St Benedict's Catholic Primary School

In writing at St Benedict’s Catholic Primary School, we aim for children to be able to:

• Take part in experiences that enable them to write with confidence.
• Acquire a positive attitude towards learning.
• Develop their writing stamina to be able to write longer pieces of text and for different audiences.
• Understand the difference between independent, guided and shared writing to be able to compose, edit and revise their writing.
• Check their work for accuracy, meaning and sense.
• Understand the grammatical needs to each genre.
• Understand the different sentence types used in each genre and use them with confidence.
• Provide differentiated learning to ensure that all children can write for a purpose, providing resources to support them.
• Organise and present their work according to the genre being taught.
• Use a range of strategies for spelling

To support our English planning and structure of teaching, we use Jane Considine’s ‘The Write Stuff’. This approach is used consistently from Early Years* to Year 6 and sharpens the teaching and learning of writing within the classroom. It is research informed and practically applies evidence into effective best bets for improving writing outcomes as notes by the EEFs Improving Literacy in KS1 and Improving Literacy in KS2 research recommendations
 

The Write Stuff

The Write Stuff follows a method called ‘sentence stacking’. Sentence stacking refers to the fact that sentences are grouped together chronologically or organizationally to engage children with short, intensive moments of learning that they can apply immediately to their writing. An individual lesson is based on a sentence model, broken into three separate chunks:

1. Initiate section – a stimulus to capture the children’s imagination and set up a sentence by collecting ambitious vocabulary.
2. Model section – the teacher models a sentence that outlines clear writing features and techniques.
3. Enable section – the children write their sentence following the model.

More able writers are given the opportunity to ‘Deepen the Moment’ and write through a lense of their choice.
 

The Write Stuff reinforces grammar through the use of:

• The FANTASTICs which are an acronym that summarise the ideas of writing.
• The GRAMMARISTICS is a classroom tool that enables the teacher to drive key grammar messages.
• The BOOMTASTIC which helps children capture 10 ways of adding drama and poetic devices to writing in a vivid visual.

Each class will have ‘writing laundry’ to recap skills learnt in previous year groups. Each class will have the previous years ‘laundry’ to re-embed skills and fill any gaps created.

*In EYFS, children will begin to learn the visuals on the writing rainbow throughout the Autumn Term. Children will then work as a group or class to begin mark marking for meaning, which will then develop into writing words independently. Children will be supported using stem sentences and using a range of environmental opportunities and objects in provision. Children will become ‘word collectors’ within provision and add to their working walls. They will develop their vocabulary through puppets and adult led discussions and activities. They will have real images, linked to the selected texts, in provision to support their speaking and listening and engage children when discussing their own experiences.