Writing
What do we teach?
We love writing at Skerne Park Academy and we take pride in providing creative learning opportunities for our children.
We teach writing following a Mastery approach through the programme ‘Pathways to Write’.
The process:
- rehearse sentence and language patterns that they can then draw upon and adapt in their own writing, not only in English, but across the curriculum
- encourages regular discussion of vocabulary and the meaning of unfamiliar words which will help the children to broaden their own vocabulary
- be encouraged to take ownership of their own ideas in writing and revisit their writing critically
- see teachers model the high expectations through shared writing
- learn to write confidently across both fiction and non-fiction which can then be applied across the curriculum.
Spelling
For teaching of spelling, we engage our children with Spelling Shed. Spelling and word knowledge are key components in the process of learning to read and write. Spelling Shed makes the acquisition of these key skills fun and engaging for pupils.
Why do we teach what we teach?
As stated in the National Curriculum, it is important that children develop the ability to: write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.
Following the ‘Pathways to Write’ process, our children build upon their writing skills, through a range of text genres across each year group giving a clear purpose for writing and embedding key language features expected across the National Curriculum.
The Spelling Shed scheme aligns with the National Curriculum expectations and ensures 100% curriculum coverage.
Why do we teach it in that sequence?
We teach following the Pathways to Write approach to ensure:
- Our children are accessing high quality texts for each genre
- Our children are given varied opportunities for writing.
- Skills are built up through repetition within units and the children apply these skills in the writing activities provided.
- There are many opportunities to widen our children’s vocabulary through the Pathways to Write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.
The game aspect of Spelling Shed ensures children are engaged and eager to practise their spellings regularly. The low-stakes games, quizzes and reward systems ensure that children find spelling fun.
You will find the end of year expectations for writing, reading and spoken language for each of our year groups in the below documents. For further detail on the skills that your children are learning on a termly basis, please contact your class teacher.
