Writing

At the start

This all starts in the early years where child begin to learn phonics in the first few weeks of the year. Through the Twinkl phonics scheme. The children learn the main sounds heard in the English Language and how they can be represented, as well as learning ‘tricky’ or common exception words for Levels 2, 3 and 4. They use these sounds to write simple words, captions and sentences. By the end of Year 1, children will have mastered using phonics to segment when spelling. In Year 2, phonics continues through Level 6. The children’s knowledge of spelling patterns is developed further as well as spelling rules for adding prefixes and suffixes. They learn to spell more common exception words as well as developing their understanding of grammar rules.  Like in key stage 2, both year 1 and 2 children are taught to compose writing using the Write Stuff scheme of work.

The second phase

In Key Stage 2, we build on the children’s knowledge of phonics and introduce the rules of spelling using Essential Spelling. Through this, children are shown how to become spellers for life, rather than remember spellings for a week. It follows a progressive sequence of lessons with ample opportunity to ensure children revisit and consolidate learning.

The children continue with the Write Stuff curriculum accessing a range of high quality texts and developing their understanding of grammar.

The Olveston Writing Curriculum has three over-arching aims:

1. To expose the children to high quality texts which will reflect their everyday world, broaden their horizons and expand their vocabulary.
2. Children will be able to write down their ideas fluently, spelling words quickly and accurately by knowing the relationship between phonemes and graphemes in words and understanding the key rules of spelling and grammar.
3. Children will develop their knowledge of composition which will ensure they can form, articulate and communicate ideas and organise them coherently for a reader.

What does this look like in the long term? 

• Children will know and understand how to accurately spell words using their phonics knowledge and the spelling patterns and rules taught in the primary national curriculum.
• Children will understand how to form letters cursively and will have a neat, legible and consistent handwriting style by year 6.
• Children will know and understand the necessary grammar to be able to communicate ideas effectively and precisely.
• Children will understand how to compose writing that is accurate and coherent, adapting their language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.