Writing

At Bridge and Patrixbourne CEP School, we endeavour to create a love of writing. Our curriculum provides stimulating and progressive topics that offers a platform for creativity and excellence within the subject. The children will leave our school with the tools to communicate effectively through written and spoken language in order to interact with others in the wider world.

Writing at Bridge school is fully inclusive of all children and facilitates opportunities for children to experiment with language across a variety of genres. The children learn to use the power of writing to challenge sociological norms, stereotypes and biases that exist. The process of writing enables children to experiment with language, make mistakes and as a result become resilient writers.

Writing Curriculum

Writing In the Foundation Stage

At Bridge and Patrixbourne CEP School, children in the Reception year follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. Alongside Comprehension and Word Reading, Writing forms part of the children’s Literacy development. In order for children to write effectively, they need to have securely developed skills in the following areas which form the prerequisites for writing: Communication and Language (speaking), Physical Development (fine motor skills) and Literacy - Word Reading. These areas will support the pupils to meet the end of Foundation Stage expectations of being able to:

Write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed;
Spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters;
Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others

Writing in Key Stage 1 and 2

From Years 1 to 6, writing at Bridge School is taught through The Write Stuff approach by Jane Considine. This method allows pupils to focus on the structure of their sentences and enables them to widen their vocabulary, whilst deepening their understanding of authorial choices.

At Bridge, we want our pupils to express their thoughts, opinions and imaginative creativity through access to high quality texts, rich vocabulary and the ability to use grammar and punctuation accurately to clarify their meaning. This is achieved through the Write Stuff approach by modelling good writing to the pupils, creating experiences for the pupils to immerse themselves in and involving the children in the writing process, demonstrating that every good writer needs to decide whether to keep, reject or sharpen their ideas at every stage. The visual style of the Write Stuff supports all learners and enables them to grow in confidence as writers.

How can parents support writing at home?

Discuss any high-quality vocabulary when you come across it when reading together
Encourage your child to write about their reading by putting together book reviews for their favourite stories
Create an organised and fun writing space for your child at home
Apply learning spellings to sentence writing where children can apply the GPS (grammar, punctuation and spelling) objectives for their year group
‘A picture is worth 1000 words’ – find a photo of interest for your child and encourage them to write creatively about it in any style they like
Explore other genres – your child might like to write a poem or song lyrics about a topic of their choice, or might find non-fiction writing more appealing

Where can I find more information?

We have a dedicated page showing how handwriting progresses across the school through the implementation of the handwriting scheme PenPals, as well as how handwriting can be supported at home. This can be found here: Handwriting

You can find out more about The Write Stuff by visiting the website: The Training Space

Our writing lessons are carefully structured to deliver the complete English National Curriculum. You can see this document here: English programmes of study: key stages 1 and 2 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Each year group’s grammar and punctuation objectives can be found here: National curriculum in England: English programmes of study - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Spelling is taught through the Spelling Shed scheme. Each pupil has their own log-in to practise their weekly spellings and can be accessed here: Spelling Shed - Spelling Shed - The Science of Spelling

The breakdown of the spelling curriculum can be viewed here: The national curriculum in England - English Appendix 1: Spelling (publishing.service.gov.uk)