Writing 

Imaginative and purposeful writers who harness the power of words.

Writing is centered on high-quality, diverse and inclusive texts that represent the school’s values and reflect both our local and global community. By purposefully including books that have diverse themes, authors, characters and settings, the children are able to see themselves and aspects of their real lives represented positively in literature.

From the beginnings of mark-making in Nursery through to extended pieces of writing in Year 6, children are taught to write effectively for a range of purposes and understand how their choices as a writer have the power to impact and influence their reader.

Mark - making and Writing in Nursery

Mark-making is a physical and sensory activity that develops hand-eye coordination and encourages creative expression. The children are able to explore a range of tools to make marks, as well as use a variety of malleable and sensory methods, that are made available to them every day in both the indoor and outdoor spaces.

When a child is ready, they will be able to communicate and explain the meaning behind their marks. This signals the early beginnings of more formal writing, as the children will then progress onto forming letter-like shapes, which are then used to write their own name. By having the ambition for each child in Nursery to be able to write their name before they begin Reception, it empowers them right from the beginning and demonstrates that their writing will always have meaning and that it will always have purpose. 

Writing in Reception

During Reception, developing fine and gross motor skills continues to be a critical part of our continuous provision.

Children are taught how to correctly form letters during their daily phonics lessons, which use the Essential Letters and Sounds scheme. As they continue to progress throughout the year and solidify their understanding of graphemes and phonemes, the children are then able to apply this knowledge to make plausible attempts at writing complete words before moving on to writing complete sentences.

Even in Reception, children are given a wide range of contexts to write in that still provide opportunities for them to use their imagination and explore their own interests. These writing tasks are formed from an exploration of a ‘Focus text’, which connects to the theme the children’s learning is revolving around, as well as a variety of provision texts, which invite the children to delve deeper into their current topic.

By the end of Reception, we aim for our children to (with the support of an adult) confidently use their phonics skills to write coherent sentences containing common exception words that can be read by themselves and others.

Writing in KS1 and KS2

 In KS1 and KS2, children read complete books as a whole class and write for a range of purposes connecting to the text they are reading. By reading books in their entirety, the children gain a deeper understanding of the text, become highly invested in the characters and plot as well as become able to draw stronger connections between their reading skills and the application this can have for their writing.

To teach the writing process and enable the children to apply new writing skills, writing lessons are taught in ‘cycles’:

- The first lesson or two features writing tasks that aim to hook the children in and spark their creativity for the next independent writing outcome

- Following this, the children complete a series of lessons that feature writing tasks connecting to the final, independent writing outcome

- The children will then plan and write their independent writing outcome, which is an assessed, extended piece of writing that allows the children to showcase all of their skills as a writer

- Finally, children are given the opportunity to edit their work in response to feedback from adults

By teaching Writing in this way, the children are exposed to a range of writing contexts that develop their vocabulary as well as their understanding of audience and purpose through the decisions they make as a writer. By consistently drawing the children’s attention back to their reasons behind their writing and the impact they intend to have on the reader, the children are able to manipulate their punctuation and grammatical structures to enhance meaning and reflect the correct register for the task.

 Summary of Writing at MPS

• Writing (English) lessons are taught every day (5 lessons per week)
•  During Writing (English) lessons, children complete written tasks that are evidenced in their Writing books
• Explicit Grammar lessons are taught once a week, focusing on the specific objectives in the National Curriculum that the children will use in their next independent writing outcome
• Handwriting is taught for a total of one hour per week (following the Nelson scheme)
• Spelling is taught twice per week (following the Spelling Shed scheme)

 Each writing unit includes the text, independent writing outcomes and the grammar objectives that are specifically linked to the writing unit.