Writing at St Joseph's

At St Joseph’s, all children have opportunities to write across a range of genres including:  stories, poems, comic-strips, non-fiction reports, diary entries, scripts and more. We understand the value of developing confident and enthusiastic writers, therefore we take every opportunity to promote writing and to ensure that it is enjoyable for all. 

Children in Year R and Year 1 are actively taught and supported to use their phonics to support them in their spelling and writing. Children in Year R are taught how to hold a pencil accurately and mark make as well as explore vocabulary and accurately form their letters. Children then begin to build on writing words leading into simple sentences.

Moving into Year 1, children build on their knowledge from Year R and begin to form structured sentences, including using a range of features such as capital letters, full stops, adjectives and commas. Picture books and stories are built into the writing curriculum to ensure there is purpose for writing.

The teaching of writing at St Joseph’s follows a sequential approach, ensuring skills are built upon as they progress through the school.  Children are immersed in a class text before analysing modelled examples of their writing focus. Children are then taught specific skills linked to the genre of writing, they then have the opportunity to plan and draft their writing, before writing their final piece in their writing anthology book. Children become familiar with editing their learning and ensuring they have ‘uplevelled’ their own work with their purple pen.

Writing is celebrated at St Joseph’s and children have the opportunity to write at length across the curriculum.  Our children enjoy entering writing competitions with ‘Young Writers’ and are often very successful, having their writing published in a book!