Writing

Writing is taught across school through the "Talk for Writing" approach; this aims to improve children’s writing through spoken and written language. Children learn a text by heart though actions and spoken sentence structures, then they write the text from memory as well as identifying good features (imitation stage). Next the text is changed to create a new story with the same structures and patterns (innovation stage) before the children confidently write their own version independently (invention stage).

The new Curriculum has a stronger emphasis and weighting on spelling, handwriting and grammar. These are taught within the Literacy lesson where links can be made as well as in separate sessions.

Handwriting is taught separately but there is a high expectation in all lessons for consistently good presentation.

Links are made in Science and the Creative Curriculum to create extra opportunities for writing a wide range of text types.

Year Group Learning

Reception
Reception expectations will be added soon.

Year 1
These are the national standard expectations for year 1 writing.

Transcription

  • Sit correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly.
  • Begin to form lower case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place
  • Form capital letters and the digits 0-9
  • Understand which letters belong to which handwriting ‘families’ (i.e. letters that are formed in similar ways) and to practise these
  • Identify known phonemes in unfamiliar words
  • Use syllables to divide words when spelling
  • Use knowledge of alternative phonemes to narrow down possibilities for accurate spelling
  • Use the spelling rule for adding s or es for verbs in 3rd person singular
  • Name the letters of the alphabet in order
  • Use letter names to show alternative spellings of the same phoneme

Composition

  • Compose a sentence orally before writing it
  • Sequence sentences to form short narratives
  • Sequence sentences in chronological order to recount an event or an experience
  • Re-read what they have written to check that it makes sense
  • Leave spaces between words
  • Begin to punctuate sentences using a capital letter and a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark
  • Use a capital letter for names of people, places, the days of the week, and the personal pronoun ‘I’
  • Use ‘and’ to join sentences together
  • Know how the prefix ‘un’ can be added to words to change meaning
  • Use the suffixes: s, es, ed, er and ing within their writing

Year 2
These are the national standard expectations for year 2 writing.

Transcription

  • Segment spoken words into phonemes and record these as graphemes
  • Spell words with different alternative spellings, including a few common homophones
  • Spell longer words using suffixes such as ment, ness, ful, less, ly
  • Use knowledge of alternative phonemes to narrow down possibilities for accurate spelling
  • Identify known phonemes in unfamiliar words and use syllables to divide words
  • Form lower case letters of the correct size relative to one another
  • Begin to use some of the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters
  • Understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined
  • Write capital letters and digits of the correct size, with correct orientation and relationship to one another and to lower case letters
  • Use spacing between words that reflects the size of the letters

Composition

  • Write narratives about personal experiences and those of others (real and fictional)
  • Write for different purposes, including real events
  • Plan and discuss the content of writing and write down ideas
  • Orally rehearse structured sentences or sequences of sentences
  • Evaluate writing independently, with peers and with teacher
  • Proof-read to check for errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation
  • Use full stops, capital letters , exclamation and question marks accurately to demarcate sentences and commas for lists
  • Use a capital letter for names of people, places, the days of the week, and the personal pronoun ‘I
  • Use subordination (using when, if, that, or because) and co-ordination (using or, and, or but)
  • Use present and past tenses correctly and consistently including the progressive form

Year 3
These are the national standard expectations for year 3 writing.

Transcription

  • Spell words with additional prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them to root words, for example – form nouns using super, anti, auto
  • Recognise and spell additional homophones, for example – he’ll, heel, heal
  • Use the first two or three letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary
  • Spell correctly word families based on common words, for example – solve, solution, solver
  • Spell identified commonly misspelt words from Year 3 and 4 word list
  • Make analogies from a word already known to apply to an unfamiliar word
  • Identify the root in longer words
  • Use the diagonal and horizontal strokes that are needed to join letters
  • Understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined
  • Increase the legibility, consistency and quality of handwriting

