At Cannon Lane, we know that writing is crucial to children being able to enjoy and access the wider curriculum. We want our pupils to write fluently so that they are able to express their thoughts and ideas effectively, as well as cement their learning into their long-term memory.
The teaching of writing is split into transcription and composition.
| Transcription | Spelling and handwriting |
| Composition | Articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing |
| Spelling |
- In Reception and Year 1, children learn to spell words phonetically using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds phonics scheme. Alongside decodable words, children learn how to spell 'tricky' words (those that are not decodable).
- In Year 2, children consolidate their learning of Little Wandle phonics and progress to Little Wandle Spelling. After learning a spelling rule in class, children will then take a set of spellings home to learn.
- In Year 3 onwards, spelling is taught in class using Rising Stars Spelling. As in Year 2, children take home a set of spellings to learn.
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| Handwriting |
- Before children can use a pencil, they must develop essential fine and gross motor skills. In Reception, children take part in a daily Funky Fingers session to strengthen the muscles in their core, shoulders, arms, wrists and fingers. This progresses to a Writers' Workout in Year 1.
- In Reception, children learn how to form letters in their daily phonics lessons. In addition to this, they are explicitly taught correct letter formation using Little Wandle Handwriting. Each week an adult will work 1:1 with every child to practise writing the 'letter of the week'.
- In KS1 and KS2, when children are able to form lower case letters correctly, they progress to joining letters. We use Nelson Handwriting to teach the different ways of joining letters.
- In Year 3, when they are ready, the children will begin to use a handwriting pen to practise their handwriting.
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| Composition - Oracy |
- Before children write anything down, they need to rehearse what they want to say orally. We use Colourful Semantics to support children in the composition of sentences.
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| Composition - Purpose |
- Children learn to write for a wide variety of purposes. We know that if writing is purposeful, then children will be more engaged and excited to write. They learn how to write to entertain by writing narratives and poetry. Children learn how to write to inform by writing instructions and non-chronological reports. They will also learn how to write to persuade and discuss by producing texts such as balanced arguments.
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| Composition - Vocabulary |
- The pupils at Cannon Lane are given the opportunity to develop a wide and rich vocabulary, gathering new words from a variety of quality sources, including the good quality literature and non-fiction texts that they read.
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| Composition - Grammar and Punctuation |
- Pupils learn the grammar and punctuation set out in the National Curriculum Programmes of Study for English. They are taught the grammar and punctuation in the context of the style of text that they are learning to write.
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