In the EYFS and Year 1, the 'Talk for Writing' approach is used for teaching narrative.  In UF and Year 1, aspects of the Read, Write INC programme will also be used to teach specific skills relating to spelling, punctuation, grammar and sentence construction.

This year, we have identified handwriting and sentence construction as two priority areas for development.  We have created a whole-school 'Sentence Crafting' document that outlines the focus areas for each year group.  The progressive nature of the document will ensure that prior learning is reinforced and that pupils are consistently challenged to use age appropriate sentence types.

As a school we ensure that the following strategies are employed in English lessons to ensure that lesson time is being maximised to promote good writing progress for our pupils:

• Shared Writing

Shared writing takes place within the English lesson; the teacher models the writing process to the whole class as an expert writer, articulating the process. Teaching objectives are pre-planned and sessions are characterised by explicit teaching of specific writing strategies, oral response and high levels of collaboration and discussion with the children. The children join in individually or through group work, where appropriate.

• Guided Writing

Guided writing takes place as part of a guided session at least once within a unit of work. During guided writing, the responsibility for writing shifts to the learner. Guided writing takes place with a group of children with similar writing targets/needs.  During a guided writing session the children will write with a teacher or ESA supporting. It is intended that guided writing provides a forum for children to demonstrate what they have learned about writing and to further develop and extend their writing skills.

• Role-Play and Drama

We recognise the importance of developing the speech and language skills of our pupils by providing them with regular opportunities to undertake a range of drama and role-play tasks.  Traditional favourite techniques are used to develop ideas and skills such as; hot seating, conscience alley, freeze-framing etc.

• Proof-reading and Editing

Opportunities for proof-reading are built into English lesson time.  Following guidance from the teacher, the children are responsible for proof-reading their own work in order to identify and correct their own mistakes.  The children are also taught how to edit their own work to make improvements.  Pupil edits are completed in purple pen to clearly show how the writing has been up-levelled by the pupil.

• Independent Writing

All children are given opportunities to apply their understanding of the text type in their own writing. This is vitally important if children are to develop their skills as writers within different genres.  The children will constantly proof-read and edit their own writing following feedback from their peers and from the teacher and ESA.