Writing Intent:

Our vision for English at St Mark’s is to foster in children a real love of language and an understanding of how becoming literate can be the key to unlocking learning in all aspects of life. We seek to inspire and excite children by providing a rich, creative English curriculum with a wide variety of cross-curricular opportunities. By the end of KS2 we want our children to have developed a love of writing and to be able to express their thoughts and ideas clearly and creatively through the written word. Through high-quality teaching of writing, we intend for our children to:

• Enjoy writing for a range of purposes, recognising and using the features of different genres of writing, both fiction and non-fiction and apply these skills in writing across the curriculum.
• Write fluently, confidently and with understanding, adapting their language and style for a range of meaningful contexts, purposes and audiences.
• Use rich and adventurous vocabulary, and where appropriate, technical vocabulary.
• Have a solid understanding of grammar and punctuation and ability to use it for effect.

Enjoyment of writing is fostered through the use of drama and story, with an emphasis on oracy to support high standards in writing. We intend for our children to become writers who can confidently re-read, edit and improve their own writing. At St Mark’s, we set high expectations for presentation and handwriting, so all our children to take pride in their work.

Writing Implementation:

Writing at St Mark's:

In EYFS, pupils follow the curriculum set out in the ‘Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage’. Writing skills are modelled and taught throughout the week:

• through dictation and letter formation, as part of daily phonics sessions aligned to our ULS phonics programme;
• through daily 'Drawing Club' sessions, which enriches pupils' language through a shared story and modelled write;
• and through twice weekly writing tasks with a focus on pupils' application of vocabulary and phonics skills, with the support of an adult. 

Children are also invited to complete an independent writing task each day in continuous provision, linked to the weekly drawing club focus text, or linked to the termly project.

In KS1 and KS2 we follow the BWMAT progression documents for narrative and non-fiction writing. We currently use our own St Mark's progression document for poetry.

Each year group builds on the learning from the previous year and revisits a range of writing text-types that:

• entertain
• inform
• argue
• explain

In each writing unit, pupils spend time exploring the purpose, audience, layout and language features of each text-type before practising and applying their writing skills and building up to their final end of unit piece.

Writing units are planned using a novel-based approach: high quality texts (both novels and picture books) or short films are chosen as stimuli for writing tasks and are closely linked, where possible, to termly projects. Texts and projects provide the inspiration for both fiction and non-fiction writing opportunities in both Key Stages.

Please see an overview of our writing progression at St Mark's:

Year 1-6 BWMAT Narrative Progression

Year 1-6 BWMAT Non Fiction Progression

'Every Time I Write...'

At St Mark's, we have developed 'every time I write' sheets for Years 1-6, which are stuck in the front of every pupils' English book. These sheets are used to remind pupils of the expectations for writing for their year group, and link directly to the national curriculum objectives for writing.
Year 1 - Every Time We Write

Year 2 - Every Time We Write

Year 3 - Every Time We Write

Year 4 - Every Time We Write

Year 6 - Every Time We Write

Each ETIW sheet has been broken down into 4 sections, to support pupils with their writing skills:

• handwriting (H)
• punctuation (P)
• sentence structure (S)
• text structure (T)
• checking, editing and improving (C)