Intent

At Ravenscote Junior School, our intent for English is to cultivate a love for language, reading, writing and communication among our students. We intend for all children, including those on our inclusion register, to experience a range of different genres through real life experiences, engaging hooks, purposes and audiences. Throughout their time at Ravenscote, children will develop the love of writing and be able to express their thoughts and ideas clearly and creatively. In each year group, the children will confidently use the essential skills of grammar, punctuation and spelling to meet age related expectations and beyond. Enabling them to allow their imaginations to flourish. They will leave Ravenscote with the confidence to use these skills for a range of different writing purposes.

Implementation

Children have effective, high quality focused writing lessons and frequent opportunities to write across the curriculum. Our writing lessons are based on our writing skills, taken from the National Curriculum, but are linked to and grouped around Jane Considine’s, Rainbow Writing ‘lenses’. Each writing unit is introduced with a hook activity/lesson to immerse learners in the topic of work and to unlock their creativity. Children have opportunities to reflect on and improve writing through editing with continuous self, peer and teacher assessment.

We create a rich and diverse reading culture, offering wide genres of text, both fiction and non-fiction. Writing units link with the Reading spine where appropriate. Reading lessons expose students to literature and stories from various cultures, promoting global awareness, tolerance, and appreciation for diversity. These themes are then explored and skills utilised within their writing.

Speaking and listening skills are cultivated through class discussions, debates, and presentations, all of which support children in articulating their ideas. Students have opportunities to express their opinions, actively listen to others, and build empathy and understanding through effective communication.

Recognising the diverse learning needs of our students, we provide individualised adaptations where needed, ensuring every child can progress and thrive in their writing journey.

Handwriting:

We aim for children to write in a fluent, neat style allowing children to communicate meaning through writing quickly and effectively. Handwriting is taught through short but regular practice in every area of our curriculum. We use a handwriting scheme (ISHA) to promote excellent handwriting habits to impact positively on the content or written work. This allows for a consistent approach and progression of handwriting skills across the school.

Spelling and Grammar:

We provide a structured approach to grammar and vocabulary, integrated into engaging lessons. New aspects of grammar and punctuation are introduced and previously taught aspects are revisited and developed within each unit of work.

We systematically follow the Ruth Miskin synthetic phonics scheme, ‘Read, Write, Inc’ for spellings across the school. All year groups follow the programme, providing a clear consistent approach to phonics and spellings. Adaptations are made to meet the needs of the individual learner and additional support is provided in line with our inclusion policy.

Impact

By the end of year 6, writing should be sufficiently fluent and effortless for children to manage the general demands of the curriculum, across all subjects and not just English. Children are given the opportunity to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purpose and audiences. Children will be equipped with a strong command of the written word, they will gain a varied vocabulary which they can use across the connected curriculum.

"It's nice because in writing we get to express ourselves."

"Our English lessons give us the chance to write some exciting and thrilling stories!"

"Our lessons help us plan our writing really well before we write - I love it!"

"I love that our grammar lessons give us the chance to practice the skills before we start writing longer pieces."

 

The following useful websites may aid with your child's learning.