At George Grenville Academy, we teach the children early writing through our phonics programme, Sounds-Write. The children then use their segmenting skills to move from emergent writers (making marks) to more confident writers, writing full sentences. By the start of Year One, the children will explore the alternate spellings for each sound. This helps them to take more risks and eventually become better spellers.
Writing at George Grenville Academy
Children are inspired and motivated to write through understanding of a writing process across the school:
A high-quality stimulus (book or visual literacy) which provokes children’s interests.
Appreciation of the techniques and skills used by the author to engage their reader
Opportunities to engage in a range of genres in response to stimulus text
Sentence building, using ‘7 Super Sentences’ developing to Alan Peat sentences across Key Stages.
Grammar teaching to suit genre of writing – taught within the context of (and incidental to) the model text
Guided opportunities to consciously write for the purpose of engaging an audience, including editing and developing language, through to producing ‘published’ pieces.
Feedback through learning conversations and written marking based on child’s writing targets.
Planning & books for phonics will be supported thought the RWI programme. In Key Stage Two, planning formats enable shared focus on reading skills according to age and ability.
Spelling: after phonics understanding is secure, children move on to spelling learning through lessons using the No Nonsense spelling programme, complemented by the Key Stage Two subscription to SpellZone online spelling programme.
Continuous cursive handwriting is taught, encouraged and celebrated in school with the award of pen licences.
