“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.” – John Jakes

Writing at Grimes Dyke

At Grimes Dyke Primary School, it is our intent to provide pupils with a high-quality education in English that will teach pupils to speak, read and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others effectively. We hope that through careful planning, we can motivate and inspire children to write confidently and passionately for a range of audiences and purposes. With books at the forefront, we embed a joint reading and writing approach to help open children’s minds and be captivated with ideas to support them when writing for a range of genres.

In Writing, pupils are taught to plan, revise and evaluate their writing. We have adapted a writing journey, which enables our children to immerse in a range of books, texts and extracts linking to their chosen genre. Children will then focus on grammar elements and build vocabulary to help understand and deepen their learning. An important and fundmental part of this process then focuses on sentence structure and exploring with different types linking to the genre. Children then decide how and why they would like to publish their work, depending on the outcome and purpose. 

Throughtout all of this, children are taught independence with their writing and will often use a purple pen to help improve or edit their work. A skill which can be tricky, but of high value.

At Grimes Dyke, ELS is used consistently throughout Early Years and KS1 to support the learning and development of early reading. We understand and prioritise the importance that early reading has on reading, writing and speaking. When it comes to spelling, teachers will show pupils how to understand the relationships between words, how to understand nuances in meaning, and how to develop their understanding of, and ability to use, figurative language. In KS2, we move the importance of phonics to a spelling scheme. We continue with the ELs programme for consistency, and are trialling a spelling scheme in Y3, with hope to implement this into further year groups. In addition, teachers will also teach pupils how to work out and clarify the meanings of unknown words and words with more than one meaning. Pupils are also taught to control their speaking and writing consciously and to use Standard English. We have a focus on handwriting.  Developing handwriting frees up working memory, speeds up the writing process and enables pupils to be ‘authors who share their work’. 

At Grimes Dyke, our writing opportunities are based on the topic, subject, whole class text or trip/visit/experience.  Our selection of context is very important.  We want to ensure our pupils are challenged in the contexts they study, as this is important for building cultural capital, and at the same time they are supported to bridge the gap between this and their own experiences so that the writing they produce can be personal, innovative and high-quality.  Where topics are abstract, significantly removed from the children’s experience or based on texts with complex themes, teachers should ensure pupils build a significant level of background knowledge and vocabulary using a range of strategies, e.g. use of artefacts, visitors, trips, first hand experiences, video clips, sound files, additional supporting texts, in-depth reading and use of multiple texts, discussion, drama, imaginative and supported play.

Children at Grimes Dyke aim to make good progress from their starting point in nursery, through to their final, statutory assessment point in Y6. All staff are well-trained and understand the importance of regular assessment. Staff attend moderation within the school cluster of local primary schools, as well as take part in a moderation/assessment meeting termly to ensure staff are supported, confident and consistent in their approach. 

At Grimes Dyke, we also pride ourselves in prioritsing verbal feeback, with the aim to value pupil voice and include them in the assessment process. 

Please click here to view the Writing Policy.