Writing

At Calveley Academy, we understand the importance of children being able to communicate clearly using the written word. The ability to write with skill, clarity and purpose allows children to express themselves clearly through their writing; a skill that will be vital throughout their life.

We know that the key to becoming a good writer is to develop the skills needed to express ourselves in this written form, so our curriculum focuses on the teaching of skills and ensuring that progression can be clearly seen in different classes.

Read to Write
In writing lessons, we use the 'Read to Write' scheme of work which empowers our teachers to provide quality-first teaching of writing through children's high-quality literature. The units of work focus on engaging, vocabulary-rich texts, with a wealth of writing opportunities. Many of these carefully selected texts have strong thematic links to the Science, History and Geography curriculum.

Writing is taught daily, and children are given regular opportunities to write to build up stamina, skills, confidence, and enjoyment. Teachers explicitly model the writing process at all stages. These modelled examples are displayed around classrooms to support and scaffold learning for the duration of the Read to Write unit. Children are given feedback during the lesson so they know what they need to do to improve their writing along with termly writing targets.

In summary, at Calveley Academy we:

• Teach Writing on a daily basis across the school using the Read to Write planning progression
• Tailor our planning to the needs of our class
• Moderate our pupils' writing frequently
• Use high quality literature to lead our teaching of writing
• Use Assessment for Learning and encourage our children to be active in reviewing the successes in their work and identifying areas for improvement
• Celebrate children's writing throughout the school community

Spelling
In Key Stage 1, we follow 'Read Write Inc' as our Phonics programme and pupils are grouped for these sessions according to need. Phonics is taught daily for 30 minutes, covering all phases within the programme and including elements of SPAG (spelling, punctuation and grammar).

In Key Stage 2, we teach the 'Essential Spelling' programme three times a week which focuses on generating a real enthusiasm for language and spelling. It centres on teaching children how to apply spelling patterns, strategies and knowledge to all words. Essential Spelling enables children to become spellers for life, rather than remember spellings for a week. The "Essential Spelling" document below details all the spellings to be learnt within each year group.

Additionally, SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar) is delivered through the Read to Write units of work; children are given opportunities to learn, practise and apply patterns and rules in their written work.

Handwriting
At Calveley Academy, the importance of children being able to write legibly, fluently and at a reasonable speed is recognised. With these skills, children have a much greater chance of being able to reach and demonstrate their true potential throughout their school careers and in their lives beyond school.

Across the school, handwriting is carefully modelled by the teacher and outcomes are recorded by the children in their literacy books and handwriting practice books. The use of patterns to support letter formation and appropriate letter-joins is also embedded enabling children to also further develop their fine motor skills. High expectations are also communicated as part of the success criteria for the lesson. A high standard of presentation is also encouraged and expected in children's written work across the wider curriculum.

Cultural Capital
At Calveley Academy, we aim to provide our children with the courage, skills and aptitude to enable them to make a difference in the world. By becoming confident readers and writers, our children will have access to the exciting opportunities available to the young people of the future. We believe it is important to give children access to reading materials from a broad spectrum that includes classics and contemporary texts, some by key British authors and poets through the ages, others from exciting new voices covering different backgrounds and experiences. Non-fiction texts and multi-media texts are an important aspect of our curriculum too, including mixed media approaches using technology. Throughout their learning in English, our pupils have the opportunities to connect, consolidate and reinforce their Reading and Writing skills within a broad and balanced yet purposeful curriculum.