We are incredibly proud of our children and the progress that they make in writing at Westwood. From mark making in Nursery, through to writing narrative pieces in Year two, our children are given lots of opportunities to write and embrace a variety of genres to ensure that their writing and vocabulary grows.

At Westwood we follow the 'Talk for Writing' scheme of work alongside our 'Read Write Inc Phonics' which follows the scheme of imitation to innovation to independent application. The scheme scaffolds writing, enabling children to read and write independently for a variety of audiences and purposes within different subjects. Writing takes place throughout the curriculum on a daily basis and we work hard to develop a love of writing with our children. From accessing mark-making within the provision in Early Years to striving towards handwriting pens in Year Two. 

Progression in Writing

Nursery:

Children in Nursery are encouraged to mark make at every opportunity.  They take part in activities to develop their fine and gross motor skills in order to prepare them to write. Children mark make independently in all areas of the setting and are encouraged to develop their basic skills to prepare them to become writers as they progress through school.

Reception:

Writing is encouraged in all areas of provision within Reception. The children should now have the basic skills of a good pencil grip and will be beginning for form letters independently to write. Children will now begin to write for an audience. They will be encouraged to write independently and will be beginning to form their letters correctly, using their phonetical knowledge to spell words.

Year One

As children move into Year One there is an expectation that they can write some words correctly and the rest phonetically. They will now be beginning to write short sentences and sometimes will use capital letters and/or full stops to demarcate their writing. Children will not be expected to consistently spell correctly - as they progress with their phonics learning this will naturally come. Phonetic attempts at spelling are acceptable and should be encouraged in Year One - for example spelling 'you' as 'yoo' is a spelling often seen. Once the children begin to learn their 'Red Words' these spellings will correct themselves and they will begin to apply the correct spellings to their writing.

Year Two

As children approach the end of Key Stage 1, there is an expectation that they will now be 'up levelling' their writing. The basic skills of punctuation should now be consistently present within a child's writing and they should now be concentrating more on vocabulary choices and writing for an audience. Within Year Two children will write a wide variety of pieces, encompassing a wide range of genres such as letters, recounts, poetry and newspaper reports. These will give the children access to a huge wealth of literature and allow them to read all manner of books to support and enhance their work. At this stage children should now be fine-tuning their phonetical knowledge and working on spelling choices rather than spelling phonetically. Their presentation and handwriting should also be of a high quality which should reflect their work.

Red Words 

The 'RED WORDS' book marks below show the words that children need to be able to read on sight and write accurately for their book band level. 

Each child is given a book mark applicable to their phonics group and this is kept in the child's book bag to support reading and spelling at home.

Children also have access to these in school to support spelling and recognition.