Writing
We aim to inspire our pupils to write through using a wide range of age-appropriate engaging texts, to fuel their imaginations. We will offer a varied range of writing opportunities, so that children experience a range of genres for specific audiences, whilst practising the essential writing skills of the curriculum.
Our main approach to teaching writing is a 'Talk for Writing' approach, which we have organised into a three-week basis. During the first week (innovation week), the children will learn and retell a high-quality text that has been carefully chosen by their teacher. They complete a variety of activities during the innovation stage including a prediction, hot-seating, imitation games and reading as a writer. During the second week (innovation week), the children and the teacher use the original story as a basis to write their own by changing key parts such as characters and settings, but keeping the plot the same. Teachers model writing skills and the use of spelling, grammar and punctuation in shared writing during innovation week. In the final week (invention week) children independently write their own text, using ideas from the original text to help them scaffold their new narrative.
Handwriting
Handwriting is part of our daily lives. Time devoted to the teaching and learning of letter formation in the early years pays off as legible writing that can be produced comfortably, at speed and with little conscious effort allows children to attend to the higher-level aspects of writing composition and content. It is also a movement skill and one which is best taught directly by demonstration, explanation and rehearsal. We make sure that our children have lots of opportunities to develop their core strength, so supporting the development of gross, then fine, motor skills. The principal aim is that handwriting becomes an automatic process, which frees pupils to focus on the content of their writing.
In the Early Years we follow a scheme called 'Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle' over the two years of Nursery and Reception which incorporates fine and gross motor movements into a story set to music. In KS1 and 2 we practise handwriting patterns throughout the work as part of the daily literacy sessions.
