Writing at Bradfield CE Primary

At Bradfield, we believe that writing is an essential life skill and we are committed to enabling our students to become effective and creative in the written word. We aim to provide our children with a challenging and purposeful writing curriculum based on well-chosen texts, which link into the wider curriculum where appropriate. Our goal is that the writing curriculum builds on itself incrementally throughout the school, giving students a chance to learn and practice new skills they have gained.  

From EYFS our phonics scheme prepares children for writing more formally in Key Stage One, enabling them to form letters and begin to join sounds to make words and simple sentences. National Curriculum objectives form the basis of our curriculum offer. Our writing units are formed around an extensive range of narrative, non-fiction and poetry, giving children exposure to different types and contexts of writing. Our approach to teaching writing is based around our common pedagogies, which are evident within each unit of work. This common pedagogy ensures that there is a consistent learning language within writing lessons across the school.  Each year groups’ units are recapped within the next year group, either in a ‘book unit’ or within the wider curriculum meaning pupils have opportunities to practice and hone their new skills.  

Morphology (word structure) and orthography (spelling structure) of words are taught explicitly in every class post phonics. Grammar is taught via writing lessons as well as some discrete lessons, where appropriate.

Writing is a strength at Bradfield CE Primary School and students consistently exceed national and local authority data in end of Key Stage Two assessments. In recent pupil voice exercises, children at Bradfield CE Primary tell us that they enjoy writing lessons at school and in particular the varied lessons they take part in. They are able to articulate what genres they like and why writing is important for them. Work is recorded in a writing exercise book. Work is regularly published, which can take many different forms e.g. creating class books, sharing work online or sending letters.

Our Unit Planning Process