Writing
At Springfield, we focus on making sure every child is equipped with high standards of writing skills required for life at, and beyond school. Teaching is sequenced progressively throughout their time at school, as well as within each year, to ensure that skills are being re-visited, embedded and built upon. We ensure that all children are given a clear and motivational purpose to their writing, allowing them to practise the skills needed for different audiences. We encourage the use of exciting vocabulary by using high quality stories and texts that children can draw upon to create their own. Children will be taught the correct use of grammar, with the correct terminology, to apply to their writing. We will encourage learners to reflect on their writing, evaluating it carefully by considering the impact on the intended audience and using mistakes as opportunities to learn.
Through their time at Springfield the children will be taught to write in a range of genres. When children start in Early Years they are encouraged to make marks on paper, this then progresses to forming letters correctly and beginning to put these letters into words and then sentences. In Reception and Year 1, writing is taught alongside Reading using the Read, Write, Inc. scheme. From Year 2 onwards, the children learn the skills needed to be able to write effectively using a learning journey approach. The children will be given a purpose and audience for writing and then over a 2 to 3 week period, the children interrogate a modelled text by developing an understanding of the content and language used and then are taught the sentence construction skills to be able to write a new form of the text. Throughout this process the children are given opportunities to rehearse and share their ideas, using ideas from Pie Corbett's 'Talk for Writing scheme', with others before committing their ideas to paper. When children are in Key Stage 2 they focus on refining their writing skills and begin to add more flare and personality to their writing.
We follow the 'Nelson Handwriting whole-school programme' which is designed to help all children develop a confident, legible and personal handwriting style and meet higher curriculum expectations. As part of Nelson English Skills, the programme includes resources for pattern practice and motor skills work as well as fun activities to bring handwriting to life.
Please find some useful links to support your child with their writing at home. Many of these websites are an engaging tool to further enhance your child’s writing experience, at school and at home.
https://www.writeaboutapp.com/
Spellings
Learning spellings is a critical part of the English curriculum and there are year specific spelling rules that children need to learn throughout their time at school. At Springfield Primary School, we use CUSP Spelling from Years 2-6 to support your child with learning these key concepts. Please find below the spelling overviews for each year group.
