‘Reading and Writing floats on a sea of talk’

National curriculum in England: English programmes of study

At Fairburn View, the teaching of Writing aims to develop pupils’ skills in order to prepare them for later life, both in and out of school. When taught enthusiastically and creatively, it should inspire a thirst for knowledge that stays with each pupil throughout their lifetime. It is also our ethos that we develop the social and emotional wellbeing of all our pupils, with a resilient ‘we can, and we will’ attitude. At Fairburn View, our intentions with Writing are to:

• Provide the skills to succeed in KS3 and further education, resulting in finding and maintaining employment
• Ensure all pupils, including SEN, disadvantaged, and other identified cohorts, can make progress in Writing
• Ensure pupils are subjected to good or better teaching, which motivates, inspires and engages pupils and promotes a love of learning
• Nurture and develop all pupils’ love of writing across a range of genres

A high-quality Writing curriculum enables all pupils to enjoy relative success. This is the result of a high-quality teaching and learning environment, where staff and pupils alike enjoy working effectively together to achieve success. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where pupils take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately, and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts.

Our Writing intent is to deliver creative and inspiring lessons, which cover all relevant genres and styles, whilst providing pupils with the opportunity to employ appropriate skills. This should also involve the study of current affairs to establish a broad and balanced curriculum. Whilst we strive for high levels of attainment across key stages, we place a larger emphasis on progress for all our pupils – including those potentially vulnerable groups. In doing so, we provide all children with the opportunity to achieve success, and recognise the importance of a child’s well-being.

Fairburn View aims to provide an engaging and challenging curriculum that allows all students the opportunity to achieve – often beyond their expectations. This is done through pitching lessons at Age-Related Expectations (with opportunities for Greater Depth work), thus exposing lower-attaining pupils to these skills.

The Writing Curriculum has several aims that are embedded across Key Stage 1 and 2:

• Acquire a wider vocabulary
• Write clearly, accurately and coherently
• Use discussion in order to learn
• Be competent at speaking and listening

‘Reading and writing floats on a sea of talk’

Through the teaching of ‘Talk for Writing’ (in years 2, 3 and 4) we ensure pupils have the opportunity to converse and verbally retell stories, through the use of actions and voices – this includes EYFS. Not only does this allow for all learning abilities to succeed, but it also allows the pupils to be confident and competent speakers. Skills in lessons are taught through an imitated text, which the children learn off by heart. They can then implement the same skills in an independent text of their own; this gives the skills context and meaning.

Genres and topics are well-researched and chosen to inspire and involve all learners, and some are chosen to encourage debate and discussion. Each text is strongly linked to a book surrounding their topic, as well as wellbeing, cultural diversity and the wider curriculum. Changing the planning and curriculum map annually ensures teachers’ ideas are adaptable and do not become stagnant.

We aim to promote creative writing and a wider imagination from the use of story boxes and short burst writing tasks; pupils are free – with no structure – to be their own person through writing and storytelling.

As a result, we have a community of enthusiastic writers who enjoy showcasing their developing literacy knowledge and skills. They are confident to take risks in their writing and love to discuss and share ideas.

By the end of KS2, as a result of our aims, we aim for all children to:

• Be well-rounded
• Know the importance of their well-being by being resilient
• Be culturally sensitive, and know the importance of equality
• Be confident to portray opinions and join in discussions
• Have significant writing skills to tackle KS3 onwards
• Have an imagination that enables them to write creatively