Bourne Avenue, Ranton, Stafford,
Staffordshire. ST18 9JU
Telephone: 01785 282228
Writing at All Saints
Intent
Writing is essential to learning and enjoyable in its own right. It is a developmental process and each child’s achievements are valued at every stage. Writing includes different genres for a wide variety of purposes and audiences, including the application of skills and knowledge and understanding of punctuation, grammar, spelling and handwriting. Children are enabled to articulate themselves clearly and communicate effectively with others. They also gain an understanding of how language works by looking at its patterns, structures and origins.
Impact
The impact of our teaching of writing at All Saints CE Primary School & Nursery is that high standards of literacy will be promoted and the children will develop a love of literature and creativity; pupils will be able to articulate themselves clearly through the written word.
We aim to ensure that pupils can:
How do we teach writing?
Writing opportunities and learning objectives are planned and taught by the class teacher and supported by the English leader. Children have opportunities to use relevant experiences and rich texts, on which to base their writing. Activities are planned in such a way as to encourage full and active participation by all children irrespective of ability. Children are encouraged to use new technologies in a variety of ways including improvement of spelling and for the exploration of different presentation formats to suit the purpose and audience of the piece of writing.
Teachers make use of rich, stimulating texts to plan a structure of teaching and learning focused on developing age-related expected skills. This integrated strategy of combining reading and writing provides the children with the language and structures upon which to develop their own ideas and creativity.
English skills books are used from Y2 – Y6 to provide an opportunity for the children to practise and master key elements of spelling, punctuation and grammar, which are then applied to writing. This book is also used as a comprehension evidence book, where key reading objectives are identified, and work collected.
The use of lined paper will not be used for publication of writing as it hinders the use of illustrations and format of the piece; line guides are available for pupils. Project writing of all types will be published around school in wall displays and also in presentation books for personal use.
Pupils’ own illustrations and personal writing style will enhance presentations of their work. Photocopied sheets of standard illustrations are not considered appropriate when used excessively as pupils’ own work is always superior because it is unique.
Writing stages
Before pupils begin to write at school, they bring skills and knowledge of the spoken language, of written language, of story and of print from their normal day-to-day experiences.
Beginning writing
The teacher gives support by giving opportunity for free writing in role-play and having a writing table available for mark making. Skills are directly taught by staff to support letter formation activities. Opportunity is given for exploration of mark making materials such as pencils and pens. Writing displayed around the classroom show pupils that writing holds meaning and is a form of communication.
Emergent writing
The pupils begin to write recognisable words that are often phonetically correct in a structure of a story or sentence. The compositional aspects are quite advanced whereas the transcriptional skills may not be as developed. The support and collaboration of pupils and staff is the key to progress and development of writing at this stage.
Fluent Writing
Stories become more complex in structure. Pupils are initially fully involved with the process and find it difficult to abstract themselves from the writing. The writing process begins to be used but the drafting of a piece of writing can only take place when the writer is able to craft the writing from a de-centred position. Teachers’ sensitivity and professional judgement must be utilised to know when a child is ready to move towards the drafting stages of the writing process.
At All Saints, we believe that Writing has no purpose unless it is going to be read by someone. The audience may be as varied as the list below and the identification of the audience gives a focus for the children.
Writing purposes
Stories to be read Books to be published
Poems to be recited Plays to be acted
Songs to be sung Newspapers to be circulated
Letters to be posted Jokes to be told
Notes to be passed Cards to be sent
Cartons to be labelled Instruction to be followed
Designs to be made Recipes to be cooked
Messages to be exchanged Programmes to be organised
Excursions to be planned Catalogues to be compared
Memos to be distributed Entertainment guides to be enjoyed
Cribs to be hidden Announcements to be posted
Posters to be displayed Diaries to be concealed
Cross-curricular writing should be used as an integral part of projects.
