Intent

At St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School, our intent for writing is to cultivate a love for literacy that empowers all students to express themselves creatively and confidently. Our writing curriculum is designed to ensure that every child is secure in their knowledge and understanding of the different genres of writing and that every child becomes a proficient writer, able to communicate ideas, emotions, and information effectively across these various contexts. Importantly, our writing curriculum develops children’s ability to use their imagination and work creatively to express themselves in different ways.

We aim to:

• Develop skills: Equip pupils with the necessary skills to write fluently, accurately, and with grammatical correctness, ensuring they understand the importance of punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure.
• Encourage creativity: Foster an environment that promotes imagination and originality in writing, encouraging children to explore diverse genres such as poetry, narrative, and persuasive writing.
• Instill resilience: Build students' confidence and resilience, enabling them to view writing as a process that includes drafting, revising, and editing, thereby fostering a growth mindset.
• Promote engagement: Promote a love for writing through engaging contexts, themes, and cross-curricular links, ensuring that children see the relevance and application of their writing skills in real-life situations.

Implementation

To achieve our writing intentions, we have implemented a carefully sequenced writing curriculum, which builds on children’s knowledge, skills and understanding of writing. To ensure consistency in our approach to writing, we follow a sequence of writing lessons within a  2 week unit, which are designed to support children in combining all their skills and understanding into a final piece, where audience and purpose are clear.  

Our approach includes:

• Structured progression: A well-structured, sequential scheme of work that outlines clear progression in skills and genres from Foundation stage to Year 6, ensuring continuity.
• High-quality texts: The use of high-quality, diverse literature to inspire writing. This includes classic and contemporary texts that reflect various cultures and perspectives, enhancing pupils' understanding and appreciation of different writing styles. The texts selected also have a strong link with our ‘Our World’ curriculum.
• Integrated teaching: A blend of explicit grammar and mechanics instruction with creative writing tasks. Within a unit of writing, grammar and punctuation skills are taught in context to support the children in creating ‘writing ready’ sentences to utilise in their final piece.   
• Regular feedback: Implementation of formative assessments and feedback that is immediate, constructive, and tailored to the individual needs of students. We encourage peer and self-assessment to empower children to reflect on their writing. Children learn more sophisticated ways of editing and improving their work as they pass through the school and we foster high expectations so that they take pride in the presentation and quality of their work.
• Writing showcases: Regular opportunities for students to share their work through school displays, assemblies, and writing competitions. This not only celebrates their achievements but also motivates others to enhance their writing skills. Our author of the term award, encourages children to value the process of writing and celebrate the improvements they have made in their writing.

Impact

The impact of our sequenced and progressive writing curriculum is evident through a range of qualitative and quantitative measures:

• High standards: Outcomes demonstrate growing improvement in the number of pupils achieving age-related expectations and above in writing, as evidenced by termly assessments and national standards. Continuous monitoring ensures pupils are progressing and receiving support as required.
• Pupil engagement: Pupil voice surveys indicate a marked enthusiasm for writing, with many stating that they enjoy writing tasks and the texts they explore in writing lessons. They feel inspired by the chosen texts, and this impacts their writing as they write with purpose and enthusiasm. They feel confident in sharing their work with peers and teachers.
• Creative expression: A significant improvement in the diversity and creativity of students' writing across various genres, reflecting higher-order thinking skills and a strong grasp of narrative techniques.
• Preparation for the future: Our pupils are sufficiently prepared for secondary education and beyond, with foundational skills that equip them to excel in academic and personal writing tasks, as evidenced through transition assessments and feedback from secondary schools.

In summary, our intent, implementation, and impact regarding writing at St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School are meticulously crafted to ensure strong outcomes, fostering a generation of confident and capable writers.