Writing - Pathways to Write

"With God, all things are possible" Matthew 19:26

To support the National Curriculum for English from Year 1 and the EYFS Development Matters, we follow a whole school mastery approach to writing through the programme Pathways to Write. Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for writing. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the writing activities provided. Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.  

Intent

At Crowton, we want our children to develop into confident writers who write clearly, accurately and coherently and have a love for writing. We aspire that all our children will develop a lifelong appreciation of and desire for quality literature. We believe that the study of English develops children’s abilities to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes. As well as enabling children to express themselves creatively and imaginatively, we want every child to know that writing is for them: a powerful tool, a source of joy, a lifelong skill, a potential career.

We aim for our writing curriculum to develop the following essential elements:

· Provide exciting writing opportunities and experiences that engage and inspire all pupils.

· Support children to acquire a wide and rich vocabulary.

· Support children to be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn throughout their time in primary school.

· Ensure all children have a solid understanding of grammar and apply it effectively to their writing.

· We want our pupils to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style to suit a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. · We believe that all children should be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing, in part by developing a legible, joined handwriting style by the time they move to secondary school.

· We want every child to have a good knowledge of phonics to springboard children to becoming fluent writers.

· We have a progressive curriculum which builds upon previous teaching, including regular assessment, to ensure each child’s needs are met so they can reach their full potential.

Implementation

Our daily English lessons follow the Pathways to Write planning and learning scheme. Pathways to Write is designed to equip pupils with key skills to move them through the writing process towards their final outcome. It is built around units of work that follow a mastery approach to the teaching of writing. To support this approach, clear detailed lesson plans and resources are linked to a high-quality text. Pathways to Write ensures engaging and purposeful English lessons. The units can be used thematically to encourage a whole school approach to writing with the opportunity for topics to link across all year groups.

The units can be used thematically to encourage a whole school approach to writing with the opportunity for topics to link across all year groups.

Each unit covers a range of areas in the national curriculum:

• Mastery of vocabulary, grammar and punctuation skills

• Writing a range of genres across a year

• Vocabulary development

• Using a wider range of reading comprehension strategies as a whole class

• Spoken language activities including drama and presentations

• Opportunities for practising previously taught genres

• An extended, independent piece of writing

This process follows three stages:

The Gateway (1-2 lessons)

• Begin at the Gateway with a ‘hook’ session to intrigue and enthuse young writers

• Use objects, people, images or role-play to stimulate questions about the chosen text

• Give pupils the opportunity to predict the text

• Establish the purpose and audience of the writing

• Revisit previous mastery skills and ongoing skills

The Pathway (10 lessons)

• Introduce pupils to three new writing skills from their year group curriculum

• Provide opportunities to practise and apply the skill they have learnt through short and extended writing tasks including character descriptions, poetry, dialogue between characters, fact files or diary entries in role

• Provide opportunities to re-cap and apply previously taught skills

• Challenge greater depth writers through a wider range of tasks e.g. changes to form, viewpoint and audience

Writeaway (4 lessons)

• Section and sequence texts independently or collaboratively

• Create extended pieces of writing over time

• Opportunity to apply mastery skills

• Time for planning, writing, checking, editing, redrafting and publishing

• A fiction or non-fiction outcome will be written (covering a wide range of genres and themes over the year)

Impact

The impact of our writing curriculum means that children can write well-structured pieces of texts across a range of genres. They enjoy writing and can plan well-structured pieces. Pupils will write grammatically sound pieces of writing and have the ability to edit and improve their work. They will understand the features of different genres and develop specific and technical vocabulary for both fiction and non-fiction texts. Children will use their experiences of reading and apply this knowledge in their own writing.

Our pupils are ready for the next stage of their writing journey. Our writing curriculum is centred on fostering a love for writing, equipping our pupils with the necessary skills, and ensuring their holistic development as confident and competent writers. Through best practices, targeted support, and a language-rich environment, we aim to enable all our pupils to excel in written communication and thrive in their future educational and personal endeavours.