Writing

'If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.'

Martin Luther


At Chandos, we aim for all children to leave our school as authors who have a love and enjoyment for writing. Every child, regardless of gender, race or ability will have equal access to the Writing Curriculum at all times. We aim to provide for all children so that they can achieve their best according to their individual needs, whether they need additional support or more challenge. 


Our children take part in a number of writing journeys throughout the year which include a variety of different fictional and non-fiction genres following the 6R approach to writing. 


The 6R approach is based on the thinking and creative processes involved in 'being a writer', including knowing how to generate ideas; draw on previous reading; and understanding how to draft, refine and improve writing. We also have a heavy emphasis on the oral learning of model texts so that children can learn the language patterns needed for writing. For experienced writers, many of these processes are internal and automatic. However, young writers benefit from explicit time dedicated to explorating these processes through supportive talk, so as to share the thinking involved in creating writing.


The 6R Approach takes children on a journey through three stages:

Stage One

Stage Two

Stage Three

Read the model text considering the purpose, audience and impact.

Identifying the structural and language features within the model text.

Opportunities to develop the language skills needed for writing.

Begin to plan and write own aspects of genre, applying taught skills. 

Learning how to edit and uplevel written 'reinvented' work.

Applying all taught skills to an independent, final write of the genre.

How do we plan our writing journeys?

Teachers are encouraged to plan units of writing for children linked to their current topics for that term, for example a Non-chronological report about the Battle of Britain or a mythological story on the Greeks.  

Approximately twelve units will be completed throughout the academic year with each unit of writing taking no longer than three weeks. The time spent on a unit is steered by the children's knowledge and skills needed for the genre being taught, if these are well developed, the unit may be completed in less time. 

In KS1, children will produce writing for the following non-fiction areas each year:


In KS2, children will produce writing for the same non-fiction areas as well as:


In fiction writing, children are encouraged to master the skills of:

And in KS2, children also master:

Ideally, there will be a focus on one of these areas in each fiction unit of writing so that children are able to really develop their skills in them before moving on. As the children move into UKS2, more than one area will be focused on as children should already have grasped a good understanding and skill of how to use them. 

How do we assess our writing journeys?

The 6R Approach begind with assessment: the 'cold' task. 

Children are asked to 'have a go' at writing an example of the text type to be taught e.g. a persuasaive letter or a suspence story. 

The 'cold task' is assessed by the teacher against the unit objectives and every child is given a personal target. 

This also gives the teacher the opportunity to identify what skills need teaching and also idenitfy any differentiation required.

The teaching and learning within the writing journey is sharply focused on children making progress. 

At the end of each unit, children repeat the initial task and 'show what they know'. This is a final piece of independent writing where the children have the opportunity to demonstrate the grammatical and language skills they have been taught on their journey. 

Again, this 'hot write' is assessed against the same unit objectives so progress is easily idenitfied. Children's personal targets are also assessed at this point. 

For information about how we teach SPaG and Handwriting, please use the buttons below:

SPaG

Handwriting

For more information... 

Miss Devlin is our Writing lead. 

Please feel free to speak to her with any questions that you may have.