Writing at Red Hall
If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write ~ Martin Luther King
Our children and their needs are at the centre of this curriculum, and it has been driven by them. It is our intention that children develop a love of writing, through being given high-quality model texts which embrace their own fascinations and interests, making learning more relevant and exciting. Our Red Hall Writing Journey ensures that children are exposed to a variety of genres and real life experiences throughout their time here.
How we teach writing at Red Hall
At Red Hall, we have created our own bespoke Writing Journey that follows the children through school and adapts as their skills do. Our Writing Journey starts right in Early Years and it’s a progressive journey that enables children to become confident writers.
How Writing is taught in EYFS
Our Two-Year-Old, Nursery and Reception children are given many opportunities to share stories and to develop a love of reading, writing, role play and drama. In our EYFS setting, many weeks throughout the academic year, are focused around stories, which interest and fascinate the children. There are play invitations, provocations and hooks set up by staff to encourage children to write. Below you can see some provocations that inspired the children to write recipes and telephone notes:
How Writing is taught in Key Stage 1
In Key Stage 1, we use Drawing Club to inspire children to write. Each week, they read a new book (linked to the Reading Overview) or have a short clip to watch which they write about that week. The children have ‘codes’ (phonics or grammar objectives) they have to include to complete the Drawing Club mission that week. We have seen a real change in attitudes towards writing in Key Stage 1 by following Drawing Club!
How Writing is taught in Key Stage 2
In Key Stage 2, our Writing Journey adapts by following the Talk for Writing Approach. This approach ensures that all pupils are given the opportunity to act as REAL writers. They also have a hook into writing to begin a new unit, the children are exposed to a wealth of high-quality texts and have to ‘crack the code’ (analyse the features) of each genre. Then after lots of book talk and thinking about what makes a good piece of writing, the children plan, draft and edit their final piece of writing.
The key stage focuses on the same genres each half-term. The genres are carefully thought out, linking to the wider curriculum (where possible) to ensure children have the opportunity to write for a range of purposes and to experience a range of texts. We try to make this as close to real life as possible as not every child has the same experiences to draw upon for their writing.
How Parents / Carers can help at home
- Encourage your child(ren) to write whenever possible: whether this is birthday cards, thank you letters, or text messages!
- Play games with your child(ren), e.g. you write a sentence and see if your child can improve
- Plenty of praise.
- Listen to your child. Encourage them to tell you more about their writing and what they’ve written at school. Foster their enthusiasm.
Handwriting
At Red Hall Primary School, we follow the Letterjoin handwriting programme to support the teaching of handwriting. Please find more information in the attached policy: Handwriting Policy
Here you can find our English Overviews:
