At Moon's Moat First School, we believe that ability to write is fundamental to our children succeeding; enabling them to access the next stage of their education and beyond. Our curriculum has been designed to ensure that pupils enjoy writing and have passion and enthusiasm for it. Our aim is to ensure that pupils write clearly, accurately and coherently; write in different styles and for different purposes and audiences; develop a wide vocabulary and a solid understanding of the grammar rules and terminology appropriate for their age group. Our curriculum has also been designed to ensure that pupils are able to express themselves creatively and to communicate effectively with others.

Writing is an important part of our curriculum and is an integral part of all of our lessons.

At Moon's Moat First School we teach writing through ensuring writing is purposeful. Each writing unit is planned in accordance with the National Curriculum objectives, whilst considering the purpose of writing. Where possible writing units will be linked to the topic, so that children can benefit from the links and deepen their understanding. Sometimes ICT will be used, to improve children’s communication skills and to give a different platform to present / perform their work. 

Writing is evident in every aspect of our curriculum and varying text types are taught throughout the school. The objectives of the National Curriculum are closely followed to ensure that the skills learnt in spelling, punctuation and grammar are embedded and transferred into writing. Lessons are carefully planned so that skills are taught, embedded, revisited and then developed in a sequential way which promotes learning and retention of knowledge and skills. ‘Talk for Writing’ strategies are used throughout the school to support the teaching of writing. Each year group thinks carefully about the texts they choose to support the children's' writing. We use high quality texts that are language rich so the children have a good model of how to effectively use interesting and adventurous language in their writing.

We expect and encourage children to present their work neatly so Handwriting and fine motor skills are taught throughout the school. Pupils are expected to start using a joined script in Year 3 and continue to develop this into Year 4. More information on our handwriting scheme can be found here.

Attainment in writing is measured consistently throughout the year. At the 12 'Writing Progress' assessment checkpoints, progress is tracked, using the year group's assessment framework sheets, which we produced in conjunction with our alliance schools. For those children who have yet to access the Year 1 statements, prekeystage statements are used. Termly moderations take place, to quality assure judgements made. These are either in house, or as part of a cluster of local schools. Exemplification materials are used to support judgements made. Year 2  may be moderated by the LA in the Summer term. 

Progress across classes is closely monitored by the subject leader and senior leadership team. Monitoring will include: regular book trawls, lesson observations, gathering evidence of good practice, pupil voice interviews, looking at data on the Educater Tracker and regular learning walks. The findings of this monitoring will be used to inform next steps for the children and the implementation of writing across the school as a whole.

The  impact of our delivery of writing is that pupils enjoy writing across a range of genres, can write for a range of purposes and audiences, and become confident and effective communicators. The children use a varied vocabulary that they can use across the curriculum and can apply spelling rules and grammatical concepts in their work. Pupils are proud of their writing and have opportunity to see it on display and shared with others in the school and with their families.

Pupil voice: 
Through discussion and feedback, children talk enthusiastically about writing and understand the importance of this subject. They can also talk about what they do well and what they need to work on next. 

Evidence in knowledge:
Pupils can make links between texts and the different themes and genres within them. They can recognise similarities and differences and apply these in their writing. Children understand the writing  process. 

Evidence in skills:
Children are taught writing progressively and at a pace appropriate to each individual child.  Teachers subject knowledge ensure that skills taught are matched to the EYFS and National Curriculum objectives.

Outcomes:
At the end of each year we expect the children to have achieved Age Related Expectations (ARE) for their year group. Some children will have progressed further and achieved greater depth (GD). Children who have gaps in their knowledge receive appropriate support and intervention. Children are ready to continue on to middle school with appropriate skills.

Click here to see how English is taught in the Early Years Foundation Stage.