At Sproatley Endowed CE Academy, our ambition is to nurture and develop confident and thoughtful learners who approach reading and writing with enthusiasm. We aspire to weave literacy through all areas of the curriculum, ensuring that children are aware of the relevance of these skills in life. This includes oral and communication skills, the foundation of which are laid in EYFS. We aim to prepare our children for their future by giving them the fluency of speaking, reading and writing skills necessary to succeed.

The teaching of writing at Sproatley Endowed CE Academy is designed to inspire all children to become creative and confident writers who are able to accurately communicate ideas for a range of audiences and purposes. Writing is approached through a carefully planned sequence in which the children explore the chosen genre in depth, identifying features and practising skills, before writing their own texts. Children begin by reading example texts, discussing the audience and purpose and relevant features. Children are explicitly taught sentence skills and punctuation linked to the purpose for writing with opportunities to practise and apply new skills to secure these. Children are taught how to plan effectively and how to structure their writing. Children are taught how to edit and proof-read their writing, thinking about the accuracy of their writing and the impact on their readers.

Children are taught grammar and punctuation linked to their writing purposes and text types. Children learn vocabulary and grammatical terms identified in the National Curriculum and practise applying sentence skills in English lessons. Spelling is taught linked to Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised in Key Stage 1. In Key Stage 2, the Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 spelling rules and word lists are taught, with children using Spelling Shed to practise and learn these spellings. Children are taught to proof-read to check their writing for incorrect spellings, using ‘If in doubt, check it out’ as a rule to help them check spellings they are unsure of.

• National Currriculum Appendix 2: Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation