We provide opportunities for our learners to write freely and creatively and to write at length, for a variety of audiences and purposes. A regular 'Cold Write', followed by specific learning, tailored to meet the needs of the class, with a later 'Hot Write' is a popular addition to the week in Year 1 and 2 and is a clear way to show progress and what the children have learned. As one of a group of schools in the Godalming Learning Partnership, we have undertaken a two year project with extensive training on Pie Corbett's Talk for Writing approach. This has been really successful in developing children's spoken language and ability to tell stories. It has been a vital part of our approach to developing speaking, listening and writing, particularly in light of the ongoing impact of reduced socialisation some of our youngest children may have had.
We have also been making use of the CLPE 'Power of Reading' resources to add further interest and excitement to our writing and over the past two years we have had two of the authors of books we use in Year 1 and Year 2 come to visit our school to lead writing workshops!
Written work is displayed throughout the school, so that others may appreciate it and the children realise that it is valued, particularly writing that the children have chosen to complete themselves outside of school!
Because of this, the children are also inspired to produce work of a high standard, often choosing to draft and correct it before it is “published”. We have been using Google Classroom to promote, publish and celebrate children's learning.
The children experience writing in different forms, for example, letters, lists, reports, poems, instructions, captions, accounts and stones. To enable children to write confidently and independently they are taught spelling patterns, simple grammar, punctuation and how to structure their writing. Reading and writing skills are reinforced across the curriculum and enhanced by the use of IT.