Writing 
Intent
At Orchard Primary Academy, we strive to ensure that a high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and, through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. We maintain throughout each key stage and year group that we want our children to develop their vocabulary understanding, write in a range of different genres and continuously develop their spelling, grammar and punctuation skills. As well as this, we want our children to understand the spoken word, use expression and participate as a member of society by speaking fluently and articulately.
Implementation
The teaching of English at Orchard focuses on using quality texts to inspire real writing: writing that gives children purpose and the ability to make choices about how they write. It is a holistic approach, which prioritises the connections between reading, writing and spoken language, teaching children the skills they need to become competent writers.
Our approach follows a clear sequence that results in a 3-week unit.
Each unit focuses on one main text, supported by additional companion texts; these used to build background knowledge, help children understand the theme and provide further ideas for writing. All English texts are carefully selected for each year group, aligning with wider learning across the curriculum. Genres of writing are planned progressively throughout school, containing a balance of narrative and non-narrative writing each term. Oracy is planned in from year group objectives to ensure opportunities for discussion and language development.
Orchard’s Approach to Writing
Week 1
Day 1 Immersion - Hook Day
Building a love of the writing process is crucial. Although having a quality text and real purpose are the most important vehicles to foster engagement, it is always worthwhile to think of a hook to get children thinking and using their imagination. This may be hunting dragons in the woodland or investigating a crashed rocket in the playground!
Day 2 Immersion – Vocabulary
Here we focus on exploring vocabulary linked to the main text and the chosen topic or theme. Children are immersed in rich, subject-specific language that enhances their understanding of the text and deepens their knowledge of the topic. Through discussion and a variety of activities, they practise using this vocabulary accurately and confidently in the correct context, helping to strengthen both their comprehension and expressive language skills.
Days 3 & 4 Deconstruction of genre through different texts.
This stage focuses on reading and allowing children to familiarise themselves with a variety of linked texts. Children are provided with opportunities to develop their background knowledge. Any reading the children engage with, will directly support the unit as a whole.
We analyse each text using the R.A.F.T. approach 
· Reason: why are they writing?
· Audience: who are they writing for?
· Features: what are the main features I want them to focus on? What shouldn’t be included?
· Tone: how do we want our writing to sound?
Lessons taught within this phase will be influenced by the R.A.F.T. and outcomes for the overall unit. For example, if a child is going to be writing in role for a diary entry, working on inference about characters’ thoughts and feelings will have the most impact.
Here, we will also focus on the explicit teaching and exploration of the genre or text-type children will eventually be writing. Children need to discuss models of writing, pulling them apart and discussing their effectiveness, in order to become effective writers themselves. Again, we will discuss the R.A.F.T, compare different examples of writing and discuss different writers’ approaches.
Day 5 Find the Shape
In this lesson, we will study a text closely and identify the key SPaG features that make up its composition. Alongside this we will examine elements such as structure, language choice, tone, and purpose to gain a deeper understanding of how the text is constructed and what makes it effective. This analysis will help us apply similar techniques in our own writing.
Week 2
Day 6 Application of SPaG and Fundamentals
In this lesson, we recap the Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar skills that children have previously learned. This helps to reinforce key concepts and strategies, solidify understanding and address any misconceptions to support accurate and effective writing. We also use this time to practice using fundamental skills, taught through a range of targeted activities, to ensure a strong foundation for continued progress in writing.
Day 7 & 8 Practice and apply – Explicit teaching of new concepts
This stage includes the teaching of specific Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar skills in context, using the inspiration texts. We focus on word, sentence and text level objectives – whichever knowledge is needed to produce effective writing for the required outcomes and add to children’s understanding of English.
Once this stage is complete, children should have a greater understanding of the text and the technical skills required to be able to start to gather their own ideas for writing.
Day 9 'We do' – shared planning and writing the model text
The next step is to engage in modelled, shared and guided writing, explicitly supporting children to use planning to form writing. As with all phases, teacher modelling is key. At this point in the unit, we ensure that modelling is focused on a different outcome to the one being written by the children, to ensure independence of output.
Day 10 Research in preparation for Independent Writing. 
This section gives children time to build knowledge, talk through ideas collaboratively and use texts to borrow words and phrases. Children have time to gather content, so that when they write, they can focus on writing effectively rather than think about what should come next. If anything, children need to gather too many ideas and too much content, to enable them to selectively choose what to take forward later in writing.
Week 3
Days 11 - 15 Create
The final phase of our approach is the culmination of all the learning that has occurred over the unit. The Create phase incorporates planning, writing, editing and publishing.
