Writing

At Ickworth Park Primary School, we have adopted 'The Write Stuff' by Jane Considine as the core of our writing curriculum. 'The Write Stuff' teaches writing through three zones: the ideas of writing, the tools of writing and the techniques of writing.  These are captured through the FANTASTICS (the ideas of writing), the GRAMMARISTICS (the tools of writing) and the BOOMTASTICS (the techniques of writing).

An individual lesson is based on a sentence model, broken into separate chunks and the children become skilled at 'sentence stacking.'  Each chunk has three sections: Initiate section - a stimulus to capture imagination and set up a sentence. Model section - the teacher models sentences, demonstrating the though processes of a writer as they craft sentences.  Enable section - the children write their sentences, following the model crafted together.  In a lesson there are three learning chunks.  A class sentence stack is crafted over the course of the lessons to celebrate children's sentences and demonstrate the value given to their ideas.  This display of the narrative journey, or non-fiction shape in the classroom, enables the children to see the shape and structure of the text before they apply the skills they have learnt to their own piece of independent writing.  At the completion of this, the children have dedicated time to edit their work before it is considered complete.

Handwriting

In EYFS and Key Stage One, we follow the letter formation outlined in Little Wandle to link with our reading and phonics scheme.  In Year Two, we start to teach a cursive script and follow a scheme of work called 'Letterjoin'.