English - Writing

Writing at St Leonards

Opening the Doors to a rich, engaging and ambitious writing curriculum: ‘Pitching high and including all.’

At St Leonards, we use the ‘Opening Doors’ approach to teaching writing across the school. It aims to build a rich and ambitious English curriculum, that inspires and engages children’s curiosity, while challenging them to think deeply. This approach to writing sits well within our diverse and inclusive classrooms.

We aim to challenge all children in order to build knowledge and understanding of the craft of writing, whilst giving them opportunities to be creative writers and develop their own unique writing styles.

We do not believe in simply teaching children how to write, but how to be writers.

Our Writing Vision

Through our core values, we aim to give children a sense of confidence and belief in their own unique abilities. That is why we have designed the curriculum to be as practical, creative and inspiring as possible. Every achievement is celebrated, no matter how small.

We feel a deep responsibility to nurture happy, responsible and confident young people of faith and values.

As a church academy, we provide a Christian ethos that infuses the wider academy community. Our teaching and reflection times focus on developing a strong culture of care, respect and empathy for one another.

Principles for Writing at St Leonards

At St Leonards, we believe in fostering a love of writing, which extends beyond the school years. In order to support this development, we want children to:

1. Be motivated to write, by introducing them to rich and varied texts and experiences, that both engage and           inspire them to write.

2. Build on their prior knowledge to extend their ideas and skills.

3. Read as writers, through analysing and discussing quality texts and identifying purpose and intent.

4. Create shared goals for success, by using discussion to create toolkits.

5. Learn the fundamentals- and keep building on them.

6. Practice then apply, through the use of taster drafts, oral rehearsal and independent writing.

7. Develop both quality and quantity.

8. Develop oracy and use this to support and enhance writing.

9. Be independent, confident writers who create engaging writing for specific purposes.

10. Be supported in their writing journey by skilled teachers, high-quality texts and models.

Handwriting

Handwriting begins in the Early Years Foundation Stage; developing core strength, sitting with a good posture and necessary fine motor control to grip and form simple shapes with accuracy. For many children, being taught handwriting removes the strain and discomfort of writing – rehearsal leads to fluency and the stamina required to record ideas to their potential.

We use the Letter Join scheme to ensure a consistent approach to handwriting across all ages. Handwriting is taught in every English writing lesson, with the expectation that children apply this across writing in all subjects. We use a progressive approach to handwriting to reduce the cognitive load when creating content and applying their phonics and grammar knowledge. In Reception we teach children to write printed letter forms. By year 1 children are ready to learn pre-cursive letter shapes. From year 2 onwards, we introduce children to the full cursive script.