Our vision for writing is that children leave Franche secondary ready, writing coherently and establishing strong identities as writers.
Writing lessons are taught through the use of high-quality texts. All writing at Franche is for a purpose and is at the core of each of our cross-curricular topics. We find this not only motivates pupils but also gives them a recognisable audience and this leads to higher standards of work. This purpose might be to persuade (letter writing to request resources as part of a fundraising project for the local foodbank), to inform (creating leaflets to persuade people to save water) or to entertain by creating a poem or storybook (for an audience of children or adults within the community). At Franche we are passionate about developing fluent transcription skills as well as exploring the composition of the children’s writing.
PALS has been implemented across the school as a purposeful tool for editing. The PALS session takes places after a Franche Write (independent writing) has been completed and allows the children time to assess their peers work through coach marking and target setting. This helps pupils to;
- Provide focused feedback
- Become more engaged in learning and develop their interpersonal skills
- Understand the learning objective and success criteria
- Know their individual targets
- Have a clear understanding of how, and what, to edit
Following the coach marking and target setting process, the children then edit their own work leading to greater outcomes.
Watch the videos below to see PALS in action at Franche in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two.
At Franche, we use PenPals for Handwriting. This is a complete handwriting scheme for 3–11 year olds that offers clear progression through five developmental stages: physical preparation for handwriting; securing correct letter formation; beginning to join along, securing the joins and practicing speed, fluency and developing a personal style. Because PenPals is focused on whole-class teaching, the teaching of explicit handwriting is timetabled weekly. The handwriting joins are displayed in each classroom and modelled throughout all teaching. PenPals is supported using digital resources to enable modelling and interactive learning, along with Practice Books and Workbooks to support independent work.
Transcription Time
Transcription time has been created as a new element to our spelling lessons. It is at the heart of writing as it enables the children to develop fluency when transcribing – this could include transcribing graphemes, words or key topic vocabulary dependent on the individual child.
Once they have developed this fluency in forming letters and words, children are able to free up their working memory to focus on composing and then reviewing their writing (spelling, sentence structure and maybe adding a little creativity). Not only does transcription time develop children’s fluency in writing but it also supports their automaticity, accuracy, natural handwriting style and their self-confidence.
We begin ‘transcription time’ sessions in Reception to embed these natural writing styles from the very start of their writing journey. Take a look at our ‘Transcription Time Overview’ to see what each year band focuses on during these sessions!
At Franche, we feel it is important to promote the importance of spelling and as such, each half term, we invite parents and carers into school for a parent spelling workshop. This takes place in each class and gives parents the chance to work with their child on some of the spelling strategies that we use as well as signposting parents to the spelling word lists for each year band that we assess in school.
As a school, we have purchased a subscription to a website called ‘Spelling Shed’. Each child across the school, has their own log in and they will have their weekly spellings set by their teachers. This will allow them to play various games to support them in learning these spellings in preparation for their weekly spelling test. As well as their weekly spellings being set, the children also have access to their year band spelling word list throughout the year to further support their spelling. Some children will be given differentiated spelling lists if they are not reading for the spelling lists for their year group. Don’t worry though as we will always ensure these are challenging but achievable. Click the Spelling Shed link about to start playing!
To promote the use of Spelling Shed and to celebrate the hard work that the children are putting into learning their spellings on this platform, each week during assembly, the top class from Reception is awarded the Spelling Shed cuddly bee with the top scoring class from Years 1 – 3 and from Years 4 – 6 being awarded the Spelling Shed trophy. Click here to access the Spelling Shed website.
Year 2 Little Wandle spelling programme
At Franche, we follow the Little Wandle scheme to teach phonics. To follow on from this, in Year 2 we have also chosen to use the Little Wandle spelling programme. This ensures a consistent approach for the children as they continue their spelling journey. Just like the rest of the school, the children in Year 2 have spelling lessons each week and take part in different activities during these lessons; from dictated sentences, learning ‘prickly’ words, adding in the missing words to sentences and word building with suffixes.