"If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write." -Martin Luther
Intent
To support our teaching of writing and grammar, we follow the Jane Considine approach: a research informed and evidence-based system.
At St Finian’s, we believe that our writing curriculum should instil in children a life-long love of writing. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in and are celebrated for their writing, are fluent in handwriting and spelling and are able to adapt their language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Our aim is for children to acquire a wide and rich vocabulary, a solid understanding of grammar and be able to spell new words by effectively applying their knowledge of spelling rules and patterns.
Implementation
Our writing curriculum follows a pedagogical approach which is based on two guiding principles: Experience Days and Sentence Stacking Lessons.
- Experience Days immerse children in hands-on experiences related to texts studied so children can understand the context of the story/text, for example exploring the life of a young child in ancient rural China through images, sounds, props, drama and discussion. These lessons provide an opportunity for children to emphathise and engage with the content, for example characters and events and learn high-quality related vocabulary. Understanding the context of the text more fully supports children to produce high quality writing outcomes.
- Sentence Stacking lessons teach children the fundamental principles of sentence level writing through high quality teacher modelling and scaffolding. Children generate ambitious words and phrases in response to stimuli related to the text, for example film clips, music and images. Teachers use these words and phrases to generate sentences and explicity model ideas, grammar and techniques of writing. This is a dynamic process wherby teachers model thinking, drafting and editing aloud with the children.
Sentence Stacking lessons are broken into bite-sized chunks and taught under the structural framework of Jane Considine’s The Writing Rainbow.
Our writing curriculum equips children with a complete set of tools and structures that can be applied to their writing in all contexts. The system provides pupils with the knowledge and understanding of what to write and how to write. Grammar, writing techniques and ideas are embedded in every single lesson, and revisited again and again to embed this learning and ensure that pupils become confident and adept writers.
Our approach places an emphasis on regular opportunities for editing in response to teacher marking, whereby children are supported to spot errors in punctuation and sentence structure and build on and improve their writing. This teaches them the knowledge and skills to edit their independent writing (as appropriate to Key Stage).
Impact
sPELLING AND haNDWRITING
To support our teaching of spelling, we follow the Super Sonic Spelling Scheme.
To support our delivery of the handwriting curriculum, we use Super Sonic Handwriting in EYFS and Year 1, and Nelson Handwriting from Years 2 - 6.
Handwriting and spelling are crucial foundations for writing. Fluency in both underpins children’s success in writing, as it frees up their working memory to learn progressively more complex writing skills (vocabulary, grammar and punctuation) to become independent, cohesive and purposeful writers.
In EYFS and Year 1, handwriting is linked to phonics and is taught using Supersonic Handwriting. From Years 2-6, the teaching of handwriting is based on the Nelson Handwriting Scheme. This scheme ensures the children begin learning to join their handwriting from Year 2 and have developed their own individual style by the time they leave school in Year 6.
