Warden Park Primary Academy
Writing
The writing process at Warden Park Primary Academy is planned around writing for a real purpose and knowing your audience. The children will be taught how to write by thinking about their audience and how we want them to feel. They will use real-life contexts; their own experiences; topical issues; high quality texts; immersive experiences; trips and visitors and also their own passions and interests to drive their writing.
The children will have the opportunity to use technology to enhance their digital literacy skills and to provide a range of ways of sharing their words with their audience. They will be taught to use aspirational and engaging vocabulary as well as the mechanics of handwriting and spelling to aid fluency. Writing goes hand in hand with reading; your child’s classroom will be filled with high-quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry and they will also have the opportunity to visit the library regularly too.
Writing at primary school
Learning to write is one of the most important things that a child at primary school will learn. Children use their writing in almost all other subjects of the curriculum. Good writing also gives children a voice to share their ideas with the world.
For a child, learning to write can be a tricky business, not least because good writing involves handwriting, spelling, grammar and punctuation not to mention what we want to write and who we are writing for.
Writing in the National Curriculum in England
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
In the Nursery children are given lots of opportunities to develop their mark-making inside and outside. Adults will model writing for a purpose. Following a 'stage not age' approach children will start to write their names and match the spoken sound with the written letter. In Reception, children will continue to be taught correct letter formation. They will be encouraged to use their knowledge of phonics to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. By the end of the year, they will be expected to write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others.
Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)
In Year 1, children will be taught to write sentences by saying out loud what they are going to write about, put several sentences together and re-read their writing to check it makes sense. They will also be expected to discuss what they have written and to read it aloud.
In Year 2, children learn to write for a range of purposes, including stories, information texts and poetry. Children are encouraged to plan what they are going to write and to read through their writing to make corrections and improvements.
Key stage 2 (Years 3 to 6)
In Years 3 and 4, children are encouraged to draft and write by talking about their writing. They will continue to learn how to organise paragraphs and, if they are writing non-fiction, to use headings. When they are writing stories, they will learn to use settings, characters and plots. Children in Years 3 and 4 will be expected to use what they know about grammar in their writing and to read through what they have written, to find ways to improve it.
In Years 5 and 6, children will continue to develop their skills in planning, drafting and reviewing what they have written. Children learn to identify the audience for and purpose of their writing. They will be expected to use grammar appropriately. In non-fiction writing, children will use headings, bullet points and other ways to organise their writing. They will be expected to describe settings, characters and to use dialogue in their stories.
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/english--1/writing-at-primary-school/
Encouraging writing at home
EYFS/KS1
7 Ideas to Encourage Writing
- Build up the strength in your child's hands and fingers i.e. playdoh, cutting, messy play
- Ditch the pen and paper - go outside and make writing big and messy!
- Play with magnet letters i.e. find the same letter, be a letter detective and find letters in your story books.
- Encourage your child to write their own books.
- Ask for help with the shopping list.
- Make an alphabet book.
- Write to friends and relatives.
https://montessorium.com/community-post/7-ideas-to-encourage-writing
KS2
https://www.onceuponapicture.co.uk/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00rfvk1