Writing

At Beacon View Primary Academy, writing is a crucial part of our curriculum with very strong links to our reading curriculum. It is our expectation that every child will leave our school with the skills of a proficient writer who is able to express their thoughts and ideas confidently and creatively through the use of the written word. Our aim is to create writers who have the following skills: 

• the ability to write with fluency, stamina 
• can write for a particular purpose taking into account the audience the writing is intended for
• can imitate the language, structure and punctuation devices used in effective writing models
• can use an extensive bank of vocabulary and an excellent knowledge of writing techniques with which to communicate the written word with an appropriate authorial voice and tone
• can display excellent transcription skills that ensure their writing is well presented, punctuated, and spelt correctly
• can review, edit and proof-read their writing so that every piece of writing they produce is to the best of their ability and better than the last. 

Our writing curriculum is also planned in a way which promotes the cultural capital of all our children. We enhance our curriculum, especially for the most disadvantaged, by providing opportunities to write for a diverse range of opportunities including those which allow pupils to write about: 

• influential and inspirational figures
• people similar to themselves
• people and places from different cultures 
• historical concepts
• current topics of interest and debate

Each year we plan to provide opportunities for pupils to take part in external writing opportunities and competitions. 

At Beacon View, we ensure that our reading curriculum intrinsically links with our writing curriculum so as to give pupils the maximum opportunities for developing a strong awareness of the reason for writing, audience, features and tone required to write effectively across a range of genres. 

We use the United Learning English plans for each year group as a source for our ideas and follow the sequence in the long-term plan, adapting the plans to our local context where appropriate. 

Pupils are immersed in the text type during their reading sessions. This is to give children ideas and expose them to the features of the text type, grammatical features, while building a bank of vocabulary.  We ensure that whatever we want the pupils to demonstrate in their own writing, is present in the texts and other reading examples used in the immersion phase. In Key Stage 2 people have notebooks in which to magpie ideas that inspire them. 

Through our carefully sequenced English curriculum, pupils make good progress from their own personal starting points. By the end of Year 6 they are able to write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style in, and for, a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Our pupils will acquire a wide vocabulary and have a strong command of the written word. Most importantly, they develop a love of writing and are well equipped for the rest of their education in Key Stage 3, 4 and beyond. 

Some of the genres the children will experience can be seen in the table below: