Writing

At Bracken Leas, we aim to ensure that all children leave us with the ability to confidently write at length across a range of genres, with a solid understanding of the grammatical skills required. Writing is evident in every aspect of our curriculum and varying text types are taught throughout the school. As a school, we use an adapted ‘Talk for Writing’ approach. The writing curriculum at Bracken Leas encourages children to immerse themselves in different text types and understand the features and impact of these. It is our intention that by the end of their primary education, all of our pupils will be able to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas effectively and with a developed awareness for purpose and audience. This ability to write with confidence for a range of purposes and audiences ensures that children leave Bracken Leas fully prepared for their secondary education, ready to achieve their aspirations and thrive in their adult life.

Through exploration, practice and innovation of high- quality texts, the children develop an understanding of the text features and can confidently apply them within their own writing.

In all year groups, writing is taught in units which are carefully planned to provide strong links to other subject areas. Each unit is introduced by exposure to the focus text and identifying the specific features. Key grammar skills are explicitly taught and revisited to enable children to become confident in their use and manipulation. As a school, children will acquire and learn the skills to plan, draft and refine their written work overtime and are encouraged to develop independence in being able to identify their own areas for improvement in all pieces of writing. Teachers model the process of writing within every literacy unit so that children understand the thought process behind writing. During this process, teachers think out loud, edit and demonstrate how and why they have structured their writing in the way that they have. Children are then given the opportunity to participate in a shared write, where everybody contributes to parts the writing outcome. This is scaffolded further into paired, supported and finally independent writing in the form of a ‘Hot Write’.

These skills are revised daily as ‘Fantastic Fundamentals’ where children review grammatical skills to ensure confident recall and accuracy within their writing. These fundamentals are placed into seven categories: Punctuation Po, Ember Remember, Superman, Henry Sharp, Fix-it Frankie, The Groover and Theo-Saurus.

Punctuation Po: Include the correct punctuation within the sentence.

Ember Remember: A dictation task to show understanding and then re-convey the meaning of the passage they have heard with the correct grammar and spelling.

Superman: Writing statutory spelling words to practise copying words correctly and forming letters accurately.

Henry Sharp: Children are introduced to this Fundamental at the start of the year to explain rules and expectations.

Fix-It Frankie: Children will edit sentences to improve the spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. We encourage the children to improve on this further by developing sentence structure and ambitious vocabulary choices.

The Groover: Children will identify word classes and grammatical devices within sentences.

Theo-Saurus: Children are shown ambitious vocabulary choices and a definition to secure understanding. To show their understanding, children then write a sentence using the word accurately.

Combined, the Fantastic Fundamentals consolidate prior learning based on National Curriculum skills and ensure our children are continually developing and improving their knowledge of the English curriculum. At Bracken Leas, we encourage creativity and independence which is celebrated throughout the school.

BLPS English Writing Knowledge and Skills Progression

BLPS English Spoken Language Progression