Writing

At Ashford Oaks, we use high quality, language-rich texts, immersive experiences, film and other mixed-media to inspire our young writers and hook them into the exciting and imaginative world of literacy. Our Curriculum is designed to equip pupils with the skills they need to become effective communicators and expressive users of the English language with a developing knowledge of how it works alongside continual opportunities to develop a rich and powerful vocabulary.

Writing in Early Years

Within the Early Years setting, children are encouraged to attempt independent emergent writing from the start when making marks on paper, in sand, glitter or even shaving foam. At Ashford Oaks, all efforts to engage with letter formation are equally valued and praised. The children are continuously given opportunities to write independently and are encouraged to do so often, they are also supported in small groups and individually where necessary.

Writing in KS1

In KS1, our children use their project work to inspire their writing. As developing writers, it is crucial that they are exposed to a large amount of purposeful practice to develop their transcription skills in writing, alongside an experience-led curriculum which promotes engagement and provides a clear motivation to write. The underpinning strategies of drafting, revising, editing and sharing are present throughout the construction of each piece of writing. This ensures that children produce work to the best of their ability while also familiarising themselves with the writing process ready for further development in KS2.

Writing in KS2

Following the recommendations of a report by the Education Endowment Foundation, we devised a two-week writing process to ensure the teaching of composition strategies through modelling and supported practice while still affording our teachers the freedom to draw cross-curricular links, allowing for a more educationally immersive experience for our pupils.

Spelling

In KS1, Year 1 continue to follow the Little Wandle phonics programme while Year 2 children, when ready, transition on to the Jane Considine spelling programme followed in KS2. The system is built on strong phonic foundations and includes a range of deep exploratory investigations, alongside short-burst ‘chunked’ revision activities all of which have been designed to increase ‘spelling stickability’ and retention of vocabulary.