Writing

How we support pupils to acquire this learning (implementation):

At Nanaksar Primary School, we use of the Power of Reading Scheme to support the teaching and learning of Writing skills through drama, role play and meaningful writing opportunities. In addition to this we also use selective texts which cater to the need and interest of our pupils. A variety of genres are progressively taught, identifying the appropriate features but also revisiting grammar, punctuation and ambitious vocabulary from previous lessons. Pupils are encouraged to deconstruct texts and identify key features for specific genres of writing.

English lessons are planned to ensure a build up of writing skills towards a final outcome piece, with the explicit teaching of the writing process for specific genres through scaffolding, teacher modeling and shared writing. We differentiate our strategies where necessary to meet the needs of all our pupils. We also plan for a variety of strategically planned speaking and listening opportunities within the lessons to support our pupils, many of whom have English as an additional language. Cross-curricular writing opportunities are planned for so that pupils can draw upon their skills and embed them, allowing for deeper learning to take place. 

Pupils are given prompt and purposeful feedback, both verbal and written so that they know what their next steps are for learning, enabling learners to take ownership of their progress. Pupils are also encouraged to self-assess against a success criteria whilst also incorporating opportunities for peer feedback to support independence. Vocabulary development is supported through words of the week, word banks, high-quality texts and spelling homework. 

We follow Little Wandle for the formation of letters and move on to cursive handwriting thereafter. High standards of writing presentation across all subjects are encouraged, with pupils being able to achieve a Pen Licence in Key Stage 2.

How we measure achievements (impact):

At Nanaksar Primary we aim for pupils to be proficient in English and communicate their needs verbally and in writing at home, school and in the Wider World. We aim for pupils to enjoy their writing lessons and the opportunities that are made available to them, where they are happy and confident to talk about their learning and are proud of their achievements. 

We aim for pupils to be able to write for different purposes and use the features of different genres, applying the strategies taught to them and using the resources to produce high-quality independent work. We also aim for pupils to take pride in the presentation of their writing across all subjects and strive to produce legible, neat and cursive handwriting. Pupils at Nanaksar Primary will enjoy experimenting with and using a wide range of ambitious vocabulary both in verbal and written form.

Assessment in writing is ongoing through daily immediate feedback, in addition to quality marking at the end of each unit with next steps for writing.  Pupils are provided with opportunities to up-level and edit their work, in addition to receiving feedback from their peers.

Target Tracker is used to form summative assessments based upon writing criterions and to analyse gaps in pupils’ knowledge to inform planning and next steps.