The first step in this phase is planning to write. As children have already had time to gather their initial ideas, this is often a case of children selecting and sequencing their content, adding key vocabulary or concepts as required to act as an aide memoire.
Once children are confident in what they are writing, we move onto the 2nd step. Here children need to be given time and space to be able to write, focusing on making effective choices linked back to the R.A.F.T. of the unit.
Once children’s first drafts have been completed, it is the time for feedback and editing to shine. This 3rd step should allow editing to be a sequenced process which focuses on improving the overall effectiveness of the writing related to the R.A.F.T. Effectiveness may be improved by fixing errors, or adding some missing content, but it can also be improved by removing unnecessary words, substituting content and asking if there is a more effective way to structure a sentence or idea.
The final part of this phase, and indeed the whole unit, is for the work to be published. Where a piece of writing goes and how it is published will depend heavily on the R.A.F.T.
Key Documents for Implementation
To support our planning and to ensure that our children develop and progress through basic skills, grammar and punctuation we have created a 'Writing Progression' document. This document progresses from EYFS to Year 6 and supports fiction and non-fiction writing elements.
Punctuation & Grammar Progression
All year groups have a yearly overview, which include both Fiction and Non-Fiction texts for Writing. The texts chosen have been carefully considered to ensure children have access to a rich and diverse reading diet.
The yearly overviews ensure that children encounter a wide range of text types throughout their school career and have the opportunity to build on prior learning within their current year group and year on year.
Follow the links to look at each year group's yearly overview:
Reception & Year 1 Years 2 - 6
Impact
Children will progress through and eventually leave Orchard Primary Academy able to;
- write for a range of purposes including diary entries, persuasion, story to name a few.
- use their vast knowledge vocabulary to excite, inform or entertain the reader.
- understand a range of punctuation and the effect it can have on the reader in both writing and reading.
- understand the various sentence types that can be used to support different genres.
- Spelling using their phonetic knowledge and spelling rules put in place.
- to speak clearly, fluently and coherently, to be able to listen attentively with understanding, pleasure and empathy and contribute to group discussions effectively.
Support Learning at Home
Writing for a real-life purpose can be a great way of practising writing. Writing cards, shopping lists, or letters and emails to relatives can all be motivating real life reasons for writing. Children might also keep a diary or be encouraged to write short stories based on books they have read or toys they enjoy playing with.
For more information on how to support your child at home, Oxford Owl offers some helpful tips for parents and useful activities for children. Click here for more information.
Other useful websites include;
Spelling
Children in Year 2 to Year 6, learn to spell using Read, Write, Inc. Spelling. The Read, Write, Inc. spelling scheme is a continuation of the phonics that children learn in Year 1. Spelling is taught with deliberate, focused practice as constant revision and practice are key to children’s success. Children have a weekly rule to focus on, and practise these in different contexts to help them use and apply these automatically. This allows them to focus on what matters most – learning to spell.
This approach to teaching spelling uses ‘Humaliens’ to introduce spelling rules in an exciting way. This encourages children to form a positive relationship with spelling, and seek patterns within words.
The spelling programme’s core activities are:
- alternative spellings of vowels
- alternative spellings of consonants
- homophones
- the impact of adding prefixes and suffixes to root words
- spelling plural nouns
- ‘silent’ letters
- unusual letter strings
- word families
Spelling is explicitly taught 5 times a week for 15 minutes through: The Spelling Zone, Dots and Dashes, Word Changers, Dictation, Four in a Row and Team Teach. The Spelling Zone looks at the rule they are learning that week, and allows them to apply a wide range of words in sentences. Dots and Dashes uses children’s phonics knowledge to break down sounds within words. Word changers focusses on the use of prefixes, suffixes and root words applied correctly. Dictation is a full comprehensive session which allows children to work in pairs and practise their reading for a partner to write and spell. Every Thursday, children are able to practise in the form of the game Four In a Row, they work in pairs to spell the weeks words within a fun environment. Children also have time to become a teacher, every Friday, they work in teams to discuss word difficulty and one team leader asks their group to spell words from the week.
Children also have the opportunity 4 days a week, to practise Red and Orange words, these are words which are commonly misspelt by adults and the children learn strategies to help them with these such as:
- Word in a word
- Mnemonics
- Say it as it looks
- Rap it
- Sticky letters
Learning from spelling sessions are consolidated and practised across all subjects, particularly in Reading and Writing.
I have learnt... that I can find a word in a word to help me remember how to spell. Example 't-hey' - Year 4
I have learnt... doubling letters in words and adding 'y'. - Year 2
I have learnt... that if you add 'er' or 'est' at the end of some words, you double the consonant. - Year 6