Literacy
At Collingwood, we aim to provide opportunities for children to write in response to real texts, and in response to real-life experiences through Talk for Writing. Pupils are taught how to plan and edit their writing. Consequently, they are taught the language that they need to effectively evaluate and improve their work. We want our children to develop an enthusiasm for literacy in all of its forms and give them confidence in both the oral and written word. We believe a wide and varied vocabulary is important in writing and as such, we explicitly teach a Word of the Day to support children in this process across the curriculum.
Our writing sequences are based on the core principles for Talk for Writing. The genres covered are determined by our long term and medium term planning. This is to ensure a wide range of genres can be taught across our children's learning journey here at Collingwood. The T4W approach moves from dependence towards independence with the teacher using shared and guided teaching to develop the ability in children to write creatively and powerfully. Writing is taught alongside a wide diet of reading – fiction, non-fiction and poetry from the UK and wider world, from modern day to specifically chosen classic literature. Our Talk for Writing journey continues throughout KS1 and KS2 all with a focus on vocabulary and purpose whilst generating a love and enthusiasm for writing.
Our overall aim is for our pupils to write with a purpose and an understanding of how they can use the style of writing in their future. We strive for pupils to be independent writers with a life-long passion to write for pleasure. We believe that purposeful writing is important across all areas of our curriculum and as so, we provide opportunities for children to experiment with writing in different genres, and for a different purpose and audience. Alongside these key drivers, we also emphasise the importance of handwriting and presentation and the accuracy of grammar, punctuation and spelling.
The writing curriculum consists of:
- Carefully designed, text-led sequences of lessons which ensure progression of skills.
- Specific skills focused on every half term to promote mastery of writing.
- Use of high quality, language-rich texts which enthuse and challenge pupils.
- Opportunities to write for a range of purposes and audiences, which inspire pupils to write.
- Model a high standard of talk and writing to secure high expectations.
- Progression of grammar skills across the school to ensure a systematic approach.
