Writing

Writing at Harriers Banbury Academy

Intent, Implementation and Impact

Intent:

At Harriers Banbury Academy all pupils will be given the opportunity to become fantastic writers.  Every child will develop their writing across different styles and genres. Writing at Harriers Banbury Academy is taught alongside reading because we value reading as a vital part of the writing process.  We use the Power of Reading Scheme to give pupils a wide range of techniques that encourage a broad vocabulary and experience of text types.  Children should progress from each year at school with a safe and secure knowledge of the vocabulary for that year group and also the skills to meet the objectives they need.

Implementation:

Writing is taught daily at Harriers Banbury Academy, with a theme running through the writing that links to the topic for that term.

From their first days in nursery to the final days in year 6, the pupils are exposed to a wide range of writing activities. Fine motor skills are taught daily in Early Years, underlining the importance of mark making through carefully planned activities in the provision.

Each class has a model text per term. The model text will provide the basis of our writing for that term.  It helps to identify key features of certain texts, and gives the pupils the opportunity to see what their work will look like when it is complete.

Writing is taught across all subjects, and we use our engaging curriculum to ensure that the skills that we have learned through our writing lessons can be captured in other creative ways.

Spelling is taught using the Sounds Write format.  Teachers use the Sounds Write lesson plans to form their lessons.  This is a non negotiable, it ensures our fidelity to the phonics/spelling system.  We teach pupils to identify syllables within words and then to analyse and break down those syllables into phonemes.  Children consequently become better spellers due to their ability to identify the parts of words that may need alternative spellings.

Impact: 

Children’s writing at Harriers Banbury Academy is creative and exciting!

The pupils are exposed to fun and engaging writing activities right from Nursery.  Importance is given to the first exposure to physical development skills from nursery, that leads into strong writers as the pupils progress up the school.

A wide range of text types are explored and developed, broadening the pupils’s horizons and enabling them to create texts to a high standard.

Writing moderations are completed every term across all year groups.  Children’s work is assessed against the objectives for that term, and teachers can put careful consideration into how they plan the next term with regards to what pupils can and cannot still do.

The writing books at Harriers Banbury Academy show a clear progression of writing across a range of formalities and genres.  This is created through effective planning and the use of model texts.