Composition

  • Look at and discuss models of writing of the text type, purpose and audience to be written, noting: structure; grammatical features and use of vocabulary
  • Compose sentences using a wider range of structures linked to the grammar objectives
  • Write a narrative with a clear structure, setting, characters and plot
  • Write a non-narrative using simple organisational devices such as headings and sub-headings
  • Suggest improvement to writing through assessing writing with peers and self assessment
  • Make improvements by proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, e.g. the accurate use of pronouns in sentences
  • Use a range of sentences with more than one clause by using a wider range of conjunctions, e.g. when, if, because, although
  • Use the perfect form of verbs to mark relationships of time and cause
  • Use conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to express time and cause
  • Proof-read to check for errors in spelling and punctuation errors

Year 4

Transcription

  • Spell words with additional prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them to root words. for example – ation, ous, ion, ian
  • Recognise and spell additional homophones, for example – accept and except, whose and who’s
  • Use the first two or three letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary
  • Spell identified commonly misspelt words from Year 3 and 4 word list
  • Use the diagonal and horizontal strokes that are needed to join letters
  • Understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined
  • Increase the legibility, consistency and quality of their handwriting: down strokes of letters are parallel and equidistant; lines of writing are spaced sufficiently so that the ascenders and descenders of letters do not touch

Composition

  • Compose sentences using a wider range of structures, linked to the grammar objectives
  • Orally rehearse structured sentences or sequences of sentences
  • Begin to open paragraphs with topic sentences
  • Write a narrative with a clear structure, setting, characters and plot
  • Make improvements by proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, e.g. the accurate use of pronouns in sentences
  • Use a range of sentences with more than one clause
  • Use appropriate nouns or pronouns within and across sentences to support cohesion and avoid repetition
  • Use fronted adverbials, for example, ‘Later that day, I went shopping.’
  • Use expanded noun phrases with modifying adjectives and prepositional phrases, for example, ‘The strict teacher with curly hair’
  • Use other punctuation in direct speech, including a comma after the reporting clause; use apostrophes to mark plural possession; and use commas after fronted adverbials

Year 5
These are the national standard expectations for year 5 writing.

Transcription

  • Form verbs with prefixes. for example, dis, de, mis, over and re
  • Convert nouns or adjectives into verbs by adding a suffix. for example, ate, ise, ify
  • Understand the general rules for adding prefixes and suffixes above
  • Spell some words with ‘silent’ letters, e.g. knight, psalm, solemn
  • Distinguish between homophones and other words which are often confused
  • Spell identified commonly misspelt words from Year 5 and 6 word list
  • Use the first three or four letters of a word to check spelling, meaning or both of these in a dictionary
  • Use a thesaurus
  • Use a range of spelling strategies
  • Choose which shape of a letter to use when given choices and deciding, as part of their personal style, whether or not to join specific letters
  • Choose the writing implement that is best suited for a task (e.g. quick notes, letters)

Composition

  • Know the audience for and purpose of the writing
  • Use the features and structures of text types taught so far
  • Use grammatical features and vocabulary appropriate for the text types taught so far
  • Start sentences in different ways
  • Use sentence starters to highlight the main idea
  • Develop characters through action and dialogue
  • Establish viewpoint as the writer through commenting on characters or events
  • Show how grammar and vocabulary choices create impact on the reader
  • Choose vocabulary to engage and impact on the reader
  • Use stylistic devices to create effects in writing, for example, simile, metaphor, personification
  • Add well-chosen detail to interest the reader
  • Summarise a paragraph or event
  • Organise writing into paragraphs to show different information or events
  • Use cohesive devices (connecting adverbs and adverbials) to link ideas within paragraphs
  • Use modal verbs or adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility
  • Use relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that or with an implied (i.e. omitted) relative pronoun
  • Use commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing
  • Use brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis
  • Assess the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing
  • Suggest changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning
  • Ensure the consistent and correct use of tense throughout a piece of writing
  • Ensure correct subject and verb agreement when using singular and plural
  • Distinguish between the language of speech and writing
  • Distinguish between the formal and informal spoken and written language
  • Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors
  • Perform their own compositions, using appropriate intonation, volume, and movement so that meaning is clear

Year 6
These are the national standard expectations for year 6 writing.

