Writing:

We aim to develop enthusiastic writers who can use their writing skills in a variety of contexts and for a range of purposes.  This includes developing language and transcription skills but also we aim to ensure children feel ‘like a writer’ not just someone who can write. We are an inclusive school and aim to include each and every child into our writing lessons in ways which are tailored to their abilities and needs.

Handwriting:

The teaching of handwriting skills starts in EYFS where activities are provided to develop the gross and fine motor skills needed later when writing letters begins.  Mark-making is highly valued and a wide range of tools and contexts encourages children to experiment with it.

From Year 2, children are taught to write fully cursive script through regular handwriting sessions. Those who need further support in developing their motor skills are identified for interventions and there are also intervention groups across year groups giving focused support with letter formation.

 Teaching approaches:

All writing in Tansley Primary begins with reading. Whether a core book in EYFS or KS1 or a Reading text in KS2, the children are immersed in the language of quality text as a starting point for their own writing. This text then provides hooks, or reasons to write, as well as providing new vocabulary, language patterns or text structures which will be used in children’s own writing. 

The children are taught to write in a variety of genres both fiction and non-fiction and these are taught using a clear progression through the topics in their year groups.

During the Spring of 2022, we began, as a school, to follow the writing processes detailed in the book 'The Write Stuff' written by Jane Considine. We are constantly evaluating and reflecting on the way we teach children to write and how we assess writing. Being able to use the techniques from The Write Stuff, among others, we feel broadens children's abilities to write in a range of styles being sufficiently scaffolded initially to then enable them to become confident, independent writers.

Within years 3 to 6, children will write each non-fiction genre at least once during the year which will then be applied in cross curricular work.    

These are the basic pure genres:

Recount

Instructions

Non-chronological report

Persuasion

Discussion/argument

Explanation

Book/film review

Formal letter

Narrative

Ks1 genres very much focus on narratives- fictional and non-fictional, poetry, being able to write for different purposes and to have the ability to be able to retell familiar stories, verbally. 

Early Years and KS1 use a school’s ‘writing process’ approach to teaching writing.  This includes a focus on oral rehearsal of text using actions to reinforce the key language.  Once children are able to imitate the text they move onto shared writing where the text is modelled and they innovate to make a new story with similar language patterns.  Children will also work on short burst writing which aims to develop strong sentence level skills within the text type.  Children are encouraged to invent stories through their play when they can make story maps and use role play to tell their own stories.  Invention is also done through shared writing once a week where teachers model the writing process and use children’s ideas to develop class stories. 

In KS2, the key features of a text type are constructed by the children through looking at model texts, real life examples of text and work on the text type from previous years.  This then forms the success criteria for their own writing.  Short burst writing and oral rehearsal of sentence structures is followed by shared writing.  Once children have these tools, they are ready to write independently, edit and improve and then publish their work.