Writing at Friars

INTENT

At Friars, we endeavour to instil a love of writing in all our pupils. Through the use of high-quality texts, we aim to equip children with the knowledge and skills that will allow them to become independent writers and adapt their presentation, style and writing for a range of purposes and across the curriculum. The texts that children encounter at Friars have been carefully chosen to provide for a range of writing opportunities across different genres. These texts, along with those studied in reading lessons, have also been selected so as to provide a diversity of authors, themes and protagonists. Hence, we ensure that children from our diverse community see themselves represented in the literature that they study. Where possible, teachers are able to draw upon high-quality units of work from published schemes (such as The Literacy Tree) as an aid in their planning of engaging lessons.

IMPLEMENTATION

All pupils to receive a daily English lesson
Create a positive reading and writing culture in school where both are promoted, enjoyed and considered ‘a pleasure’ for all pupils
Regular opportunities for children to write at length/longer pieces of writing
Presentation must be neat in books. By the end of Key Stage 2, children should be writing in cursive with increasing legibility and fluency. Children receive pen licences when they meet these expectations. Handwriting is taught in-line with our handwriting policy.
Use of anonymous writing and handwriting to show the children what makes good writing.
Peer feedback – children providing feedback on each other’s work
Regular opportunities for children to go back and edit their own work – both in response to teacher feedback and also independently.
Working walls – all classes have an English working wall to aid pupils and guide them through the process of reading and writing
Vocabulary – display in class, all curriculum areas to have vocabulary displayed. Thesauruses and dictionaries to be easily accessible for pupils to use across Key Stage 2.
Displays of writing to encourage pride in work, give purpose and audience and to show that work is valued
Writing across all areas of the curriculum will reflect the high standard of English taught at the Bridges Federation
Cross-curricular writing in English books must include subject specific vocabulary.
Handwriting is taught in-line with our handwriting policy and pupils are provided with opportunities to practice legible cursive handwriting

IMPACT

Pupils enjoy writing and use the features of different genres and style. They can write for different purposes and audiences
Children see themselves represented in the texts that they study as part of their writing lessons.
Pupils are proud of their writing.
Pupils know that others value their writing and they see it on display, or used as WMG
Skills progress throughout the school is evident in children’s books
Pupils are being adventurous with vocabulary choices
Writing across the curriculum is the same standard as in English books
There is evidence of a clear teaching sequence in books
Pupils respond to feedback which is effective in improving their learning and reflects improved understanding which would be evident in their use of green pen to edit and improve their work
Pupils use classroom resources to support their learning
Pupils presentation is of a high standard following the school’s handwriting policy
Teachers moderate pupils work in school and in cluster meetings with other schools to ensure accurate assessments are made
Pupils demonstrate clear legible handwriting across the whole curriculum