INTENT:
At Appletree Gardens First School, writing is a crucial part of our ambitious curriculum. All children from Foundation Stage to Year 4 are provided with many opportunities to develop and apply their writing skills across the curriculum. It is our ambition that pupils are able to speak, read and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions effectively and reach their potential.
Our intention is for pupils to be able to independently plan, revise and evaluate their writing. To be able to do this effectively, pupils focus on developing effective transcription and composition, along with an increasingly wide knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and spelling patterns. Writers also focus upon the development of fluent, legible handwriting.
Our intentions in writing are for children to:
- Write for a purpose
- See themselves as real writers
- Take ownership of their writing
- See writing as an interesting and enjoyable process
- Acquire the ability to organise and plan their written work
Parents as Partners
Here at Appletree, we recognise that parents are the first and ongoing educators of their own children. We understand the vital role that they play in supporting their children’s learning and encourage open communication between home and school.
Equity and Excellence
We firmly believe that personal and social circumstances should not be an obstacle to achieving educational potential. Our carefully structured skills based curriculum supports and engages all children so as to narrow the gap between the most and least advantaged learners, while improving outcomes for all.
Teachers track and assess the children’s progress in writing against National Curriculum writing objectives. These same objectives are used when moderating children’s writing.
The 2014 statutory curriculum for spelling aims to develop a child’s ability to spell words correctly, using their knowledge of spelling rules and of how common phonemes are spelt. Spelling is a developmental process. The stages through which children pass as they develop as spellers are the following: pre-phonetic, phonetic, transitional and ‘correct’. Spelling is a visual-motor skill and children will therefore need to develop visual strategies alongside their phonic knowledge.
As a school, our aims in teaching spelling are that the pupils will:
- be encouraged to look carefully at the words
- be taught spelling rules and given the opportunity to apply them in writing.
- to understand how the English spelling system works and how its history has influenced our spelling
- be helped and encouraged to develop their confidence as competent spellers
- develop and extend their vocabulary through shared, guided and independent spelling activities
- enjoy spelling and recognise its value