“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”
– Ludwig Wittgenstein
Subject Leader: Mrs Doyle
Writing progression of skill
Intent
At St Joseph’s, we have designed a broad, balanced and progressive curriculum. As our pupils’ progress, we intend for our children to weave together the complexities of spoken language, handwriting, spelling, grammar, punctuation and writing skills with a sense of enjoyment and curiosity. Our teaching curriculum for spoken language, handwriting, spelling, grammar and punctuation and writing aims to ensure that children become fluent writers of many genres.
Implementation
At St Joseph’s daily English lessons are designed to incorporate reading, writing, spelling and punctuation . This enables children to acquire a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of the subject and begin to apply concepts in many different contexts. A clear and comprehensive overview and a progression of skills, in each strand of English, shows how learning progresses within and across year groups. Learning builds upon prior knowledge and develops new concepts.
Within lessons, KS1 children are introduced to a range of different genres over a three week period. They begin by using a talk for writing approach. This involves becoming familiar with retelling the story and looking for repetitive language. This is achieved by adding actions to a story. Children will then develop their grammar and punctuation skills in the coming days. Children will plan and independently write, using the work from the previous week, over the course of two days. They will then be given the opportunity to edit their own work. Cross curricular links are made with non-fiction texts.
Within KS2, children are introduced to a range of different genres on a fortnightly cycle. Each week is structured to support writing at the end of the unit. Within the first week, children begin by identifying the text features of a given genre. They then continue to explore this genre and develop their spelling, punctuation and grammar skills. Towards the end of the first week, children will complete a reading comprehension. As the unit of work progresses, children will plan their work in preparation for writing over the course of two days. They are required to incorporate the elements taught in the previous week to their independent writing. Children will then be given the opportunity to redraft their work and complete a further reading comprehension to complete the unit of work. The majority of children progress through the lessons at the same pace with differentiated activities and through individual support.
Throughout the English curriculum children are assessed in a variety of different ways. At St Joseph’s, we use formative assessment which takes place day- to- day within the lesson. For a more summative view of where children are succeeding, and require additional support, end of unit writing activities are carried out. Termly assessment are also carried out in spelling, punctuation and grammar. This informs future planning and interventions children may require.
Impact
When pupils leave St Joseph’s, they will have developed their knowledge and understanding in key end points linked to different genres- fiction, non - fiction and poetry.
The majority of pupil will achieve age related expectations in English and clear progress will be evident in their English books and end of term assessments.
They will have the firm foundations in English and be well placed to make good progress in their future education.