Spoken word, reading (see separate policy) and writing are key skills that lie at the heart of learning. At Lynsted, we aim to provide exciting, interesting and varied teaching and learning experiences across our curriculum that will ensure our pupils are able to use and benefit from these skills throughout their lifetime.

Ambition – Children are able to express their creativity through writing and engage their reader.

Self-confidence – Children develop a ‘writing bank’ of skills and can apply these to any genre.

Perseverance – High standards of writing are sustained when writing at length.  

Independence – To be able to apply banked skills independently and for all children to know what they need to do in order to improve their writing.

Respect – By using key texts, all children are exposed to a range of cultural and personal differences, which is reflected in their writing.

Enquiry – Through text exploration and questioning, children are familiar with their wider world.

Spoken Language

Our whole curriculum reflects the importance of spoken language. We believe that it is key to our pupils’ learning and the foundation for the development of reading and writing. At Lynsted, we strive to ensure that children continually develop confidence and competence in spoken language and listening skills. Our pupils are given frequent opportunities to talk about their understanding of books and other reading. Oral rehearsal before writing is an integral part of our lessons, in the form of story maps in KS1 and LKS2 and box-up plans in UKS2. The use of learning partners in every class for every lesson allows us to help the children build their ability to listen, to converse and to explain their thoughts and ideas with increasing depth and clarity. We promote discussion as a tool for learning across our curriculum, with talk-based learning, such as debates, explanations and reasoning taking place in subjects such as RE, PSHE, Science and History/Geography.

Teachers promote the vocabulary that our children need to discuss their reading and writing as they naturally arise. This is then displayed on learning walls and is also listed in text knowledge organisers. We teach pupils to control their speaking consciously and to use Standard English. Throughout the school, teachers use a variety of strategies to broaden our pupils’ vocabularies and foster a curiosity around words.

Writing

Children at Lynsted are keen to write because writing is preceded by stimulating, supportive teaching and activities (known in school as Drawing Club). Units of work are centered on a high-quality class text and the children write, in various fiction and non-fiction genres, in response to the text. Where there is a valid link, writing is also related to a curriculum subject, such as science or history where genres appropriate to ‘topics’ taught are planned and written (e.g. Ancient Greeks).

Composition, as outlined in our Writing Sequence document (see Appendix 1): Each unit of work follows four phases, Rich Text Exploration (imitation and innovation), Planning, Independent Writing (invention) and Editing. Teachers use shared writes and modelling techniques to impart effective writing composition skills; forming, articulating and communicating ideas, and then organising them coherently for the reader. Teachers present excellent examples of writing to our pupils; together, they evaluate the features used to make the writing effective then pupils aim to imitate this level of competency in their own work. Pupils are taught to plan and revise their writing; peer and self-assessment is often used to celebrate success and make improvements to pupils’ writing, as well as to foster independent learning. At the end of the writing sequence, individual pieces are then published in a variety of ways. These include on classroom displays, our Golden Book, school news letter or in class learning journeys.

Grammar: Grammar is learned implicitly through speaking and reading. At Lynsted, we aim to make knowledge and understanding of grammar explicit in order to enable our pupils to develop conscious control and choice in their language. Grammar is taught across the unit of work and applied in context during other lessons across the curriculum. Grammar concepts are introduced at an appropriate stage and then continue to be revisited to consolidate knowledge and build on our pupils’ understanding. Pupils are taught grammatical terminology through discussion and practice.

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Spelling - In order to record their ideas, children need quick and accurate spelling skills, as well as clear, fluent handwriting. Spelling is taught daily in KS1 and three times a week in KS2 through the use of No-nonsense Spelling programme, alongside; teaching how knowledge of phonics, word structure and spelling structure facilitate quick and accurate spelling.

Handwriting - Handwriting is taught to pupils in the lower school and through English lessons. At Lynsted, children begin by writing in pencil. When their teacher feels that they are approaching a sufficient standard to write in pen, the subject lead will review their work across several weeks and then if they feel this standard can be maintained, they will be awarded a ‘Pen Licence’. To support the teaching of handwriting Letter Joins is used across the school.

See Handwriting and Presentation policy for further information.

Assessment

Writing is assessed formally at the end of every term against the appropriate year group writing sticker. These writing stickers of formed of age-related writing expectations taken from national guidelines. At the end of the unit, once all features of a genre have been taught, shared writing has been completed, a ‘Extended’ write is completed. This task allows the children add new skills to their banked knowledge and express independently. This is marked in books and will be assessed against a writing sticker.

Across the academic year, class teachers and wider trust teachers participate in writing moderations – Here good practise is shared and writing can be assessed in a wider forum.

SEND provision

At Lynsted, we strive to meet every child’s needs through high-quality first teaching using the Adaptive Teaching approach. However, for some children (including those with Education Health Care Plans), some additional techniques are used. These may include strategies such as: Russian Writing, Talking Tins and Rainbow Writing.

Writing Sequence

Cycle B text map (24-25):

Coming soon.