Writing

Curriculum (Writing)

Writing is a vital part of our curriculum as children use this skill in almost all areas of their learning; it gives them a voice to share their ideas with the world. 

At Milton Primary, we are passionate about making sure all children develop a love of reading and therefore all of our writing curriculum is planned around a high quality class text. 

Pupil's cover their year group National Curriculum expectations and have regular opportunities to practice and apply key skills taught in grammar lessons as part of daily English lessons. 

Pupil's are taught to write independently and follow an edit and redraft process to up-level their writing.

Curriculum (Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling)

The teaching of grammar and spelling is in line with the requirements of The National Curriculum (2014). Grammar and spelling lessons are timetabled in English lessons where children are taught and learn how to use their grammatical skills purposefully and effectively. 

We follow the Spelling Shed scheme of learning to teach grammar, punctuation and spelling. This begins in Year 2 and continues through to Year 6. Spelling Shed ensures all National Curriculum spelling patterns and exceptions are taught to the relevant year groups.

Spellings are taught across the week in 15 minute sessions and a range of different strategies are used. Each week, the children then complete a spelling test based on the words they have learnt.

Curriculum (Handwriting)

Handwriting is explicitly taught using the Letter-Join handwriting scheme. This scheme allows staff to model how letters are formed and joined through a variety of resources, such as pre-recorded models of handwriting in action, worksheets, games and more. The use of Letter-join also ensures a consistent approach to all letter formation across the school.

Assessment

Children’s holistic writing subject knowledge and their ability to apply this is assessed by their class teacher using a range of formative assessment activities. These include the completion of spelling tests, short independent writing activities and class discussions. Teachers also make summative judgements relating to the children’s knowledge and understanding during extended writing activities at least twice per half term and in a range of different literary contexts.

In addition to the internal assessments detailed above,  children also complete a national curriculum assessment (SAT) in grammar, punctuation and spelling in Year 2 and Year 6 to assess their reading abilities at the end of each Key Stage, and formal teacher assessed judgements of writing proficiency are also made at these points, the results of which are shared with parents and carers.