Writing

Our Aims and Vision

At Kingmoor Nursery and Infant School we believe that Literacy is the key to all learning and underpins every area of our school curriculum. The ability to understand and use language enables children to:

Explore and interact successfully with the world around them.
Communicate their feelings, thoughts and ideas with confidence.
Develop skills essential for lifelong learning.

It is our aim for all children to learn to speak, read and write with confidence, fluency and understanding, enabling them to become independent, confident and creative learners. We believe that literacy is a crucial key to improving learning and raising standards. It supports children to access subjects across the curriculum, to read for information and pleasure, to communicate confidently and effectively. Our aim is for all children to have equal access to literacy, which is one of the core subjects of the National Curriculum.

At Kingmoor we value all pupils’ efforts to write and talk. We aim for each child to:

Have a positive attitude towards literacy.
Have self-confidence in their ability.
Be able to work enthusiastically, co-operatively and with perseverance.
Be able to think independently.
Experience a sense of achievement regardless of age or ability.
Be able to apply previously acquired concepts, skills, knowledge and understanding to new situations both in and out of school.
Be able to communicate with peers and adults, ideas, experiences, questions, clearly and fluently, using appropriate language.
Be aware of the uses of literacy beyond the classroom.
Be effective, competent communicators and good listeners

AIMS OF WRITING

Many lessons include and depend on written communication. We want our pupils to develop increasing confidence and competence in writing so that they are able to:

Have a positive attitude towards writing
Write in a widening variety of forms for different purposes.
Develop ideas and communicate their meaning to a reader.
Present their writing clearly using accurate punctuation, grammar, correct spelling and legible handwriting.
Have the confidence to self-evaluate and check their work independently for sense, accuracy and meaning

The school environment celebrates quality writing through displays of work in both handwritten and typed form as well as signs and labels. Opportunities for writing are planned and accessible throughout the learning environment indoors and outdoors.

AIMS OF SPEAKING AND LISTENING

Speech is our main means of communication in everyday life and is fundamental to the development of understanding. We want our students to develop increasing confidence and competence in oracy so that they are able to:

Express their ideas with clarity.
Use appropriate language, vocabulary and terminology to explain their thinking.
Adapt their speech to a widening range of circumstances.
Speak for a range of purposes.
Listen with understanding and respond sensitively and appropriately.

Our Curriculum

Nursery

In Nursery children have opportunities for mark making and writing in a variety of settings including outdoor provision. Children’s own attempts at early writing are celebrated alongside the direct teaching of the key skills that will enable the children to progress through the stages of writing development. Physical Development is a big part of our EY writing curriculum.

Reception

For English in EYFS, we have organised units to ensure a balance of coverage and progression across the year, incorporating key knowledge and skills relating to Phonics, Reading, Writing, Grammar and Spelling. Oracy underpins teaching in all units. All elements of English are embedded within the units, rather than being taught as separate strands. We will offer suggested sequences to ensure logical progression and development of knowledge and skills. The curriculum reinforces the reciprocal relationship between Reading and Writing.

Daily rhyming, as well as short reading and writing activities, will take place within a creative story context to revisit key knowledge and provide frequent application of skills.

Teaching of writing will maximise opportunities for imaginative input from pupils, building self-esteem and motivation. There is an overarching purpose for each fiction unit which builds progressively over the year (action, character, setting, description, mood and middles) so that each of these can be explicitly taught to support great fiction writing. Towards the end of the year, story writing will focus on drawing a combination of these elements together to support application of what has been learnt.

At the end of some units, there will be the opportunity for pupils to recycle/innovate the original story.

Grammar: this is taught and continually reinforced in context in relation to the stories/non-fiction type so that this knowledge can be used ‘in-action’.

Key Stage 1

In writing in Key Stage one, we have organised the curriculum to ensure a balance of coverage and progression across the year through the use of our CUSP curriculum.

We want children to develop writing skills for a range of purposes and audiences, using spelling, punctuation and syntax appropriately and with confidence. We aim to provide creative approaches to writing, engaging stimuli and purpose. Immersion in reading, talk and preparation for writing is essential to the writing development process.

We teach our writing through the CUSP curriculum which ensures that children are given the opportunity to write for a range of different purposes whilst also meeting the requirements of the National Curriculum. Children are given a high quality education where skills such as letter formation, composition and transcription are embedded due to continual repetition of knowledge. For each piece of writing, children are given a 'model text' example where they can unpick the skills used in order to build a strong framework on which to develop themselves as writers. This approach allows children to gain a deeper understanding of the technical accuracy needed for their writing which leads to increased confidence. This then develops their independency and ensures that they become more creative writers.

Handwriting

Handwriting begins in the Early Years Foundation Stage with mark-making and patterns. All children are given

access to a wide range of writing tools to practise the early fine motor skills. Pupils are encouraged to develop fluent lines of correctly orientated letters from an early age and emergent writing is encouraged. Handwriting and letter formation is taught weekly in Key Stage 1 and daily in Reception. The correct way of forming letters with joining flicks is modelled by the teacher following the Letter Join programme. Good presentation is emphasised at all times and through all forms of writing. Children are encouraged to join their handwriting as soon as they are able to use the correct orientation. We expect children to begin joining during Year 2. We aim for children to:

form letters correctly, leading to a fluent, legible and individual style
write legibly in both joined and printed styles with increasing fluency and speed
Use different forms of handwriting for different purposes.

Enrichment

Writing policy 2022.pdf