English: Writing

Vision

Here at Heybrook, we fully appreciate the importance of learning to write for our children’s future life chances. More than that, we want our children to genuinely enjoy writing and for them to see the value of it too. We recognise the intrinsic link between reading and writing; we believe that the best readers often make the best writers. As such, our commitment to reading alongside our rigorous writing process ensures that children are given every opportunity to succeed in their writing.

We blend the teaching of technical knowledge and skills (organised by ‘transcription’ and ‘composition’) with a desire to nurture creativity and imagination. We only use the highest quality texts as stimuli and as the drivers of the English curriculum, the majority of which are sourced through the CLPE Power of Reading scheme. Carefully constructed models of writing (WAGOLLS) and shared writes are a key feature of the writing curriculum at Heybrook. We believe that regular writing practice is key, so we strive to ensure that the children at Heybrook are given plenty of opportunities to do so. Cross curricular reading and writing is commonplace in Heybrook’s English curriculum. We’re committed to interweaving the teaching of English with the wider curriculum as we believe that this not only provides a legitimate purpose for their English work, but also helps to consolidate their wider learning.

Aims

We aim to:

• Inspire imagination, creativity and enjoyment for writing
• Equip children with the essential knowledge and skills to write clearly, accurately and coherently
• Use high-quality texts as the core of the English curriculum, exposing the children to a vast array of text-types and authors in the process
• Help our children to spell with accuracy and to use fluent and consistent handwriting (transcription)
• Ensure children acquire and use rich and wide-ranging vocabulary in their writing, typically that which they have encountered in their reading (composition)
• Teach our pupils how to plan, structure, edit and evaluate their work following an agreed writing process (composition)
• Teach our children how to use correct grammatical features, terminology and punctuation in their writing (composition)
• Provide extensive opportunities for our children to adapt their writing and style for a variety of genres, contexts, purposes and audiences (composition)
• Make links to our wider curriculum and facilitate opportunities for cross curricular writing
• Give our children the chance to meet real-life authors and illustrators

Curriculum map

Our curriculum map for English clearly sets out the sequence of learning in this subject:
English Curriculum Map 2024-25

See below for Heybrook's writing progression document:

Heybrook Writing Progression 2024-25

See below for examples of an English unit overview:

English Unit Overview - The Secret Sky Garden (Y1 Spring 2)

English Unit Overview - Floodland (Y5 Summer 1)

What our children say

You can use your imagination to create new pieces of work.

Whatever you're writing, it can't really be wrong because it's your choice.

Writing things down can often help you to understand.

My favourite piece of writing was back in Year 5 when we wrote an alternative ending for Floodland. I could make my own plot and add twists.

It means you can open up and write away your worries.

There are so many different styles of writing so you don't get bored.

If you go for a job interview, you have to know how to write.

By learning new vocabulary, you can learn the meaning and how to use it in the right context.

What it looks like

Writing at Heybrook