Transcription

  • Convert verbs into nouns by adding suffixes. for example, tion, ure
  • Distinguish between homophones and other words which are often confused
  • Spell identified commonly misspelt words from Year 5 and 6 word list
  • Understand that the spelling of some words needs to be learnt specifically
  • Use dictionaries to check the spelling and meaning of words
  • Use the first three or four letters of a word to check spelling, meaning or both of these in a dictionary
  • Use a thesaurus
  • Use a range of spelling strategies
  • Choose which shape of a letter to use when given choices and deciding, as part of their personal style, whether or not to join specific letters
  • Choose the writing implement that is best suited for a task (e.g. quick notes, letters)

Composition

  • Identify the audience for and purpose of the writing
  • Choose the appropriate form and register for the audience and purpose of the writing
  • Use grammatical structures/features and choose vocabulary appropriate to the audience, purpose and degree of formality to make meaning clear and create effect
  • Use a range of sentence starters to create specific effects, for example, adverbials, conjunctions, ing, ed
  • Use developed noun phrases to add detail to sentences
  • Use the passive voice to present information with a different emphasis
  • Use commas to mark phrases and clauses
  • Sustain and develop main ideas logically in narrative and non-narrative writing
  • Use character, dialogue and action to advance events in narrative writing
  • Summarise text, conveying key information
  • Write paragraphs with a topic sentence which clearly signal a change in, for example, subject, time, place, event
  • Use organisational and presentational devices to structure text and to guide the reader, for example, headings, bullet points, underlining
  • Assess the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing
  • Suggest changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning
  • Write paragraphs with a clear focus
  • Write paragraphs with different structures and lengths
  • Link ideas within and between paragraphs with a range of cohesive devices, for example, connecting adverbs/adverbials, use of pronouns
  • Use different sentence structures and length to suit the purpose and audience of the writing
  • Use a range of sentence types for impact and specific effect on the reader
  • Control complex sentences, manipulating the clauses to achieve specific effects
  • Use punctuation to convey and clarify meaning, including colon and semi-colon
  • Make precise and specific word choices according to the text type and audience
  • Summarise longer texts precisely, identifying the key information
  • Use the passive voice confidently, for example, to create suspense or in a science investigation or historical or geographical report
  • Use the subjunctive in the most formal writing to express a wish or a suggestion for the future

Spelling

Principle – We create independent spellers who can apply spelling rules and strategies (at ARE) in their writing.
Therefore;

  • Rules need to be explicitly taught
  • Exceptions need to be taught
  • Strategies need to be taught
  • Needs to be linked to and applied in their writing.

Spelling lists can be linked to themes and topics in order for children to demonstrate what they can do.
Children who are working below ARE need to have scaffolding to support in order for them to catch-up/ narrow the gap to ARE. (with the exception of range 3 and 4)

Phase 1

Teachers must create their lists using the common exception words from the National Curriculum, Bear words, high frequency words from Letters and Sounds, vowel digraphs and trigraphs from phonics and key words from your current topic.
Between 5-10 words each week but this will build up to 15
Rules and strategies need to be taught during the week (Refer to the spelling work for Year 1 document)
Use the document attached as a working document to evidence coverage throughout the year

Phase 2/3

New spelling routine:
Teachers must create their lists using the national curriculum document attached – linking words from current Literacy units, Topic, Science etc to the requirements and word lists.
15 words each week – format up to the teacher
Rules and strategies need to be taught during the week
Use the document attached as a working document to evidence coverage throughout the year
Ensure all year group word lists including common exception words are included in the spelling words.