Curriculum Aims

In ensuring that ‘Better Never Stops’, our English curriculum aims to ensure that:

• Our pupils grow to be individuals that habitually read widely, both for pleasure and for information, as a result of teaching practices that ensures ‘every child can’.
• Pupils become confident, articulate speakers, enjoying the opportunity to, and are able to, speak, perform, present and debate confidently so that they are equipped with the skills for their future careers/employment.
• Pupils appreciate our rich and varied literacy heritage.
• Pupils are engaged, confident and able writers – writing clearly, accurately and coherently for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences – so that they are equipped with the writing skills for a range of situations they may encounter in their later lives.
• Pupils are resilient writers, constantly editing and improving their work in aspiring to better themselves as learners so that they can build the skills of reflection, creativity and perseverance.
• Pupils take pride in their handwriting as a result of perseverance and stamina.

 

Why is writing so important?

Writing will play a fundamental role in the futures of our young people as they pursue careers and employment that require the skills taught in this subject. It is vital that all our pupils are confident writers to allow their ideas to be shared and communicated with the rest of the world. 

 

Teaching of writing

At Spa Academy, the teaching of writing is primarily taught through a clear writing sequence that link to a particular novel. This writing sequence constantly returns pupils to consider the audience and purpose of their writing, aims to model the thought-process of an expert writer, teaches puncutation and grammar in context and ensure pupils become lovers of writing. At the bottom of this page, you are able to access further information on our writing sequence. 

Our clear progression model aims to ensure that teaching across school is sequential and progressive, building upon pupils' prior knowledge and providing appropriate challenge. Our progression model outlines the route map that pupils take in mastering each of the key writing skills. We are constantly reviewing this and ensuring the links between units of writing are sequenced to have the most impact on pupils' progress.

Writing is assessed on a regular basis using:

• Formative assessments, including live feedback and a model of whole-class and verbal feedback;
• Ongoing assessments against our year group standards;
• Writing from across the wider curriculum;
• Termly summative assessments;
• Discussions during Learning Review meetings.