Writing

Writing at Nettleworth

Our Writing Subject Lead - Mrs S Lee

Information to support our families:

Writing is taught throughout the school as part of our English lessons and throughout most subjects across the curriculum. A clear purpose for writing is always established.   It may be taught as part of a whole class lesson, with the teacher modelling writing or using pupil’s or published author’s own writing. It may be taught to groups or individuals during guided sessions. Writing is a skill for life!

Talk for Writing is an approach we use to teach writing. Below, is some information to help explain the structure and sequence of our writing process:

Talk for Writing is developed over three stages:

• The imitation stage – This is where the teacher shares an engaging, topic related text with the pupils. As a class, or in groups, children create actions to accompany the oral re-telling of the story. They also create story maps (like the ones below) using pictures and symbols to depict actions and events from the text.  They then explore the key ingredients and language that make the text work and build a tool kit of important features to use when writing their own versions of the text.

• The innovation stage – This stage of the process is where children and teachers work together closely using the structure of the example text but changing certain aspects to make it different in some way. This process enables the children to write their own versions through developing their ability to generate good words and phrases. This stage often begins with shared writing between teacher and the class and develops into children working with peers to edit and review their work regularly as they re-write their own versions.

• The invention stage – This stage is where children write their own text based on the structure and genre of the example text and using the key features they picked out and placed into their toolkit.

Our Nettleworth Writing Mantra

Foundation Stage use the following:

 The poster below is displayed in all Reception classrooms and is modelled by the teacher:

Key Stage 1 use the following:

 The poster below is displayed in all Year 1 and 2 classrooms and is modelled by the teacher:

At Nettleworth…

Our children will be taught to use dictionaries, thesauruses and word banks to improve their vocabulary choices. We also have vocabulary walls in all Key Stage 1 classrooms where vocabulary is celebrated and explored. 

Children will also be taught to link sentences together coherently and use correct punctuation. Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation (SPAG) is taught so that children build up their writing skills.

Children will also develop an awareness of audience and purpose for writing. WE aim to provide opportunities to write for different audiences throughout their time at Nettleworth.