Writing at Highfield

At Highfield Primary School we aim to foster an enjoyment of writing amongst our children, and a recognition of its value, through the provision of a sequenced, ambitious curriculum. We place the development of writing, directly linked to reading, at the very heart of the curriculum, and provide meaningful contexts and quality texts as the inspiration for writing. We want children to acquire a wide vocabulary, a secure understanding of grammar and be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn.

Our Writing Curriculum is designed to enable our children to become confident writers through:

• the introduction and deconstruction of a wide variety of model texts, covering a variety of genres
• immersing them in language rich experiences
• giving them opportunities to write for authentic purposes, across a range of genres and subjects
• ensuring that children have explicit opportunities to talk about and plan their writing
• providing them with a solid understanding of grammar and the opportunity to then apply it accurately
• embedding opportunities to evaluate, revise and edit their own work as well as offer feedback on the work of their peers
• encouraging our children to take pride in their work and their presentation, including their handwriting

In the Early Years Foundation Stage (E.Y.F.S.) setting, our Writing provision is delivered across the curriculum through half termly themes that are explicitly planned with literacy core texts as the key drivers.

The Writing curriculum is also embedded in the E.Y.F.S. through our environments. The children’s knowledge and understanding are supported and consolidated by vocabulary rich areas that encourage exploration, experimentation and discovery.

In Nursery our children are taught to:

• use some of their print and letter knowledge in their early writing
• write some or all of their name
• write some letters accurately

In Reception our children are taught to:

• form lower-case and capital letters correctly
• spell words by identifying the sounds and then writing the sound with letter/s
• write short sentences with words with known letter-sound correspondences using a capital letter and full stop
• re-read what they have written to check that it makes sense

From Reception through to Year 6, we have adopted the highly successful writing programme called ‘The Write Stuff’, devised by Jane Considine.

‘The Write Stuff’ follows a method called ‘Sentence Stacking’, which refers to the fact that sentences are stacked together chronologically and organised to engage children with short, intensive moments of learning, which they can then immediately apply to their own writing. It is a writing programme that brings clarity to the mechanics of writing. 

An individual lesson is based upon a sentence model, broken into three learning chunks. Each learning chunk has three sections:

Initiate section – a stimulus to capture the children’s imagination and set up a sentence.

Model section – the teacher models a sentence that outlines clear writing features and techniques.

Enable section – the children write their sentence, following the model.

Children are then challenged to ‘Deepen the Moment’, which requires them to independently draw upon previously learnt skills and apply them to their writing during that chunk.

Following the completion of a ‘Sentence Stacking’ sequence, pupils then plan and write independent texts where they are able to show the writing skills that they have been developing.

Teaching writing through the ‘The Write Stuff’ approach ensures that all of our children are exposed to high quality texts, that stimulate quality responses to reading, high quality writing and purposeful speaking and listening opportunities.

Through the delivery of ‘The Write Stuff’ programme, children will find writing engaging and enjoyable whilst being immersed in a range of exciting stimuli. This will ensure that they not only understand the purpose and importance of writing but also fundamentally enjoy the writing process.

Ultimately, our aim is that our children will leave Highfield as confident, capable and independent writers, who understand the importance of writing as a life-long skill. They will be able to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences, with the essential skills of spelling, punctuation and grammar embedded. Above all, we hope all of our children leave us with a love of writing and a pride in the skills they have acquired, ready for the next stage in their journey.