At Lingfield, we aim to develop all children to become confident and accomplished writers. Following the Middlesbrough Writing Curriculum, children develop a clear progression of skills on their journey throughout school.
At the heart of our writing curriculum, is Talk for Writing, a writing approach developed by Pie Corbett (a leading education and English specialist). This approach enables children to read and write independently for a variety of audiences and purposes. The children internalise the language structures needed to write through ‘talking a text’ as well as close reading, exploring features and language within high quality texts. Then through shared and guided teaching, the children imitate the structure before moving towards independence, composing a final piece with confidence, adding their own creativity and flair. We aim to use Talk for Writing once each half term as a teaching approach.
To support our pupils in their writing journey, we understand the importance of using high quality model texts at all times for children to understand context, audience and purpose for writing and to identify features and expose them to new and ambitious vocabulary. Our children are encouraged to plan, draft, edit and improve their work and regularly produce a final polished piece of work to end a sequence of writing. Relevant features of punctation and grammar are also taught and applied throughout the writing sequence through discrete GPS lessons and within writing lessons.
To deliver phonics and spelling throughout school, we use Sounds-Write, which supports children from EYFS, Key Stage One and into their Key Stage Two journey, to teach and develop reading, spelling and writing. Sounds-Write starts with what children know – sounds, and teaches them three essential skills needed to be able to read and write, blending, segmenting and phoneme manipulation.
Spellings from the National Curriculum are also taught along with statutory spellings relevant to each year group. Spelling lists are provided for children to practice at home as well as learning opportunities in school. We use Spelling Shed which provides a platform for the children to reinforce their spellings both in school and at home.
Handwriting is taught and modelled throughout school and high standards are promoted and reinforced in all written work. In Early Years and Year 1, children are taught correct letter formation and in Year 2, when the children are ready, our pupils begin to develop a joined, cursive script. Children continue to develop their cursive writing in Key Stage 2, using pens from Year 3 when pupils have developed an accurate, legible script. Developing a pride in all written work is promoted and celebrated throughout school.
