Writing Ambition

Our Writing Ambition at Eldersfield Lawn

We want our children to confidently communicate their thoughts and their ideas with the written word. By the time children at Eldersfield Lawn leave our school, it is the aim that they will be polished and independent writers who have their own style and approach to writing. We want them to have the confidence to share their writing with others and to confidently respond to and appreciate the writing of their peers, irrespective of genre.

From the first days in the Foundation Stage, children will start to experience a wide-range of cross-curricular links which will form the building blocks of their future writing experience. This, in conjunction with the expert teaching of phonics, letter formation and the construction of simple sentences, results in children who are motivated and excited to share their writing and their ideas.

As children progress through Key Stage One, they are taught the fundamental skills needed to write a sequence of linked sentences that flow coherently on a range of topics. This is modelled and reinforced in guided writing and Literacy sessions.

As they become more prolific writers from Year 3 onwards, they are taught the fundamental skills in writing a ‘good’ paragraph. Planning of paragraphs is key to future success and is modelled and reinforced throughout Key Stage One and beyond. Children have the opportunity to write a variety of different genre and by the end of Key stage Two, the children should be confident in writing stories, poems, diaries, newspaper articles, explanation texts, recounts, reviews, non-chronological reports, persuasive texts, biographies, speeches and lists. Other essential skills that are taught across the different year groups include the spelling of words taken from the national curriculum and the teaching of strategies to support the children with spelling unfamiliar words. Grammar is taught discreetly and is also embedded into the children’s writing as part of their English lessons.

We are blessed with beautiful surroundings and an outdoor learning space and classroom that gives the opportunity for inspiring writing stimuli. The grounds of our school and our local area have helped to add extra dimensions to writing about blackberry hunts, ‘Creation’, thank you letters to God and a day in life of a Victorian school child to name but a few examples.

Within the classroom, writing may take the form of whole class independent work, guided writing sessions where ideas are shared and developed and small group tasks where children are supported by key adults in order to ensure important concepts are grasped. We are also cross-curricular writers. This means that you will find examples of the writing the children produce across the different subjects from Science to Religious Education.