"I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn."

Anne Frank

Intent

At Manor Farm Junior School we want to develop children who love to write and are inspired to express themselves confidently and in a variety of ways through the written form. We aim to inspire children to engage with writing, develop positive attitudes towards writing and develop writing habits that will move on with them through life. We will equip children with the necessary writing skills to be able to express themselves clearly - in both the every day functional uses of writing as a means of communicating with others - and  also to develop a love of writing with creativity and flair.  We want children to understand that writing is a way to express their inner personal voice and is a forum in which they can communicate with the wider world. We provide children with many meaningful opportunities to find pleasure in the writing process through discussion, reading, drafting, critiquing, reflecting, sharing, performing and publishing. We want children to leave Manor Farm Junior School with the bravery to express themselves through any written form.

Our writing curriculum ties seamlessly with our whole school values:

Children are curious writers, showing an interest in exploring the history and use of language. Their curiosity enables them to discuss the writing and language choices of a broad and diverse range of authors, gathering ideas to use within their own creations.

Children write with bravery when they experiment with form and genre, when they take on feedback and use it to adapt and change their writing and when they reflect upon their own performance and see this as an opportunity to improve. 

Children approach writing with integrity when they use ideas from a wide range of sources, appreciating the nuance of language and its subtle meanings. Our pupils demonstrate integrity through sharing and enjoying their own writing and that of their peers and by developing an understating of how writing with real purpose can influence and affect the world around them.

Implementation

At Manor Farm we use the Talk For Writing approach. This is a method of teaching writing in which children orally imitate the language they need for a particular writing topic, before reading and analysing a model text and then writing their own version of it. Talk For Writing has three sequenced stages: imitation, innovation and independent application.

In the imitation stage children are supported to orally learn a model text. They learn to say the model text off by heart with pace and expression by using visual symbols and actions. The vocabulary of the model text is defined and activities help the child to first “read as a reader” - fully comprehending and understanding the text - and then to “read as a writer” - identifying the writing techniques and features used to make this an effective piece. Sentence structures are explored and practised. A shared class Toolkit is gradually created as pupils identify the features needed to successfully write in the style of the genre.

The innovation stage involves the children using the Toolkit to effectively build their own pieces of writing. Working alongside the teacher in a series of shared writing sessions children start to put into practice their new understanding of the genre - for example, by changing the setting or writing from a different character’s perspective. The teacher models how to write a section of the text each day with children contributing their ideas and suggestions to produce a joint piece of writing. The children are then supported to use the skills taught to write their own version staged over a period of days. Each day writing is reviewed and feedback provided. Children edit and improve their work.

The final independent stage is where the children then use and apply all the skills they have learnt to write their own independent version of the genre. They are encouraged to write in an adventurous way where they can demonstrate their understanding of the skills whilst having the opportunity to call upon their own personal voice, creativity and imagination. 

Impact

We achieve strong outcomes in writing at the end of KS2 and our children make strong progress during their time with us no matter where their starting point is. A high percentage of our pupils achieve age-related outcomes and an increasing number achieve beyond national expectations, showing that they can write with a depth of understanding and passion. Our children enjoy lessons and speak highly of the Talk for Writing process and writing opportunities and our staff are fully trained, highly engaged and confident teaching the subject.

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

We acknowledge that children learn the grammar that they use from the constant language interactions around them. Much of this is influenced by reading and being read to. This learning occurs naturally and implicitly. However the explicit, active teaching of grammar in relation to being a speaker, writer and interested reader can be a powerful part of developing an increasing control over language. It is this control over language and an understanding of the technical components of grammar that will lead to a deeper learning and mastery of writing. Grammatical teaching makes most sense if it is taught as an active process.

Our aims:

For pupils in speaking,reading and writing to :

• Be able to make and talk about great word choices 
• Construct and manipulate sentences to create different effects
• Hold texts together so that the writing is linked and flows
• Develop knowledge of spelling conventions, patterns and rules
• Develop range of strategies for checking and proofreading spellings after writing