Statement of Intent
The overarching aim for English at St. Joseph’s is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written language.
We endeavour to teach our pupils to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences and drawing on what they have read to develop their writing further. They should gain an understanding of grammar and punctuation and be able to manipulate these to meet the needs of their writing purpose.
We understand that being able to talk well and with purpose is vital in being able to write effectively and coherently. St. Joseph’s provides a language rich environment for every child in the school regardless of their age. This is achieved through teacher modelling, vocabulary instruction in every area of the curriculum and the reading spine which provides many opportunities for teaching high-quality language. Writing takes place across the curriculum at St. Joseph’s and we have high expectations of all pieces of writing produced. The writing curriculum is designed progressively so that children are given the opportunity to learn the basic skills required for different styles of writing before revisiting and developing these later on in the year and in further year groups.
At the beginning of a unit of work, children take part in sentence level and short burst writing in order for them to build confidence and rehearse the grammatical content required to show competency in their current writing unit. In the second part of a unit of work, children are required to apply the skills taught to write at length through discussion and teacher modelling. They are then encouraged to assess and edit their work using the collaborative class success criteria. The content of writing is drawn from many areas of the curriculum, including Science, History, Geography and our literature spine, in order for children to develop an understanding of the vocabulary and knowledge needed in order to write confidently and effectively.
Handwriting
Handwriting is taught at St. Joseph’s using the Kinetic Letters programme. This systematic programme is designed to increase automaticity and writing stamina in children as well as helping them to develop their confidence and self-esteem when writing. The programme splits handwriting into four key threads which enables them to build body strength, hold a pencil correctly, form letters accurately and write with flow and fluidity through the joining programme. Though handwriting is taught in discrete sessions, children are expected to use their handwriting skills throughout the curriculum; letter formation and expectations in handwriting are referred to in every subject area.
