Writing

We believe that writing is vital in developing the children’s ability to express themselves and our English lessons have a strong focus on vocabulary development. This helps the children to understand ambitious texts and articulate themselves across a broad range of contexts. 

Writing

At Woodvale Primary Academy, we prioritise a structured and purposeful approach to teaching writing, ensuring that our students develop essential skills. Our writing curriculum is intricately linked to our wider curriculum, allowing children to draw upon their existing knowledge as they focus on honing their writing abilities.

We believe that extensive writing practice is crucial for perfecting students' skills. Through guided talk and practice, we develop their thinking and foundation for high-quality written work. We emphasise confident speaking and attentive listening, modelling these expectations in the classroom. Teachers facilitate classroom discussions where students share and refine their ideas before writing. During sentence-level work, teachers demonstrate sentence construction and key features, with practice on whiteboards for immediate feedback, reinforcing understanding before transferring sentences to their books.

Across the school, we teach writing using high-quality texts ranging from picture books to poetry, which sit alongside our wider curriculum and are usually based on the key texts from our reading curriculum . Throughout their time at Woodvale, children will write in a variety of forms. Children are taught to become writers, developing their skills in writing a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts, including diary entries, newspaper reports, information texts, poems, essays and stories of all kinds. We use drama, thoughtful modelling from teachers, and discussion to stimulate the imagination and support our children to think like a writer. This approach helps students explore vocabulary, sentence structure, and writing for different purposes.

There are additional, planned writing opportunities across the curriculum, with children applying the knowledge and skills they have acquired in their English lessons. These opportunities allow students to apply their skills in a context that reinforces their learning and enhances their understanding of how writing skills can be used in various subjects and real-life situations.

At the end of their Woodvale journey, we aim for children to be equipped with the tools they need to be proficient writers.

Handwriting, Spelling and Grammar

Handwriting at Woodvale is taught discretely, starting with mark making in Early Years and continuing through the school culminating with using legible, joined handwriting in Upper Key Stage 2. From Year 5 onwards children are able to write in pen.

In Years 1 and 2 spellings are taught within daily phonics teaching, following the Little Wandle Phonics Scheme. In Years 3 – 6 the National Curriculum statutory word lists are followed supported through the use of The Spelling Shed.  Spellings form a part of weekly homework with children being tested each week.

Throughout the school from grammar forms part of English lessons, linking to the genre being taught.