Writing

Pride and Presentation

We have high expectations of pupil’s handwriting and presentation and have recently revised our handwriting policy.                                                                    

In EYFS and KS1 we use pre-cursive handwriting as the transition between printing (unjoined) letters and joining all letters in cursive handwriting.

In pre-cursive handwriting, children practise adding lead-ins and lead-outs to letters, which then ensures the letters start and finish in the correct place for writing to be joined. Please see the school’s Handwriting Policy for further information regarding coverage of all the requirements of the 2014 National Curriculum.

Handwriting is a basic skill that influences the quality of work throughout the curriculum. At the end of Key Stage 2 all pupils should have the ability to produce fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy joined-up handwriting, and to understand the different forms of handwriting used for different purposes.

We aim to make handwriting an automatic process that does not interfere with creative and mental thinking.

At Beckfoot Allerton Primary School & Nursery we believe children should be taught to write for a range of purposes, within real contexts that they can relate to. We are currently working closely with staff to map writing across school in order to ensure broad, balanced and exciting writing opportunities that enable pupils to develop into confident, creative writers.

Talk for Writing

Across school we use Talk for Writing to support children to develop skills and raise standards in Writing across school.

This strategy, developed by Pie Corbett, has been proven successful across the Beckfoot Trust because it is based on the principles of how children learn. It is powerful because it enables children to imitate the language they need for a particular topic orally before reading and analysing it and then writing their own version. We work in close partnership with colleagues across the Trust and Local Area Partnership to review, develop and refine the teaching of writing across school by providing regular support and training for staff. We also engage with the Bradford English Hub to ensure that best practice is shared and embedded within our school.

A Writer’s Journey at Beckfoot Allerton Primary School…

Within our staffing structure, we have a team of English Champions who work collaboratively to shape and develop the English Curriculum for our pupils. As part of this strategy, we have created a ‘writing journey’ document that maps genres, writing foci and the development of skills for children as they progress though school. We offer a broad & balanced curriculum using text driven units of work including picture books and poetry. Further information about this can be found on the school website and our My Ed app.

We encourage all children to take pride in their work. Mrs Kane regularly awards her 'seal of excellence' stickers to celebrate wonderful writing across school.

During the current pandemic, we are using bespoke English workbooks to support children through the writing process both in school and at home.

We are really proud of the wonderful writing we see at Beckfoot Allerton!