CURRICULUM
English WritingWriting in the Early Years
Children learn that you can communicate through writing, and that marks have meaning, by watching others write. Reception staff carefully plan opportunities for the pupils to develop the fine motor skills to grasp, hold, and strengthen fingers and thumbs by scrunching paper and using pick-up tools.
Following the stages of early mark making, muscle control becomes more defined and children in reception start behaving like writers, holding a pencil correctly, writing their own name, forming letters correctly and finally using their phonic knowledge to form words with meaning. Focussed teaching and carefully planned opportunities to write will ensure that by the end of the Reception year, the children are ready to being their Key Stage 1 curriculum.
programmes of study for writing
The programmes of study for writing at key stages 1 and 2 are constructed into:
- Transcription (spelling and handwriting)
- Composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing).
Teaching develops pupils’ competence in these two dimensions. In addition, pupils are taught how to plan, revise and evaluate their writing. Writing down ideas fluently depends on effective transcription: that is, on spelling quickly and accurately through knowing the relationship between sounds and letters (phonics) and understanding the morphology (word structure) and orthography (spelling structure) of words.
Effective composition involves forming, articulating and communicating ideas, and then organising them coherently for a reader. This requires clarity, awareness of the audience, purpose and context, and an increasingly wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. Writing also depends on fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy handwriting
Our vision
Working collaboratively to inspire learners to demonstrate the knowledge, skills and values required for lifelong learning and to be successful, active members of the Trust and wider community.