Why do we teach Writing at the Whitehouse?
Whilst our pupils are at the Whitehouse, we aim to instil in the pupils a love of writing and to enjoy expressing their ideas through their writing. We recognise that the pupils come to our unit with a variety of different experiences around writing. We want all of our pupils to leave our setting with a more positive approach to the written word using a range of texts as an inspiration to their writing.
What is the writing curriculum offer at The Whitehouse?
We aim to immerse our children in the reading to writing process. We link often use the same text in writing lessons that we use in guided reading lessons. Careful links are made across the curriculum to ensure that children’s English learning is relevant and meaningful: where possible linking our reading, writing and to other areas of the curriculum. Through the writing activities, we want the children to develop an understanding of how widely writing is used everyday so they value the importance of writing for the next steps in their education and life. We have a writing process which we use throughout the school and we encourage collaboration as a class, a group or within a pair to help support the children in the generating of ideas. At the Whitehouse, we know that many of our children have more interest in non-fiction writing so each term we study a form of non-fiction and we always study high quality non-fiction texts. We understand that handwriting styles and expectations vary in the different schools so wherever possible we will enable pupils to continue to use their school’s handwriting style.
How are knowledge and skills acquired in writing?
The children are taught in daily writing lessons, this includes a weekly Spelling and Grammar lesson to ensure the children gain the necessary skills and knowledge to communicate their ideas effectively. We recognise that many of our children struggle with the writing process, so all the teachers try to personalise lessons to children’s needs and within the class expectations are adjusted to meet the children’s abilities. Through our daily personalised learning session children are required to learn spellings matched to their abilities and are provided with activities to improve their handwriting appropriate to their age and proficiency.
What enrichment opportunities do pupils receive in writing?
At The Whitehouse, we want to engage the children in the writing process so we aim to give them a clear purpose for their writing. We want them to have high quality reading material to inspire them to write so we carefully select a wide range of books that will appeal to children of very different abilities and experiences. We study the work of poets as well as book authors and we aim to show authors writing process through the use of videos, visits of authors and engagement in activities organised by Hull Library Service like The Big Malarchy. We ensure that we promote classic stories and texts, traditional tales, modern stories and books and authors that reflect the world around them and challenge and support their thinking.
