Writing Intent

At St. Teresa’s Catholic Primary School, the teaching of writing is of paramount importance within a broad and balanced curriculum. Our aim is to ensure that every child within our school, regardless of their background, leaves as a competent writer and with an understanding of the conventions of Standard English and when to use it effectively.

The ability to write with confidence for a range of purposes and audiences ensures that children leave our school fully prepared for their secondary education, ready to achieve their aspirations and thrive in their adult life. Our writing curriculum encourages children to immerse themselves in different text types, understand the features and impact of these, and realise the importance of them beyond education. A secure knowledge of spelling and grammar and an understanding of how to edit writing is taught throughout the school in a systematic and progressive way. The content of writing lessons is planned to build on children’s previous knowledge as well as introduce new learning in a fun and memorable way. Our whole school English overview demonstrates high- quality, progressive texts, which are used to inspire, encourage and motivate our children to develop their writing skills across the year groups. Children leave St. Teresa’s with a deep understanding of different text types and how to construct them effectively.

Writing Implementation

The National Curriculum and EYFS Framework is used to inform the planning and delivery of the writing curriculum at St. Teresa’s. Writing progression is very carefully mapped out from reception to year 6, with clear progression through the quality texts we use within each year group to stimulate writing. Writing is taught explicitly in daily English lessons and skills learnt are regularly reinforced within lessons across our curriculum. We begin a unit with an exciting and memorable learning experience to enthuse and stimulate our children, creating interest for the forthcoming unit of work. During ‘Reading Week’ our pupils are immersed in the language and structure of a text, where they build on their knowledge of a particular genre and develop specific reading skills. We use ‘link texts’ to inspire our children to explore alternative books linked to the current genre, which provides an opportunity for our children to branch out and develop their independence when choosing a book to read. At St. Teresa’s, we recognise the importance of spoken language as this underpins the development of reading and writing. Oracy is a high priority for our children and we weave opportunities for talk into every unit of work, using a variety of strategies.  One of our strategies is talk for writing, where the children take part in lots of activities such as story mapping and drama, providing the strong foundations needed for an outcome of quality writing.

Writing Impact

We aim for all of our pupils to leave our school as keen writers who write clearly and confidently for different audiences. We want our children to be able to communicate effectively through a range of forms and to have developed a genuine love and appreciation for writing.

At St. Teresa's, we use the Essential Letters and Sounds programme throughout the Infant Department. A small number of pupils within Lower Key Stage 2 also access the programme.

Click the link below to visit our Reading page.

Grammar Glossary 

For useful videos and explanations, please click on the Oxford Owl link below. 

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/at-school/education-glossary/grammar-literacy-glossary-a-c/