Long-Term-Plan.pdf
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    2. Year-2-GPS-Long-Term-Plan.pdf
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    3. Year-3-GPS-Long-Term-Plan.pdf
      PDF File
    4. Year-4-GPS-Long-Term-Plan.pdf
      PDF File
    5. Year-5-GPS-Long-Term-Plan.pdf
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    6. Year-6-GPS-Long-Term-Plan.pdf
      PDF File

    Spelling

    We teach spelling for fifteen minutes a day from years 2 to 6 introducing spelling rules. To keep children engaged, aliens introduce spelling rules on an exciting online spelling planet and children complete quick-fire activities in their spelling logs. Progress is accurately recorded using practice tests and teachers learn how to move children on quickly.

    For more information on Read Write Inc. Spelling go to:https://global.oup.com/education/content/primary/series/rwi/spelling/?region=international.

    Using the spoken word to support the reading and writing curriculum.

    Spoken Language

    The use of spoken language is an important tool which supports English. Through drama, children are able to explore their own experience as well as learning about the wider world. We use “The Power of Reading” in our school. This helps the children to understand characters and their actions, and by dramatising texts, this in turn, supports  writing.

    Reception

    In the Early Years, the children explore and create drama. Children;

    • use role play in the home corner to develop and extend their own experiences.
    • act out known stories, which helps them to develop an understanding of the relationship between role and character.

    Years One and Two

    As the children develop and have a wider understanding of English, they begin to;

    • Use drama to explore feelings, knowledge and ideas, linked to the text they are using.
    • develop the ability to help maintain the focus in the dramatic action
    • use reflection on a particular dramatic action to create possible alternative courses for the action out of role,
    • share insights while experiencing the drama

    Years Three and Four

    As the children are exposed to more texts, drama helps them to;

     

    • begin to see how tension adds to drama
    • experience, through drama, the relationship between story, theme and life experience
    • develop, out of role, the ability to co-operate and communicate with others in helping to shape the drama
    • develop, in role, the ability to co-operate and communicate with others in helping to shape the drama
    • develop an understanding of  fictional relationships through interaction with the other characters
    • re-enact for others in the group a scene that has been made in simultaneous small-group work as part of a drama
    • to be able to debate from a single point of view

    Years Five and Six

    In the latter years, drama helps to support writing in the following ways. Children are given opportunities to;

    • experience the anger and frustration arising from a conflict
    • understand the relationship between role and character and develop the ability to hold on to either role or character for as long as the dramatic activity requires
    • explore how the fictional past and the desired fictional future influence the present dramatic action
    • begin, as a member of a group, to include in drama activity the elements of tension and suspense
    • use a script
    • use reflection on and evaluation of a particular dramatic action to create possible alternative courses for the action
    • learn, through drama, the relationship between story, theme and life experience
    • use the sharing of insights arising out of dramatic action to develop the ability to draw conclusions and to hypothesise about life and people
    • develop, out of role, the ability to co-operate and communicate with others in helping to shape the drama in small-group work, exchange roles so that each member of the group has a chance to contribute in the making of each character
    • develop fictional relationships through interaction with the other characters in small-group or whole-class scenes as the drama text is being made
    • to be able to debate from an alternative viewpoint considering how best to win an argument

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