Our Intent for Writing at KEPS

At Kingsbury Episcopi Primary School, we believe that speaking, listening, reading and writing are fundamental life skills, which enable children to communicate effectively in all areas and equips them for the challenges they will face in the wider world. We want all of our children to confidently communicate their knowledge, understanding, ideas and emotions through their writing and use of the spoken word. At KEPS, we want children to acquire a wide vocabulary and be able to write and speak clearly, accurately and coherently, being able to adapt their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.  

At our school, we endeavour to create a love for literacy. We want every child to leave our school with the skills of an excellent writer. At KEPS we are determined that:

* Children have the ability to write with fluency and each has an author’s voice.

* Children are writing for a purpose and their writing is engaging; they think about the impact they want their writing to have on the reader and know how they will achieve this.

* Children develop writing from the investigation of high quality text models.

* Children develop proficiency in writing in a range of genres and have a sophisticated bank of vocabulary and an excellent knowledge of writing techniques to extend details or description.

* Opportunities for writing purposefully are developed through other areas of the curriculum.

* Children develop writing stamina - every day, every child will write in either a short or long burst of writing. This maybe within an English lesson, or another area of the curriculum.

* Children are provided with the skills to embark on independent writing journeys both in and out of school.

* Children display excellent transcription skills that ensure their writing is well presented, punctuated and spelt correctly.  

Throughout their time at KEPS, children develop their skills by exploring a wide-range of genres, with a focus on exploring a range of models of excellence and using these to guide the drafting and editing process. It is important to note that, we not only develop a real enjoyment of writing in English lessons, but in all subjects across the curriculum. We expect the highest standards of writing every time a child writes in any subject.

Our Implementation of Writing at KEPS

At KEPS, we ensure that children develop a love of writing and develop the skills needed to achieve this.

* Teachers ensure that short and long writing opportunities are regularly provided in a range of curriculum subjects - we call this 'short bursts' and 'long bursts'. 

* Modelled, shared, guided and independent writing contexts frequently feature in the English curriculum. 

* Children are provided with clear expectations and outcomes when writing.

* Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar and Phonics are taught explicitly and applied to their text.

* High-quality texts are used as models for children’s own writing.

*Children are motivated to re-read, edit and improve their writing so every piece of writing they produce is to the best of their ability and better than the last. We explicitly teach the skills of editing using Purple Polishing Pens, and engage in self and peer-assessment as part of the improving of writing process. 

* Teachers use a four-stage model when teaching writing:

1. Familiarisation with genre/model text
2. Shared writing to practise skills
3. Independent Writing
4. Editing and improving

Our whole school writing progression document can be found here: