Rufford Park Primary School

Writing

Intent

At Rufford Park Primary School we understand the importance of children being able to communicate clearly using the written word. The ability to write with skill, clarity and purpose allows children to express themselves clearly through their writing; a skill that will be vital throughout their life.

We know that the key to becoming a good writer is to develop the skills needed to express ourselves in this written form, so our curriculum focusses on the teaching of skills and ensuring that progression can be clearly seen in different year groups.

We also know how important it is to develop a joy of writing. We follow a writing process that gives children opportunities to talk about their writing ideas and plan before they begin to write. We use quality texts to support our ‘Topic Based Approach’ to writing and allow children to write about real life events where possible.

Implementation

At Rufford Park Primary School we follow a school agreed Writing Process. This process allows children opportunities to practise skills taught and write for a real purpose. Our progression of skills document supports teachers in their planning and skills are regularly revisited.

We give children opportunities to write for a range of purposes, such as to persuade, to inform and to entertain differing audiences. The range of writing purposes increases as the children move through the school.

Although we have a ‘Topic Based Approach’ to our writing, we understand the importance of books to help stimulate writing ideas and outcomes. We use high quality, age-appropriate texts to support our topics. We have a long-term overview of texts used to ensure that texts are not repeated year after year. Texts are reviewed and changed on a regular basis.  

Writing is taught daily, and children are given regular opportunities to write to build up stamina, skills, confidence, and enjoyment.

So that children know what they need to do to improve their writing they are given clear writing targets which are reviewed termly.  We understand the importance of these targets in enabling children to be proactive in improving their writing outcomes and skills.

Impact

At Rufford Park Primary School the impact of our English curriculum is that children understand the relevance and importance of what they are learning.  Consequently they make above average progress in writing during their time at school from EYFS – KS2 (3-year average 2017-19 progress data).  The pupils therefore leave Rufford Park with the knowledge and skills such that they are able to succeed at the next stage of their education.

To measure progress and ensure that we have a consistent approach to our judgements regular moderation takes place in phases, year groups and among our group of schools within the ALPT. We know that this regular moderation is vital to ensure that teachers' judgements are accurate.

All children, from Year 1 to Year 6, are regularly assessed. When assessing children, we understand the importance in looking at the ‘Whole Child’ and to do this we look at a range of written work when making a final judgement about a child’s writing ability.

Regular pupil progress meetings are held to discuss individuals and cohorts of children. Children’s progress is closely tracked throughout the year and throughout their school journey.  Interventions take place for individuals who are not on-track to meet their end of year targets.

Ultimately, we want children to have a positive view of writing due to learning in an environment where writing is promoted as being an exciting, engaging, and enjoyable subject in which they can express themselves confidently and creatively. We want children to have high expectations of themselves and the quality and overall presentation of the work that they produce.  We want to have writers who have a sense of pride in their work and the achievements they make.

Our Writing Process

Writing Purpose, Text Types and Coverage Y1-Y6

Progression in Writing EYFS - Y6

Writing Policies