Writing

At Ranskill Primary School, we teach the writing process to foster a love for writing and to provide the children with the necessary skills that they will need to enable them to thrive and contribute to the wider community. It is also our wish, that children are able to express themselves creatively and enthusiastically and to see writing as a possible future career. We aim for children to leave Ranskill with strong foundation skills that they can build upon throughout their secondary education which can lead to qualification or the ability to clearly articulate their meaning and purpose for their writing. We teach these skills explicitly and implicitly so that pupils understand the purpose of being able to articulate, communicate and express their views, opinions and feelings in a range of situations, openly and in a coherent fashion.

Children in EYFS have access to a range of sensory activities which promote their fine and gross motor skill

development. They are inspired to make marks independently, but also during guided activities. Once pupils have developed the appropriate skills and pencil grip, early letter formation is modelled and practiced through the use of stimulating and memorable rhymes and phrases.

Children entering Key Stage One continue to learn and use their phonic knowledge to spell words throughout this key stage. From Lower Key Stage Two and onwards, children are encouraged to spell words correctly by learning them by heart or using resources such as dictionaries and word mats. Across Key Stage One and Two, children follow the programmes of study outlined in the 2014 National Curriculum which aims to teach children to write through transcription (spelling and handwriting), composition (articulating and structuring ideas into speech and writing) and vocabulary, punctuation and grammar.  Throughout KS1 and KS2, each unit of learning is developed to cover a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry genres that meets the needs of the National Curriculum and the interests of the learners. Visual literacy is also utilised to engage pupils.

Spelling skills are taught from Reception through to Year 6 through the use of many strategies, including ‘Look, Cover, Write, Check’, ‘Pyramids’, ‘Rainbows’, ‘Word Families’ and more. This range of strategies, enables pupils to learn their spellings in a way that is preferable to them and supports them to become competent writers.