Writing (inc Handwriting & Spelling)
Writing
At The Synergy Schools Federation, we use Jane Considine's "The Write Stuff" approach to the teaching of writing. This pedagogical approach is based on two guiding principles; teaching sequences that slide between experience days and sentence stacking lessons. With modelling at the heart of them, the sentence stacking lessons are broken into bite-sized chunks and taught under the structural framework of The Writing Rainbow. Teachers prepare children for writing by modelling the ideas, grammar or techniques of writing.
Key benefits of The Write Stuff:
- Support for teachers so that they have a deeper and more flexible knowledge of sentence structure.
- Pupils who understand how to apply sentence scaffolds to their independent writing as they develop their expertise.
- Standards improve because many worked examples are provided over the year that extend understanding through a wide range of genres and non-fiction text types.
- Children have a clear view of what high quality writing looks like and their learning is structured clearly and misconceptions dealt with.
- Pupils know how to improve their writing and make it more focussed and actionable feedback is provided to guide their learning.
- Children have a concept of how to build, plan and complete a piece of writing due to narrative maps and non-fiction shapes.
- Teachers have clear pathways of how to guide pupils in weak areas such as cohesion and paragraphs.
Spelling
From Year 2, children have regular spelling lessons to teach the rules or conventions of spelling. The spelling programme is based around the National Curriculum’s spelling appendix for each year group and children learn, consolidate, and extend their knowledge through a range of engaging activities.
Handwriting
The handwriting programme used by The Synergy Schools Federation is based on the Nelson Handwriting Scheme. This scheme ensures the children learn to join their handwriting during Year 2 and have developed their own individual style by the time they leave school in Year 6.
Subject Progression Document
