Writing

Intent

Our writing curriculum ensures that all children develop strong foundational skills in writing, which they can then apply confidently across various subjects and in their everyday lives. We foster a love for writing by providing a rich and stimulating environment that promotes creativity, imagination, and self-expression.  We do this by carefully linking our thematic books to the objectives set out in the National Curriculum and the Early Years Foundation Stage. 

Medium Term Planning

EYFS

Autumn 1 - Me and My Community

Autumn 2 - Once Upon a Time

Spring 1 - Big Wide World

Spring 2 - Marvellous Machines

Summer 1 - Sunshine and Sunflowers

Year 1

Autumn 1 - Superheros

Autumn 2- School Days

Spring 1 - Bright Lights Big City

Spring 2 - Enchanted Woodland

Summer 1 - Paws, Claws and Whiskers

Year 2

Autumn 1  - Coastlines

Autumn 2 - Muck Mess and Mixtures

Spring 1 - Movers and Shakers

Spring 2  - Scented Garden

Summer 1 - Wriggle and Crawl

Handwriting

Handwriting is taught explicitly in Reception and Key Stage 1. Handwriting is an important skill to learn, as it enables others to read the work done, and for children to feel a pride in their sense of achievement.

Children will -

• Develop fine motor skills.
• Understand the importance of correct posture and paper position whether right or left-handed.
• Hold and use a pen/pencil effectively.
• • Learn how to start and finish letters correctly.
• Form letters of consistent size and shape.
• • Use regular spaces between words.
• Form upper and lower-case letters correctly.
• Join letters correctly.
• Be able to use different styles of writing for different purposes.
• Understand the importance of neat and clear presentation in order to communicate meaning effectively.

All children use the ‘Letter Join’ cursive script with a lead out but not in; this is our school script. Handwriting is taught as an explicit lesson in most classes or in combination with spelling, and children have the opportunity to practice and refine their handwriting skills though all areas of the curriculum.

Handwriting policy

Spelling

 All children in Reception and Year 1 have access to a daily lesson of Phonics, this includes the teaching of the spelling of Common exception words. Children in Year 2 will access Phonics daily until they are ready to move onto our spelling scheme.

We also give children the opportunity to work on their spellings at home using our Spelling Hives. Key words from the National Curriculum have been included and children can choose to practice spellings at home to become a bronze, silver or gold speller. These spellings will be checked by teachers through the children’s independent writing. Children in KS1 are given time weekly to correct spelling mistakes that they have made within their writing. Spelling is important to all children and it is essential that they are given every opportunity to embed key spelling rules so that they are then able to apply them to their own writing.

Our spelling program overview can be found below.