Our approach to writing has been developed in response to continuous professional development for our subject leaders which as provided the subject leaders with a secure understanding of important elements of being successful when teaching writing. The subject leaders have undergone training from a wide range of professionals including Talk for Writing trainers and Grammarsaurus staff. In addition to that, the subject leaders have used core research on the important of transcription, dictation and composition to create a bespoke writing approach.

Talk for Writing

Talk for Writing supports children to explore, through talk and guided practice, the thinking and creative processes involved in being a writer. It is embedded at every phase of the teaching sequence which is structured to include teacher talk, supported pupil talk and independent pupil talk. Talk for Writing is an approach that goes beyond the development of children’s general speaking and listening skills – it allows children to explore the processes involved in being a writer, and extends oral rehearsal so that it becomes a draft for their written pieces. The approach supports the children to move from talk into writing.

Transcription, Dictation and Composition

Having a good understanding of transition, dictation and composition is essential for children to make good progress in writing. It also ensures that the writing curriculum takes into account children’s working memory: children must be able to form letters at speed and spell words without taking up space in the memory to ensure they can focus on their ideas as a writer. We there recognise that pupils need to develop accuracy and fluency in writing. To achieve this pupils need:

• Knowledge for transcription and composition, including vocabulary
• Time to practice with models, scaffolds and the opportunity to build fluency with repeated practise
• Prior knowledge to be secure so that they can build complexity incrementally.

It is therefore imperative that the writing curriculum is planned to provide opportunities to develop children in all 3 areas of writing.

Grammarsaurus Place Value of Punctuation and Grammar

This unit of work recognises that for children to be able to become the best writers possible, that they must understand the structure of sentences and the role of different word classes. They recognise that children must understand the ‘place value’ of grammar exactly as we would require them to in maths, before moving on to writing composition.  Through carefully structured lessons, the correct vocabulary and accurate subject knowledge from staff, at the start of the year, children learn this through 20 objectives before completing composition writing tasks.

Last updated: September 2024

Handwriting at Firs

At Firs we follow Martin Harvey’s Achieving Excellence in Writing. This starts in EYFS where our staff help our children in developing physically and establish a good pencil grip. Once children have mastered a good pencil grip, and have appropriate shoulder, elbow and wrist dexterity, we teach the children individual letters then move on to cursive handwriting.

We teach the children the different heights of the letters by referring to them as short, tall and tail letters and show them how they sit on our handwriting paper with solid and dotted lines. The children also have this line in their English books enabling them to further apply and practice their skill outside of handwriting lessons.

 We follow 5 habits in school for handwriting and presentation of work.

Two hands. Insist on children always using two hands when writing. One hand to hold the paper and one hand to write with.

Six feet. Children must always keep six feet on the floor.

Ensure that children always sit in the BBC position – Bottom Back in Chair.

Tummy Near Table. This ensures that the child is sitting with their body close to their work, instead of having to stretch forward to write.

Paper position. The paper should be upright when the child is writing or at an angle not greater than 45 degrees.

Good posture and correct seating position are vital components of developing good handwriting. The habits above must not be seen just as good habits for handwriting. They are insisted upon in all subject areas, throughout the school day.

At Firs, we do not join the g or y to other letters.