At Westminster Primary School, we strongly believe that all children should have the opportunity to become confident and fluent writers. Regardless of background, ability or need, we meet the writing requirements of the Early Years Framework and National Curriculum. By the time the children leave Year 6, we aim for them to think, talk and write as if they were an author. In order to support this, we have selected and embedded schemes into our curriculum to suit the needs of our children. We believe that our English curriculum should inspire and develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion by providing exciting writing opportunities to engage all pupils.

We understand the importance of creating a culture where our children take real pride in their writing and are passionate about what they write. We aim to create confident writers who develop stamina for writing throughout the school and become independent writers. Children will be exposed to high-quality texts that model excellent writing practices across a broad range of genres. They will be taught to write clearly, accurately and coherently, with the ability to adapt their language and form to a range of purposes, contexts and audiences.

As well as this, we believe that children should have a solid understanding of grammar and be able to effectively apply it to their writing – in a range of contexts. Our aim is also to ensure our children are confident in speaking and listening, using discussion to embed and further their learning. We aspire to all children acquiring a wide breadth of vocabulary and being able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules learnt through their time at Westminster.

We guide pupils to know how to effectively edit and improve their writing using feedback from peers and teachers, whilst challenging our children to take risks and view mistakes as a positive part of the writing process.

We are inclusive of all children, including SEND, by providing the appropriate scaffolding, support and tools those children need in their writing lessons to experience success.

Writing

CLPE The Power of Reading  

The teaching of writing across the school consists of two dimensions: transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing).

Throughout the school, we have designed our writing curriculum, which incorporates high-quality texts with associated planning from CLPE. The Power of Reading builds a curriculum based on high-quality children's books and provides all teachers with text recommendations and detailed planning to support the teaching of reading and writing. It fosters reading and writing for pleasure and raises achievement in literacy.  Each year group selects a range of text types across the year and uses the detailed planning to support the teaching. Planning is adapted to suit the needs of the children in each year group.

All of our children experience a broad coverage of fiction and non-fiction genres. We structure our lesson sequences in a way that allows children to focus on one key writing purpose at a time: writing to entertain, persuade or inform. This approach means that children spend up to several weeks gaining a thorough understanding of how to write for a specific purpose and what skills are required to employ, which leads up to an extended piece of writing.

Quality teacher-modelled, shared and guided writing takes place throughout all stages of the writing process. During these sessions, the teacher ‘thinks out loud’, purposefully referring to the skills, tools and spelling rules that they have been focusing on, to model how to think like a writer, develop quality writing and edit effectively.

We believe having a sound knowledge of grammar and punctuation is essential, as it helps children to gain a solid understanding of the ‘nuts and bolts’ of writing, which they build upon progressively each academic year. Grammar and punctuation are taught within lessons and carefully embedded in the sequences, which avoids them being taught simply as a detached, abstract part of the writing process. Where needed, it is taught discreetly to introduce new understanding prior to embedding.

Working walls play a key role in our writing lessons and reflect our current learning; they serve to act as a strong visual aid to support and scaffold the learning of children during the writing process.

Spelling 

EYFS and KS1 use Little Wandle to learn sounds and tricky words which can then be implemented into thier writing.

Children follow the No Nonsense Spelling programme from Year 2 to Year 6. No Nonsense Spelling supports children in learning spelling patterns and rules, statutory words, common exceptions and personal spellings. They are taught in a 'Little-but-often' structure which allows them to revisit and review, learn new strategies and apply. 

A variety of strategies are suggested so that children with different learning styles can find out what works well for them. The series has clear progression through each year and is helpful because it splits the work  into single year groups, building on previous learning. 

Handwriting

In EYFS we ensure that appropriate gross and fine motor activities are delivered which allow for pupils to develop the 'strength to write' as well as a willingness. Letter formation is taught as part of our Phonics scheme - Little Wandle - and through this, pupils will have daily opportunities to practice their printed letter formation as part of lessons. This continues through EYFS and Year 1 where they will also focus on ensuring that letters are of the correct height and size compared to others. If pupils have mastered single letters, handwriting and spelling practice are combined. Letters are taught as being part of 'formation families' which link those that are composed in a similar fashion. When our pupils join Year 2, a bespoke Handwriting session is taught daily which reviews prior learning and then moves on to teaching cursive letters and joining to form words (linked to spellings).

In Years 3 & 4, Handwriting continues to be taught daily in bespoke lessons but a spelling focus is introduced with pupils now beginning to use the joins they have learnt to write words that are part of the No Nonsense Spelling Scheme as well as subject specific vocabulary that may be used as part of Writing lessons or throughout the wider curriculum.

In Years 5 & 6, Handwriting is taught weekly in bespoke lessons with a spelling focus (as in Years 3 and 4). If any pupils have not mastered the skill, they will continue to be taught daily in bespoke lessons.

Reading   

Phonics 

At West Minster Primary School, there is a determination that every child should have an equal opportunity to learn to read for meaning and to develop a love of reading. Teachers and other adults are well trained, and the teaching of reading is at the heart of the curriculum. To support this, we are using Little Wandle, a DfE validated SSP (systematic synthetic phonics scheme) with clear expectations that provide clear progression throughout EYFS to KS1. 

Initially, the teaching of reading is through the systematic teaching of phonics, starting in Early Years with the Little Wandle programme. We aim for all children to become fluent readers who read with expression, stamina and comprehension. This journey begins early on, in the second week of Early Years when we begin to teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. This is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school. In addition to daily phonics lessons, children read three times a week, each time focusing on a different aspect of reading: decoding, prosody and comprehension.   

All teaching staff and senior leaders are trained in the programme and its delivery. The scheme has a thorough half termly assessment to track progress. These assessments ensure that children are provided with the appropriate, high-quality support as soon as it is required. We also use the Little Wandle Rapid Catch-Up resources to support children who need another period of phonics lessons in Year 3 (and beyond where required).   

Reading in Key Stage 2    

Adults model fluent and expressive reading and support children to develop their own fluency through different techniques. Such activities help children to develop confidence and fluency during independent reading.  

Reading skills are taught and practiced using VIPERS during whole-class reading sessions. VIPERS is an acronym to aid the recall of the 6 reading domains as part of the UK’s reading curriculum.  They are the key areas that we feel children need to know and understand in order to improve their comprehension of texts. VIPERS stands for: 

                                                                      Vocabulary 

                                                                      Inference 

                                                                      Prediction 

                                                                      Explanation 

                                                                      Retrieval 

                                                                      Sequence or Summarise 

The 6 domains focus on the comprehension.  As such, VIPERS is not a reading scheme but rather a method of ensuring that teachers ask, and pupils are familiar with, a range of questions.  They allow the teacher to track the type of questions asked and the children’s responses to these which allows for targeted questioning afterwards. 

At the beginning of Key Stage Two, children are assessed using the Accelerated Reader programme. After completing an initial assessment, children are given a ZPD. This is a coding system used in the school library which allows children to select books of an optimal reading level for them. Children complete quizzes on texts they read and as they progress can take Star Reader Tests in order to move up a level.  

Within the classrooms, and throughout the school we are building on children’s desire to read for pleasure. Book areas are inviting spaces with access to a range of relevant, high quality and diverse texts that spark children’s interests.