Journeys to Better Writing Long Buckby Junior School 2016

The beginning…  January 2010 – School received a ‘wake-up’ call  Teachers had to be made aware that it is their responsibility NOT the children's!  Change had to happen …

First steps…  Sort the basics first – quality of teaching and learning  Lots in place but nothing to link it together – no writing for purpose – we had a fragmented curriculum

January 2013  New SLT and Literacy Subject Leader  Identified areas of weakness in writing:  Lack of basic skills  Grammar knowledge – teacher and child  Lack of cohesion within writing  No order of progression across the school

January 2013  New senior teacher and Literacy leader appointed  Identified areas of weakness in writing through book and planning scrutines and learning walks  Quickly introduced ‘writing conferences’  Organised whole school grammar training with Geoff Dean  Nuts and bolts of writing beginning to improve and starting to see a clearer picture of where writing was going  BUT – still fragmented

Writing conferences

February 2013  OFSTED!  Requires improvement  Completely deserved – no surprises  Due to our actions in January we had already identified next steps and began to put them into place

Autumn Term 2013  Visit to Culworth Primary  Primary Matters training day – turning point  Whole school topics - (Stunning Start – Marvellous Middle – Fantastic Finish)  Literacy taught through a text  Cross curricular  Change in books – Literacy skills – Learning Journals  Adapted to suit our needs  Moved on and now plan our own unique topics to suit whole school

January 2014  Launch of first topic – ICE WORLDS  Began to give children a purpose for writing – massive hook  Previously no cohesion or purpose – children lacked a reason to write!  Ice Worlds took writing across the curriculum

Ice Trap – Shackleton’s Story Ice Worlds – First attempt

Sail Away Kensuke’s Kingdom

Memory Box – WW1 War Game

Space, Stars & Aliens

This is London Stone Heart

Raiders and Traders Beowulf

States of Stars and Stripes – Oil and Oranges Holes

Rich experiences Stunning Start Marvellous Middle Fantastic Finish

The ‘FANTASTICS’ Jane Considine

The ‘Boomtastics’ Jane Considine

Moving Forward … Sentence Stacking

Don’t take our word for it… “I love working like this, I get to play around with words and my ideas. It didn’t enjoy it when we just had to write.” Lydia (Year 5) “Look at where I was this time last year. I can’t believe how far I’ve come.” Jake (Year 6) “Topic writing is more fun…I love all the different genres.” Lennon (Year 4) “FANTASTICs make me include lots more in my writing, like taste and smell.” Lewis (Year 4) “Ambitious vocabulary – I like looking up the meanings and trying to include them in my writes.” Lewis (Year 4) “Sentence stacking is fun. It helps with ideas, I get ideas from other people.” Jenna (Year 4) “Now my writing flows.” Rueben (Year 3) “Now I’m interested in writing – I wasn’t before.” Brayden (Year 3)