Writing
“All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
What is the intent of Writing at Meadows?
At Meadows, writing, like reading, is at the heart of all we do. The expression of thought, feeling, viewpoint, imagination and learning comes through the written word and begins their first day at our school. We aspire for every Meadows child to work through the Meadows Writing Pathways (see below) that ensure a thorough and comprehensive coverage of all National Curriculum writing objectives. The writing programme is, wherever possible, linked to the thematic Dimensions curriculum used at Meadows, driven and inspired by high quality texts and allows children to experience a wide range of fiction and non-fiction writing genres and styles.
Our ultimate intent for writing at Meadows is that children are inspired to write for a range of purposes, see themselves as authors and know that, by putting pen to paper, they have the power to change their world!
How is Writing implemented at Meadows?
Throughout their writing journey, children will develop an ability to express themselves, their learning and their creativity in the written word. In order to achieve this, all children begin a comprehensive phonics programme (delivered through the Little Wandle programme) when they enter their Reception year and throughout Year 1. Alongside (and supporting) phonics, children are encouraged to begin to form words, phrases and sentences that are related to their interests, the Dimensions topics and their world.
Throughout Key Stage One, children will develop progressively more accurate sentences with punctuation (full stops, capital letters, question marks, exclamation marks and commas in lists) being used with increasing accuracy. They will write for different purposes and will begin to make sentences more detailed with use of adjectives and adverbs.
As they move through Key Stage Two, children will be expected to write with increasingly more complex structures and sentence constructions. Their language choices will become more sophisticated and varied and the range of purposes and audiences that children are writing for will increase.
When children leave Meadows, at the end of Key Stage Two, we aspire for all to be able to write confidently to inform, engage, excite and interest their reader. They will be able to use the grammatical structures and punctuation learned throughout their primary career, the complex language that they have acquired, and knowledge of spelling patterns and rules to produce creative texts, adapted for different purposes and audiences.
How does Writing progress at Meadows?
Writing at Meadows follows the National Curriculum objectives and coverage, this is delivered and assessed using our Meadows Writing Journeys. They match up to the year groups though coloured pathway links:
EYFS- Red
Year 1- Orange
Year 2- Yellow
Year 3- Green
Year 4- Blue
Year 5- Purple
Year 6- Pink
(See linked pathways.)
In addition to this, the children cover different genres of writing across each year and multiple times across a Key Stage. Genre content and detail becomes progressively more complex and sophisticated as children move through the school.
Children know where they are along this pathway of writing and tabletop child-friendly objectives help them to understand their areas for development. These pathways are given as a colour rather than a year group expectation to ensure all children have targets that are appropriate for their age or stage of development in writing and all children can feel that they progress and be successful in their personal writing expedition.
english curriculum genre coverage y2 to 6 v2.pdf
writing assessment journeys v2.pdf
writing journeys for table holders.pdf
spelling progression document meadows 2024.pdf
How can I support my child in Writing?
- Read with your child- we are never too old to enjoy a good book being read aloud to us. This love of stories, language and the worlds that fiction can transport us to, should never be underestimated!
- Encourage your child to be an author- let them narrate their lives to you!
- Have notebooks, paper and pens readily available in your home.
- Find competitions that your budding author/ poet/ journalist can enter- there are a wealth of them for all ages and all across the year.
- Click here to see books your child may like.
“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.”
John Jakes