Writing
How we teach Writing
Subject Lead: Carly Wilkinson
At Twyford St Mary’s we work hard to help our children to become authors with a real love for writing. We encourage them to think carefully about the WHY in writing as well as the HOW. Whilst learning specific skills for both composition and transcription elements of writing is extremely important, we also strive to help the children to become confident in understanding and vocalizing why we use these skills to achieve an intended purpose.
From Year 2 onwards, we use visual writing journeys with an overall purpose for writing, with a constant reference to the effect we want to have on our reader. This approach helps our children to become empowered to feel like they are the authors of their writing and also helps them to understand why it is that they need to learn skills like relative clauses and direct speech!
We have four key writing drivers across the school (literary heritage, purpose-driven outcomes, diversity, and cross-curricular) which help to inform planning and the choices of texts we use to inspire the children to write their best outcomes possible.
With this idea of creating ‘authors,’ we also put a lot of focus from an early age into proofreading and editing. We always support our pupils to understand that a piece of writing is a journey and will need reshaping along the way so it can have as much impact as possible. At Twyford St Mary’s, finding errors through proof-reading and making changes in editing does not equate to being wrong; rather it is an essential part of being a proactive author who wants to make the best impression possible on their reader, whether this is keeping them on the edge of their seat with a tension-filled narrative, or helping them to learn in an interesting way by informing them like an expert.
Spellings
Spellings:
We appreciate that spellings is an integral part of the transcription element of the writing process and we follow Spelling Shed for discrete teaching of spellings which we then work hard to apply into our writing.
Spelling Shed’s approach to the teaching of spellings involves exploring the relationship between sounds and written symbols as well as using morphology to help spell through meaning. Word lists are carefully selected in line with each year group’s curriculum expectations and we follow the same teach, apply structure to discretely teach spelling patterns that we use for phonics. The activities across the week are designed to provide opportunities for the children to incorporate and embed their phonics learning which helps to strengthen spelling skills and build vocabulary acquisition. This platform also works as a useful assessment tool for staff members to track the progress of pupils so we can tailor their learning and support them to achieve their very best in spellings!
If you would like more information about Spelling Shed, please follow the link below:
Spelling Shed – The Science of Spelling
The Twyford St Mary’s Writing expert:
- Is inspired to write for pleasure
- Is focused on presentation and takes pride in their work
- Can share their purpose for writing and show how our skills help us achieve this
- Is able to proof-read and edit independently
- Recognises that their work doesn’t need to be perfect the first time
- Can draw inspiration and learning from their reading
Our approach to Writing for SEND learners
Quality First Teaching is our primary way of supporting pupils with SEND across the school at Twyford St Mary’s, but we also provide extra provision – such as targeted intervention groups and practical resources – to support all of our children to achieve their very best in writing. At Twyford St Mary’s we believe an individualised approach is of the utmost importance and it is essential to highlight children’s strengths alongside supporting them with things they find difficult. Teachers use a range of tools to support all children as they develop their writing skills – such as the ‘Help I can’t write my sentence!’ diagnostic – with specific approaches being helpful for children with SEND – such as taking away barriers to writing through scribing strategies or supporting working memory through tools like talk tins. Giving children with SEND the tools they need to help them to feel successful is the key to helping them to unlock their potential and make amazing progress in their learning.
Some key terms
- Composition – Taught devices used to have an impact on the reader (e.g. using similes to describe, and relative clauses for extra detail).
- Transcription – Elements like spellings, grammar, handwriting, and punctuation.
- Proof-reading – Checking work back for precise spellings, grammar, and punctuation (more transcription-focused)
- Editing – Making changes and adjustments to written work (this could include taking whole sentences out or adding whole sections in) to better achieve the intended purpose (more composition-focused).
Supporting tools
- Nessy – Selected pupils at TSM use the Nessy Reading and Spellings programme to follow an individualised online learning path to support the provision already being received in taught writing, phonics, and spelling sessions.