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Writing at Leiston Primary School
Intent
At Leiston Primary School we want the children to become literate members of society, passionate readers and confident communicators both in writing and in speech, equipping them with the skills needed for later adult life.
Our children are taught to write clearly, accurately and independently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. They are encouraged to use discussion in order to learn; and are taught to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas.
Implementation
Writing is taught daily using Literacy Shed+ writing units. These are based on high quality and age appropriate texts or films that engage and enthuse the children. Grammar objectives are taught in context using a variety of teaching styles and every class is taught a weekly spelling lesson using Spelling Shed. Writing opportunities are included in most lessons with an extended piece of writing - ‘big write’ – happening at least every fortnight which is marked, with feedback given and next steps that are actioned upon. Specific editing pens are given to children to show their reflections, improvements and corrections. This final draft outcome of written work is often linked to the term’s topic final outcome.
Additional handwriting lessons should be taught within the week, with additional opportunities to practise provided. Oracy and vocabulary should be a consistent focus, with teacher modelling and sentence stems provided, to model good practice regularly.
Working walls are referred to in writing lessons to reflect the current learning. These are built on by teachers and pupils to aid children in their group and independent work. Loops of learning displays are generated and shared with children, so children have examples of finished work and ensure all children are aware of the purpose of their writing. The use of WAGOLLs act as an exemplar text of the desired outcome of work. Pupils identify the grammatical features of a WAGOLL text and are able to generate their own success criteria for their writing genre outcome at the end of the unit.
Adaptations and interventions are organised by the class teacher to engage and accelerate progress in writing as needed by the individual pupil. Support staff enable groups and individual children to access the work with a suitable challenge. Our SENCO is consulted for advice on further interventions. Teachers are encouraged to use a range of teaching strategies to meet the needs of their pupils learning styles and needs including:
- Demonstrating
- Modelling
- Scaffolding
- Questioning
- Listening and responding
- Discussion and debate
- Developing oracy skills
- Drama/role play
- Varied use of ICT resources
Impact
Pupils will become ‘fluent’ writers - able to write independently, accurately across a wide range of purposes and subjects. They will develop a wide vocabulary which they can use effectively. Attainment will be measured using teacher assessment, monitored and checked in moderation meetings and most children will achieve age related expectations in writing at the end of their cohort year, or have made significant progress towards doing so.
