Jubilee Wood Primary School

Literacy

Intent

At Jubilee Wood Primary School, we believe that writing is a vital part of a child’s education and is a key component in unlocking a pupil’s creativity as well as enhancing their communication skills.

Our intent is for children to develop their own, unique, writer’s voice that they are able to apply to a variety of writing genres. They will have an opportunity to explore different writing formats to help grow their passion and encourage creativity in their own writing.

Our writing curriculum is closely linked with our reading, allowing children to see the relationship between the two and help them understand the impact a purposeful writer can have on a reader.

Implementation

Our writing curriculum is a progressive, spiral system that runs throughout the entire school. Early Writing and Phonics at our school looks like:

• In Reception and Key Stage 1, we teach daily systematic synthetic phonics using Read Write Inc. (link), ensuring a consistent, evidence-based approach to early writing and spelling.
• Phonics lessons are taught by trained staff and explicitly linked to writing, so that children apply their phonics knowledge through spelling, sentence writing and early composition.
• Children are given frequent opportunities to practise writing using the sounds and spelling patterns they have been taught.
• Progress is monitored regularly so that pupils can move to next steps at an appropriate pace, and those who need additional support receive this swiftly.

Our commitment to writing reflects our belief that writing is central to pupils’ learning, communication and self-expression. Writing is prioritised within timetables across the school in all curriculum areas. All pupils have daily opportunities to write, including:

• Literacy lessons
• Spelling, Handwriting or catch-up sessions
• Guided, shared and whole-class writing
• Independent writing for a range of purposes and audiences
• Cross-curricular writing opportunities in other subjects including History, Geography and Science.

At Jubilee Wood, we explicitly teach the transcription skills required for writing, including handwriting, spelling, and sentence structure, so that pupils can write fluently and confidently. Writing composition is developed through rich texts, shared writing, discussion, modelling and structured opportunities to plan, draft, edit and improve writing. Vocabulary is taught explicitly and revisited across subjects through cross-curricular planning, enabling pupils to use ambitious language and deepen meaning in their spoken and written work.

Writing progress is assessed using a combination of teacher assessment, moderated writing outcomes and termly assessment opportunities. Assessment information is used carefully and purposefully to inform teaching and to identify pupils who may benefit from additional support. Following assessment, pupils who require further intervention are supported through a range of evidence-based programmes, including:

• 1:1 writing conferences
• Spelling Shed
• Colourful Semantics
• Catch-Up Literacy
• Fine motor or handwriting interventions where appropriate

These interventions are targeted, time-limited and closely monitored to ensure that pupils make rapid progress towards age-appropriate writing outcomes.

In Key Stage 2, pupils are supported to develop independence as writers through clear success criteria, effective feedback and regular opportunities to reflect on and improve their work. Teachers use professional judgement alongside assessment information to:

• Build pupils’ confidence and enjoyment as independent writers
• Ensure writing tasks are appropriately challenging
• Gain insight into pupils’ strengths, gaps and writing habits

At Jubilee Wood, we actively nurture a love of writing through:

• Regular opportunities for talk for writing and idea generation
• Shared writing and modelling by teachers
• Writing celebrations, displays and events
• High-quality writing environments – working walls, displays and shared spaces that value pupils’ writing and reflect the diversity of our community
• Teachers who model themselves as writers, showing pupils how writing can be used to explore ideas, experiences, cultures and the wider world

Impact

At Jubilee Wood, our students will become unique writers who have an understanding of language and structure. Consistently strong KS2 outcomes across the years have shown the impact our writing curriculum has on the pupils who pass through our school. Our regular writing moderations help to highlight the fantastic progress students make each year in their writing. We want all children to leave our school as independent, cohesive writers who have a wide range of tools to compose meaningful pieces of writing and the creativity to create purposeful prose.