WRITING

At Hallam Fields, we believe that writing is not only a key skill for life, but also a crucial part of every subject taught in our school. We aim for ALL our children to become expressive and independent writers, who can confidently produce well-structured and engaging pieces across a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry genres. Our children develop a broad range of transferrable skills in shaping writing, sentence structure, expanding vocabulary, using a wide range of punctuation and accurate spelling, which are revisited regularly and at increasing depth throughout their four years with us. We are determined that our children will leave Hallam Fields certain that they are able to communicate effectively through writing and with a genuine enjoyment and pride in being able to do so.

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Children have four writing lessons every week, each beginning with a starting activity linked to their weekly grammar objective. We begin each writing unit by picking out the key features from an example piece of writing. These features then become our key skills for the following writing lessons and are taught through careful modelling and scaffolding. We focus on two skills each lesson in Years 5 and 6 and one in Years 3 and 4. In our lessons, all teachers model a sentence or paragraph to the class and discuss key features and appropriate choices for vocabulary, before the children then have a go at their own sentences independently. This allows us to ‘hold the hands’ of our children as they write and support them, so that they feel ready to write independently at the end of each unit by drawing on the wide range of writing tools they have been taught to use. Twice each half term, the children plan, write and edit a piece of independent work. This is assessed using the age related Write Stuff Performance of Writing (POW) grids. These independent tasks have a clear balance of fiction and non-fiction and provide the children with an opportunity to independently apply the writing skills that have been taught in their lessons. 

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SPAG

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Intent

During their time at Hallam Fields, children should gain an understanding of the value of grammar, and why it is such an important feature of any reason for writing. They should understand how sentences are created and be able to use grammar creatively for a variety of purposes. With regards to spelling, children should have developed a strategy for tackling tricky words and have a good understanding of the mechanics of the English language. 

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Implementation

Grammar is largely taught through the teaching of writing, but is also taught once per week in a dedicated grammar lesson. Rainbow Grammar is used to teach children the building blocks to sentences and allows them to explore a variety of sentence structures. This is then embedded in writing lessons to give the children context to their learning.  Spelling is taught during daily spelling sessions using the No Nonsense Spelling scheme. Children are taught to break the word down into its sounds and syllables, in order to spot patterns or link to other words. 

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Impact

As SPaG is tested during KS2 SATs, children become familiarised with the style of questions during end of term assessments. This also allows teachers to spot weak areas of understanding in order to cover them during teaching time. Similarly, it also allows teachers to spot children who may need intervention to help them reach their full potential. Spelling is assessed weekly during spelling tests consisting of 10 spellings, which follow a common theme.