Writing

At Whittingham we endeavour to create a love for reading and writing. We want every child to leave Whittingham with the skills of an excellent writer who:

• Has the ability to write with fluency and has an author’s voice;
• Thinks about the impact they want their writing to have on the reader and knows how they will achieve this;
• Has a sophisticated bank of vocabulary and an excellent knowledge of writing techniques to extend details or description;
• Can structure and organise their writing to suit the genre they are writing and include a variety of sentence structures;
• Displays excellent transcription skills that ensure their writing is well presented, punctuated, spelled correctly and neat;
• Re-reads, edits and improves their writing so every piece of writing they produce is to the best of their ability and better than the last.

Throughout their time at Whittingham, children develop their skills by exploring a whole range of different genres, with a focus on exploring a range of models of excellence and using these to guide the drafting and editing process.

If you would like to know more about the National Curriculum for English, please click here

The Whittingham writing curriculum is built on the following 4 key principles:

Developing pupils’ metacognitive and critical thinking skills-

• Teachers authentically model the writing process and thinking aloud
• Critical literacy skills are incorporated into the curriculum
• Pupils become life-long readers and writers
• Links to other curriculum areas – where appropriate - reflect important real-world knowledge

Supporting all pupils in developing pleasure for writing and discovering their own unique writing voice-

• Pupils have independence and autonomy
• Pupils have choice to write about what interests and excites them, and reflects their own lives
• A wide range of opportunities are provided for pupils to write for authentic purposes and audiences
• Planning acknowledges and values pupils’ own diverse funds of knowledge

Ensuring the highest expectations for the attainment and progress of all pupils-

• Progression in learning is mapped across units, year groups and key stages
• A diverse representation of high-quality texts are used as models and examples
• Teachers have conviction that every child has something worthwhile to write about

Developing a secure understanding of the writing process 

• The writing process is recursive and not linear
• Functional grammar is taught within context
• New objectives are introduced in small, manageable steps
• Pupils have frequent opportunities to write at length
• Planned conferencing and workshopping allows teachers to meet individual pupil needs

Through our carefully planned and sequenced English curriculum, pupils will make good progress from their own personal starting points. By the end of Year Six they will be able to write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style in, and for, a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Our pupils will acquire a wide vocabulary and have a strong command of the written word. Most importantly, they will develop a love of writing and be well equipped for the rest of their education in Key Stage 3, 4 and beyond.