Writing at Kingfisher Hall Academy
At KHA, the children will develop a range of writing skills that allow them to communicate effectively for variety of purposes and audiences. The development of strong foundational skills in transcription and composition cultivates transferable skills that are applicable across the wider curriculum and throughout their lifelong learning journey.
Transcription
Teaching transcription skills involves helping students develop the ability to convert spoken language into written text. This includes activities related to spelling, handwriting, punctuation, and grammar. This is done through the following:
Spelling
- Daily RWInc (systematic phonics) to help students understand the relationship between letters and sounds. (EYFS & KS1)
- Explicit teaching of spelling (including: spelling patterns, word families, spelling rules, phonetic rules) is mapped out across each year according to National Curriculum guidance and the school’s progression document.
- Vocabulary rich environments
- Word banks, word mats and language walls used in classrooms
Handwriting
- Explicit instruction, ensuring students learn correct letter formation, joins and spacing.
- Expectations: ‘lead in’ letters and mostly cursive by the end of KS1.
Fully cursive by the end of KS2
- Adults model handwriting expectations
- Use of ‘Letter-join’ to aid teaching and interventions
- Displays around the environment that promote handwriting expectations
Grammar
- Grammar and punctuation sessions and objectives are taught and contextually applied within writing lessons
- Instruction on grammatical structures, sentence construction, and language choices found in a given text
- Regular use of gamification in English lessons to aid practical application and reinforce grammar concepts.
- Editing and Proofreading (self / peer)
Composition
Composition involves teaching students how to express their thoughts, ideas, and experiences in a coherent and organised manner. Throughout the school, children follow the national curriculum expectations through a progression mapped curriculum devised by KHA. Through our cyclical ‘Path to Success’ teaching approach of: experience it, play with it, use it, develop it and connect it, we aim to instill a deep appreciation for various forms of writing, including: fiction; non-fiction and poetry.
In EYFS, children write daily. This could be through the following:
- independent mark making
- continuous provision (writing table)
- developing core motor skills through various activities
- ‘Hold a sentence’ writing as part of their RWInc lessons.
- small group writing sessions: adult led
- Teacher led shared writing: whole class
In Key Stages 1 and 2, each writing unit begins with a hook, audience and purpose. Utilising the core text assigned every half term as a writing prompt, each driver text has been carefully selected as an age appropriate quality text and, where possible, establishes meaningful connections with the students' half termly learning journey. By focusing on four core purposes of writing, we ensure that children develop an understanding of how widely writing is used in everyday life and, therefore, how important and useful the skills are that they are learning. These core purposes are:
- to entertain
- to inform
- to persuade
- to discuss
The genres of poetry, fiction and non-fiction follow a clear progression of writing cycle outcomes from EYFS to Year 6. Each writing cycle includes the following steps:
- Vocabulary gathering: through a range of poetry (linked to the class text or learning journey)
- Grammar, punctuation or literary devices: focused teaching and practice in the context of the shared text and genre outcome
- Text and genre deconstruction: unpicking text structures and genre features (using a model text / WAGOLL)
- Planning: story mapping, text chunking, text organisation and oral rehearsal
- Construction: modelled writing
- co-construction: shared writing
- Writing: independent writing
- Editing: focusing on the technical aspects of writing
- Redrafting: rewrite to develop authorial voices and language choices
- Performing or Publishing
Some of these steps occur more than once within the cycle; this supports children to build their knowledge of the text type, grammar and punctuation. Children are also given opportunities of short bursts of extended writing throughout the cycle. This ensures they have multiple opportunities to practise the key elements of the unit of work.
Oracy skills are central to our writing curriculum. Children are given multiple opportunities to orally rehearse their own writing, and analyse the impact of authorial choices from the class text.
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