“You can make anything by writing.” - C.S. Lewis

Intent

At Fairisle Infant and Nursery school, we aim to equip our children with the knowledge, skills and voice of a writer. Writing is a crucial part of our curriculum and, like reading, is used across all subject areas.  We want our children to value writing, finding pleasure and reward in the process of learning to write. 

Our curriculum uses stories and good text models in tandem with developing vocabulary, grammar and transcriptional skills to encourage children to see the impact of writing choices. As spoken language underpins the development of writing, we aim to foster a rich vocabulary through our Word Aware approach.

Our intentions in writing are for children to:

• see themselves as real writers
• secure a good grasp of the basic skills including handwriting
• develop a rich vocabulary
• write clearly and coherently for a range of purposes

Implementation

Our writing curriculum is mapped out progressively through long and medium term plans. Teachers use an S plan approach to plan the short term journey that meets the needs of their current cohort. Through this writing curriculum we:

• ensure writing is taught in a carefully developed, progressive sequence using quality texts
• ensure that the children write for a real purpose and reason covering a range of forms
• use high quality texts and writing models to teach grammar, punctuation and vocabulary allowing children to see the impact of the writer’s choices
• use a rigorous, sequential approach to teaching handwriting
•  ensure children use and apply their phonic knowledge in their writing
• teach the children how to proofread and check their writing makes sense and then, in Year 2, how to make revisions and additions so they can improve their writing
• use drama and role play opportunities to develop children’s oracy skills
• encourage and celebrate writing skills through handwriting hero class award, ‘show your adult of choice’ opportunities and the ‘Rights respecting’ book celebration assembly

Please find below our writing knowledge and skills progression document along with a Year 1 and Year 2 long term overviews.