Chronological writing Non chronological writing
Logs Lists
Diary accounts Recipes
Step by step guides Descriptions
Autobiography Notes (e.g. information)
Personal experience Note taking
Poems Maps
Ballads Guides/brochures
Reconstructing incident Information leaflets
Newsroom summation Public notices e.g. No Smoking
Reporting (e.g. science investigation) Labels
Recipe method Diagram
Stories Account
Instructions Letter
Directions Horoscope
Comic strip Poems
Play scripts Advert
Post cards
Presenting a point of view
Newspaper
Plans
All Saints Learning Journeys
In order for our children to be fully involved in their own personal learning journey, we make use of our ‘Writing Learning Journeys’ so that the children are able to look at their progress and understand that their learning is part of a bigger picture. If you would like a copy of your child’s learning journey, please contact school.
Reading at All Saints
Reading is an essential life skill that provides access to the experiences of people from different cultures and times. Children must acquire good reading skills in order to access the information that will support their development in all curriculum areas. In addition to this, we aim to promote a life-long love of reading in all of our pupils.
Intent
Our overarching aim for reading at All Saints CE Primary School and Nursery is to promote high standards and to develop a love of literature in our pupils through widespread reading for enjoyment.
We intend that pupils will be able to:
• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
How do we teach reading?
Our school identifies two important phases in reading development: learning to read and reading to learn. Teaching strategies employed by staff recognise children’s needs in each phase.
• Positive attitudes to reading are fostered through carefully designed learning activities and classroom provision. The need for children to enjoy reading and actively choose to read for different purposes informs this provision.
• Teachers use a balanced approach. Activities promote children’s abilities to decode written language at word and sentence level, and to search for meaning in the text. These activities also reflect the need for children to engage imaginatively with texts, empathise with characters and develop their specific interests in the world around them through their reading.
• A variety of teaching strategies are employed to teach reading both inside and outside the main English lesson.
• Teaching is embedded within meaningful contexts. Teachers teach children about reading by providing access to a wide range of high-quality narrative and non-narrative texts.
• Banded books are used in home-school reading and individual reading for children still mastering decoding skills. These texts are supplemented by a broader range of graded reading materials (such as those found in our reading cabin and in class choice boxes) that provide access to additional text lay-outs and styles of writing.
Phonics
Whilst some reading strategies are used more often to teach emergent reading (such as phonics), our school recognises that learners may require a blend of different strategies in order for children to progress.
Phonics Milestones | Nursery | Reception | Year 1 |
Autumn (Dec) |
Phase 1 | Lower / Middle Phase 3 |
Phase 4 re-cap Lower Phase 5
|
Spring (April) |
Phase 2 | Upper Phase 3 | Middle Phase 5 |
Summer (June) |
Upper Phase 2 | Phase 4 | Upper Phase 5 |
Reading books have a standard code used throughout the school. The books are graded by difficulty levels known as book bands. Each book is colour coded with a sticker at a differentiated level of ability. The chart below gives an indication of the range of book band levels at which most children will be reading as they progress through the school.
Book band colour | REC | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
Lilac | * | ||||||
Pink | * | ||||||
Red | * | * | |||||
Yellow | * | * | |||||
Blue | * | * | |||||
Green | * | * | |||||
Orange | * | * | |||||
Turquoise | * | ||||||
Purple | * | * | |||||
Gold | * | * | |||||
White | * | * | |||||
Lime | * | * | * | ||||
Brown | * | * | * | ||||
Grey | * | * | * | * | |||
Dark Blue | * | * | * | ||||
Burgundy | * | * | |||||
Black | * |
Reading Learning Journeys
In order for our children to be fully involved in their own personal learning journey, we make use of our ‘Reading Learning Journeys’ so that the children are able to look at their progress and understand that their learning is part of a bigger picture. If you would like a copy of your child’s learning journey, please contact school.
"We are committed to creating a safe, welcoming, stimulating and challenging environment in which all the children develop a love of learning and strive to reach their full potential within a Christian caring community where individuals are respected and valued."
Contact the office on
We're on Social Networks. Follow us & get in touch.