Writing at Quarry Bank Primary School is incredibly important - we find opportunities for the children to write throughout the curriculum. Below you can see some of our core principles about teaching writing. 

English is currently led by Mrs Roff.

For further information please see the Writing Strategy also below.

In EYFS and Key Stage 1, phonics is taught using a structured and creative approach through the Sounds Write scheme in preparation for the National Phonics Screening Test in the Summer Term in Year 1. Sounds Write is a resource that supports the development of pupils’ speaking and listening skills as well as preparing them to become successful readers through set phonics.

Pupils are taught to decode new words by sounding them out and combining or ‘blending’ the sound spelling patterns. Pupils then practise the sounds that they have learnt by reading texts containing words that can be decoded. This improves the fluency as well as the accuracy of pupils’ decoding until it becomes automatic and does not require conscious effort.

Writing

As pupils move from Year 1 into Year 2 and beyond, other skills such as spelling, punctuation, and grammar (G,P,S), alongside some comprehension aspects, will have discrete sessions allocated. Writing and genre types in reading will be taught through a clearly structurer ‘writing journey’. 

Literacy is fully embedded into our curriculum to provide authentic opportunities to apply knowledge and skills that pupils learn for a real purpose. In KS1 the purposes for writing focus on ‘Writing to Entertain’ and ‘Writing to Inform’. We have inspirational writing opportunities which cover all of the writing genres and pupils get a chance to develop their literacy skills across all aspects of the curriculum. Pupils learn about the features of each genre of writing with a focus on sentence and grammar, before then moving on to planning, drafting, and editing their own version before finally completing an extended writing piece. Short burst, incidental writing opportunities are interspersed throughout the main writing journey.

Pupils write a range of fiction and non-fiction text outcomes.

Our writing curriculum provides a wealth of authentic and purposeful opportunities for pupils to develop their literacy skills. There is a range of inspirational writing opportunities complemented by opportunities for incidental/short-burst writing.

We have identified the main purposes for writing. The four writing purposes that pupils will be taught across KS2 are: ‘Writing to Entertain’, ‘Writing to Inform’, ‘Writing to Persuade’ and ‘Writing to Discuss’. Pupils follow a clear writing journey in which they learn about the features of each genre of writing with a focus on sentence and grammar, then move on to planning, drafting, and editing their own version before finally completing an extended writing piece.