English - Writing

Writing Curriculum Scheme of Work: United Learning

Subject Leader: Mrs Prinsloo

Subject Intent

In line with the National Curriculum for writing, we aim to provide high-quality education in English that will teach pupils to develop effective transcription and composition skills. To achieve this, we teach pupils to articulate and communicate their ideas. This requires clarity, awareness of the audience, purpose, context, and an increasingly wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar.

At Hill View, we follow the United Learning Curriculum for Writing. This ensures that the children are exposed to diverse, inclusive, and high-quality literature. Our aim is for children to develop a passion for writing, and we believe that this can be achieved by giving our children the choice and freedom to be creative and bring out their author voice. The United Learning Curriculum is based on four key principles.

Subject Implementation

Writing is a powerful means of communication that builds on the spoken word. This vital skill is necessary to allow pupils to function, engage, and contribute within our society. Our aims in teaching writing are to equip pupils with a strong command of spoken and written language, and to develop a love of literature.

To develop children as writers, children need:

• teachers who are writers
• experience a wide range of texts.
• opportunities to talk about what they write before, during, and after writing.
• experience of writing for a range of purposes.

The United Learning Curriculum at Hill View Primary School provides pupils with:  

• the ability to acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar, and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing, and spoken language. 

• the ability to plan, revise and evaluate their writing.
• the ability to write clearly, accurately, and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes, and audiences. 
• effective composition which involves articulating and communicating ideas and then organising them coherently for a reader. 
• clarity, awareness of the audience, purpose, and context, and an increasingly wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. 

At Hill View Primary School, our writing units last between two and three weeks and are linked to a core text, which sparks interest, curiosity, and discussion.  Children are given the opportunities to write for real purposes and audiences.

Lesson Structure  

At Hill View, we believe that the lessons should inspire intellectual curiosity. Therefore, when launching our key texts, we use a range of ‘hook’ activities such as immersive days, dress-up events, drama, film clips, visits, and workshops. Lessons generally will follow the same structure across each unit.

We believe that reading and writing are closely connected and mutually supportive - we read as writers and write as readers. Through the United Learning Curriculum, children are encouraged to develop and use a range of skills, including oracy, planning, drafting, editing, evaluating, and publishing. Pupils should be closely involved in assessing their own development as writers and be given the opportunity to collaborate with other children both to compose and to revise their writing.  

Subject Impact

Our Writing Curriculum is high quality, well thought out, and is planned to demonstrate progression.

The Writing Curriculum will continuously deepen pupils’ knowledge and understanding of grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, composition, and transcription. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress.  

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:  

• formative assessment in lessons
• summative assessment of end-of-unit outcomes against Curriculum objectives.
• tracking of workbooks and pupil-conferencing.