Summary of Curriculum Intent

 

'I like how we get to do lots of different types of writing, like instructions, persuasive letters, newspaper reports and explanations.'

'We go on exciting trips that give us lots of ideas for our stories.'

At Queensmead, we ensure a clear progression of writing skills across the Academy, including sentence structure, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation. To support children in moving towards independent writing, essential, transferable writing skills are taught in meaningful contexts, inspired by exciting, shared experiences, quality texts, visual resources and cross-curricular topics. We provide a wide range of activities to develop children's understanding of the structure and language features associated with different text types, and ensure they recognise the range of purposes that writing can have, e.g. inform, instruct, persuade or entertain. Targeted planning offers pupils opportunities to express their thoughts, exchange ideas and to develop more sophisticated vocabulary and sentence structures. We promote the status of written work by providing regular opportunities for children’s writing to be published and read by real audiences. 

Writing Opportunities

Here are just some of the quality texts and exciting, shared experiences that have inspired our English Curriculum.  

Year 6

During a residential trip to Edale in the Peak District, our Y6 pupils participated in 'teenage spy training' linked to the Anthony Horowitz novel Alex Rider: Stormbreaker. The experience was then used to inspire their writing, including a formal persuasive letter, an adventure story and an explanation text. 

Year 5

After reading Kidnap on the California Comet by MG Leonard, our Y5 pupils enjoyed a camping trip to Mablethorpe, where they explored the beach and the traditional coastal town. The experience was then used to inspire their writing, including a persuasive letter, a leaflet and a mystery story.

Year 4

As part of their cross-curricular topic 'Raging Rivers', the pupils in Y4 read The Rhythm of the Rain by Grahame Baker-Smith, a story book with descriptive language and vibrant images of the natural world. They then had great fun carrying out geographical field work around the River Soar, bringing their learning about rivers and the water cycle to life.  From these wonderful experiences, the children then produced fantastic descriptive writing and explanation texts.

Year 3

Inspired by the non-fiction text The Street Beneath My Feet by Charlotte Guillain & Yuval Zommer, our Y3 pupils visited The Heights of Abraham to explore the spectacular cave system. This amazing experience was then used as a stimulus for writing an adventure story, a non-chronological report and an explanation text.

 

 

To see our English Long Term Plans and Progression Maps, please click on the links below:

 

 

 

Weekly Write

Weekly writing activities are set to encourage pupils and their families to get involved in creative writing at home - this is a competition with the weekly winners receiving exciting prizes! These 'Weekly Writes' are linked to our Route to Resilience word of the week and provide children with opportunities to write for a range of purposes, from a letter to our Academy Prime Minister to a story about courage. 

For more information about Route to Resilience please click here.