Writing at pgs 
INTENT
Through our core texts and topic-based learning, we aim to inspire children to be able to express their thoughts and ideas clearly and creatively through the spoken and written word. Writing tasks are purposeful, with a sense of audience at their heart. We set high expectations for all children to take pride in their work, focusing on handwriting and presentation alongside imaginative content. The children are supported in weaving their growing vocabulary, spelling and grammar knowledge into the compositional content of their writing.
Our approaches to teaching writing ensure that all children can:
- write creatively and accurately regardless of purpose, topic or genre.
- expand and enrich their vocabulary.
- develop their writing skills by learning how to plan, revisit and evaluate their own and others’ writing for different purposes and for different audiences. At least once per school year, each class draft, write, design, make, illustrate and publish their own class books to be shared with the school community.
- develop a love for a wide range of writing genres, through access to a variety of quality texts in the school environment, in lessons and in class book nooks.
- become reflective, motivated, curious and resilient learners.
- develop as writers through our ‘progression of skills’ approach to oracy, composition, spelling, punctuation and grammar.
IMPLEMENTATION
At Peter Gladwin, excellence in writing starts with reading. Every child has high-quality teacher-led reading input at least four times a week in order to accelerate progress, not only in reading but also in vocabulary, spelling and grammar as the children’s exposure to texts increases. We subscribe to the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) Power of Reading initiative, and our teaching staff are trained in the use of this programme, along with multiple approaches to the teaching of writing. This resource uses quality children’s literature and creative teaching approaches to support teachers in developing a high quality literacy curriculum and fostering a whole-school love of reading and writing.
Writing across the primary phase is focused around a key high-quality text as stimulus. The children immerse themselves in the text, discovering the narrative, language and organisational features. Teaching and learning then focuses on building key skills, using the text as a scaffold to support and inspire inventive and independent writing. The wide variety of text types (contemporary and classic fiction, non-fiction & information books, poetry, traditional tales, plays and other texts which reflect our children's different realities) support our children in writing for a range of purposes and in a range of styles.
Working walls and focused resources support quality-first teaching and encourage ‘give it a go’ growth mindset approaches to writing for children of all abilities. Whole-class teaching is supported by small group interventions to support and challenge writers of all abilities and to meet the needs of all learners. Our highly-skilled and knowledgeable teachers are able to formatively assess pupils’ learning and track progress through analysis of their oracy, reading and writing. A wide range of assessment information is collated and analysed by staff, enabling identification of learning gaps, and celebrations of progress, effort and success. As each child moves through the school, a selection of their writing is collected in a writing portfolio, which celebrates their achievements and demonstrates their progress in writing.
We believe that home-school links are vital, and we always welcome support from families to share with us any reading and writing that happens in and around the home. Our teaching staff are knowledgeable and avid readers and are always happy to recommend and lend texts to suit and enthral your child.
IMPACT
By the end of Key Stage Two, Peter Gladwin writers have developed:
- a passion for of reading, referencing a wide range of different authors from different literary traditions and genres.
- a love of writing, expressing their opinions, imaginations and creativity in writing that is well- structured, coherent and interesting to read.
- the ability to express their opinions articulately, understanding how to clearly and appropriately engage with, agree with or disagree with others.
- confidence in their writing abilities, having made the best possible progress through consistent quality-first teaching and a sense of audience. They know that they are well on their way to reaching their potential as writers.
- the confidence to make brave choices, experiment with and take risks in their writing.
- the knowledge that their efforts are valued and their opinions valid. They have been given the opportunity to find their voice, and have been encouraged to use it.
