Writing
At Ogbourne CofE Primary we provide a stimulating range of books and texts to inspire the children. Every English unit is based around a high quality text which the pupils will become immersed in as it is revealed over the series of lessons. During the course of a writing unit we will provide experience sessions to help the children feel motivated and ready to write. The purpose of these sessions above all, is to inspire our young writers but they also provide excellent opportunities to deepen background knowledge and pre-teach vocabulary.
We expose all pupils from Springs to Rivers to a range of fiction and non-fiction writing genres. These include narratives, persuasive texts, non-chronological reports, explanation texts, biographies, diary entries, newspaper articles and poetry.
We provide opportunities in foundation subjects for children to use some of these text types, for example writing up an explanation text in Science or a report in Geography. This gives more opportunities for children to independently recall features of the text types they have been studying in English lessons.
We firmly believe that ensuring children have a wide vocabulary has real impact on the quality of their writing. We encourage children to use ambitious vocabulary and record this in word banks during writing sessions, on Wow Word walls and with our shared texts. This is also reflected in our spelling sessions.
In order for children to learn the key features of different text types, each class spends a number of weeks on each text and follow the small steps structure. This gives time for children to explore grammatical structures, builds confidence with sentence structure and widens the repertoire of writing techniques available to them as writers.
At the end of every unit of work, all children will apply the knowledge they have learnt over the course of the unit in an independent piece based on the text. Children will independently plan, write and edit their own work.
Every term the children in Brooks, Streams and Rivers will do an additional piece of independent writing which will follow a whole school stimulus. The children are asked draw on the skills they have built up over the year.
Spelling
As children reach the end of their phonics programme at Ogbourne, it’s important that they move to a structured and systematic spelling programme. Children will have learned lots of skills through their phonics teaching that can be applied to spelling. But children will also need to learn strategies for spelling, in just the same way they learned strategies for reading.
At Ogbourne, to manage this crossover from phonics we are following the ELS Essential Spelling scheme in Year 2 and then Essential Spelling and Word Knowledge into KS2 . This works on the principles of give, give, give and teach not test. Rather than being asked to memorise a list of spellings, children need to be taught the strategies to work out how to spell words for themselves. Children can then draw on these strategies and apply them to their spelling, in much the same way as they draw on strategies learned through their phonics teaching and apply it to their reading.
Children practise spellings, dictation and handwriting in each session. Feedback is given right away to ensure that errors are corrected on the spot to avoid children practicing inaccuracies. At Ogbourne we ensure that spelling is valued and its importance highlighted – for example, key vocabulary for every subject is always taught and expectation is that it will be spelt correctly.
Children will have spelling lessons three times a week in years 2-6.
SPAG
The new English grammar, punctuation and spelling test (also known as the SPaG test) (or GaPS) was introduced in May 2013 as part of the KS2 SATs programme for Year 6 pupils. The government is aiming for all children to leave primary school with a sound grasp of essential English skills. The SPaG test includes questions that assess the following elements of the English curriculum:
- Sentence grammar through both identifying and writing sentences that are grammatically correct,
- Punctuation through identifying and writing sentences that are correctly punctuated,
- Spelling through identifying and writing correctly spelt words.
- SPaG will be taught across the whole school and year will develop pupil’s knowledge and build on previous years learning.
In order for children to achieve this, in KS2 one English lesson a week will be devoted to grammar and punctuation skills. As well as being able to spell words correctly, use a wide range of vocabulary and punctuate well, they need to grasp the meaning of grammatical terms such as noun, verb, adjective, prefix, pronoun and adverb, know what phrases and clauses are and how to use them, understand what connectives are and how they work, know how to turn a question into a command, and so on. This terminology can be a stumbling block even for children who are otherwise good at reading and writing, and make the questions hard to understand.
Handwriting
In EYFS, children are taught correct pinch pencil grip and comfortable writing position. Children will be taught the ELS mnemonics to form each letter. From Year 1 children will begin to learn the continuous cursive hand. This means that all letters will start from the line with lead ins. We aim for children to be joining most letters correctly by the end of KS1. In Brooks Class, handwriting is taught as part of daily phonics lessons. In KS2 handwriting will be taught twice a week.
Children who demonstrate excellent handwriting may earn their pen licence from as soon as Year 2. To earn this, their presentation must be consistently impressive with all letters fully cursive. Any child who has not earned their pen licence by Year 4 will be given a handwriting pen as at Ogbourne, we believe this boosts their confidence and often provides another stimulus for great presentation. By Year 5 and 6 all written work will be in black pen. There will be termly opportunities for children to demonstrate excellent handwriting by writing up work for display.