Writing
Reading is at the heart of Norfolk’s curriculum as it supports the independent development of knowledge. But writing supports the communication of this knowledge and is therefore a complementary and essential skill.
Writing in the Early Years
Good writing starts with excellent vocabulary and verbal communication skills. We focus on developing these in Nursery and Reception. In order to write well, children need the vocabulary and sentence structure first, as well as the development of good fine motor control in order to physically write. In our Early Years classes, we work hard to develop children’s communication skills as well as their fine motor skills and letter formation across our provision.
By the end of Nursery and on moving to Reception we start teaching the “building blocks” of writing through the Read, Write Inc programme. These include phonics, handwriting and spelling of “red” words. Children’s phonic knowledge is assessed every 6 weeks and children are then moved into appropriate phonics groups.
Each term children are introduced to exciting books, so they develop a love of reading for pleasure. They are also given stimuli which translate into opportunities for writing for a purpose. These are embedded into the broader curriculum so that children develop the complex vocabulary and language structures required in order to write. Longer more complex sentences are modelled and demanded so that all children develop their English skills well. Children are encouraged to act out stories using puppets and small world equipment so that they embed this story language. In Reception the focus text is developed through oral rehearsal, imaginative play and we then use visual prompts such as story mapping, drawing club and helicopter stories to help the children remember and organise their thoughts before they retell a story and then start to use their phonic knowledge to write independently or using dictated sentences when working with an adult.
Assessment of Writing in EYFS
Writing in early years is assessed using the Development Matters statements and through the Read, Write inc phonics assessments in Reception. Assessments are recorded and tracked on Arbor. Assessments are moderated across the EYFS team, with Year 1 staff, through school moderation and locality moderation with schools across the SSELP locality.
Writing in KS1 and KS2
The Norfolk learning journey for writing builds on the Early Years model and is supported by work on the basic skills of phonics, dictation, handwriting and spelling as laid out in Read, Write Inc programme. It is informed by training from Local Authority Advisors from Learn Sheffield and RoSIS, our writing teaching sequence, Power of Reading, CLPE and collaboration of Literacy Leads within the schools locality, SSELP.
Our writing sequence progresses through the following stages:
The content of each piece of writing is laid out in the English overviews for each year group and is designed to complement the text that the children are studying.
Assessment of Writing in KS1 and KS2
Writing is assessed through phonics assessments and teacher assessments against the objectives in Norfolk’s Writing Curriculum. Pieces of writing are moderated across year groups and phases and support is given to ensure assessment is accurate. Cross school moderation is also organised within the school’s locality, SSELP. Each year group has the opportunity to attend the locality moderation every term. Staff also attend moderation and assessment training provided by the Local Authority.