English

WRITING

We aim to create 'writers not just writing'.

Planning

At Clanfield C of E, we have developed a rich, progressive and inspiring English Writing Curriculum where children study a broad range of fiction and non-fiction including media clips, heritage texts, novels, picture books, articles, short stories and poetry. Each high-quality text is carefully chosen to provide excellent and engaging examples of the grammar and composition objectives set out in the National Curriculum for each year group. It also provides the opportunity for children to draw on the language and literary devices authors use to communicate their information, ideas and feelings to use in their own writing.

Below is an example of our Long term planning Writing in English.  

LTP Writing Year 3 and 4

English Medium Term Plan

English Long Term Plan

 Writing journey

In English lessons in Years 1 - 6, children are taught to write for the reader and each Writing Learning Journey identifies a clear purpose, audience and viewpoint for the writing they create. Through the context of the book, children learn to plan their writing and develop their ideas through talk for writing and drama activities. They build a breadth of knowledge of different writing styles to draw upon when writing for different purposes. They develop increasing stamina for writing and learn to use language for effect with growing skill and control. They learn to edit their own and other’s writing for accuracy and effectiveness with increasing independence. Progress of writing is carefully monitored against national standards through independent pieces of writing undertaken throughout each unit of work. These engaging writing opportunities build a picture of children’s developing mastery of the writing objectives taught in each year group and ensures lots of opportunities for children to be creative and enjoy the art of writing.

Year 5 write and edit

Children all access the same high-quality text which is then used to inspire and model a writing outcome. In some year groups, the text is also used as the reading focus.

A Learning Journey provides children with approximately 3 weeks working towards a single piece of writing, ensuring all of their grammar and punctuation is purposeful and pupil targets are developed.

Children first enter the Stimulate and Generate phase of writing. Here the unit begins with a rich text stimulus and provides opportunities for children to explore spoken language, word level work and develop cultural capital (through visitors, trips, images, props). The next stage of the learning journey is the Capture, Sift and Sort phase. Here children explore the skills needed for the final outcome (planning; exploring genre and form; embedded grammar, punctuation and spelling). In addition, the children complete apprentice writes. The final stage of the writing process is the Create, Refine and Evaluate phase where teachers continue to teach skills and behaviours of a writer and children create a written outcome for a known audience. This is the phase of writing where children proof-read and edit their work: our learners are challenged and encouraged to take risks and view mistakes as another part of the learning process. The learning journey finishes with opportunities for children to publish their work ready for celebration and/or presentation.

In Year 1 and 2, we have developed a 2 week journey. Over this focused two-week learning journey, children in Year 1 and 2 develop strong foundations for writing through a carefully structured approach. Still following the stages of Stimulate and Generate, Capture, Sift and Sort, and Create, Refine and Evaluate, pupils explore high-quality texts, talk through ideas, and build confidence as writers.  This shorter unit places a clear emphasis on developing essential writing skills, including sentence structure, vocabulary choices and handwriting, while ensuring children are secure in key grammar features appropriate to their age. Through modelling, shared writing and independent practice, children learn how to apply these skills effectively, supporting them to become confident, capable and enthusiastic writers.

Working walls are an important part of the learning process as they provide children with a form of continuous provision that they can refer to throughout the journey. These should detail the purpose for writing, vocabulary, skills being taught and modelled examples. During the process, the working walls should be referred to regularly and often. Key parts of the working wall should remain after a learning journey so children are reminded and encourages to use these skills in other writing.                                                   

Year 6 writing

Year 1 writing

Other fantastic examples of writing across the school:

Writing examples

Some fantastic examples of writing across the school

 Spelling

Spelling and vocabulary Key Stage 2 follows Christopher Such’s guidance on Combined Vocabulary and Spelling, and builds on pupils’ phonics knowledge from Key Stage 1 by continuing to organise learning around phonemes. This approach consolidates children’s understanding of sound–spelling correspondences (grapheme–phoneme correspondences) while integrating the statutory spelling rules and word lists from the Key Stage 2 national curriculum into a coherent, sound-based framework.

Alongside this, pupils are introduced to key aspects of morphology and etymology, including common prefixes, suffixes, and Latin and Greek root words. These are carefully mapped against the phonemes being taught so that children encounter and revisit important morphemes and word roots throughout Key Stage 2. For example, when exploring the /or/ sound, pupils may study words such as deform, linking this to the morpheme de- (“remove” or “reverse”). This morpheme then reappears in later examples such as dethrone, decelerate, descent, and dehydrate, allowing children to see how meaning and spelling connect across different contexts.

This structured approach ensures that spelling lessons reinforce phonics knowledge while also developing pupils’ understanding of word structure, meaning, and vocabulary. As a result, children not only learn to spell more accurately but also develop a deeper awareness of how words are formed and related, supporting both their reading and writing across the curriculum.

Spelling Progression Document

Vocabulary, Punctuation and Grammar

The explicit teaching of Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation is essential to the development of children’s speech and writing. Children from Year 1 to 6 learn key grammar and punctuation concepts in the context of writing. Having a firm understanding of these allow children to be confident in building and manipulating interesting and varied sentences. Furthermore, they can then discuss and analyse their own language and grammar choices, as well as those of others, using the appropriate terminology. While this knowledge prepares the children for the end of KS1 and KS2 SATs tests, it also helps them to write with improved accuracy and confidence. 

Our English Leader has worked closely with the English Team at the Hampshire Inspection & Advisory Service to develop an English curriculum which promotes our belief that every child has the opportunity to love books, love reading, love writing and to let them experience all the doors learning in English opens.