Writing - Power of Reading
INTENT
As a ‘Power of Reading’ school, we are committed to engaging and inspiring our learners. We strive to enable our children to become enthusiastic and independent readers, along with confident storytellers, poets and writers, through access to high quality texts. We provide opportunities to develop their English skills through reading, writing, drama, questioning and research. It is our aim to enhance the vocabulary of all children and reduce the word gap throughout the school.
IMPLEMENTATION
The ‘Power of Reading’ puts quality children’s literature at the heart of English learning and enables all teaching and learning in English lessons to be centred around one or two texts per half term. In turn, it develops reading comprehension and writing composition, fostering a whole school love of reading and writing.
High-quality texts are carefully selected by class teachers from ‘CLPE, The Power of Reading’, using the schools writing coverage and progression of skills as a starting point. The planning provided is adapted to meet the needs of the children in each class, along with necessary genres and writing skills. Children experience a vast range of text types, which they engage in through reading, being read to, rehearsing orally, performing and writing.
All children receive daily ‘Power of Reading’ English lessons for one hour, during which they develop their language comprehension skills. Knowledgeable and enthusiastic teachers spend time discussing the texts and drawing out key features before modelling through a shared write, with the children’s input. During this time, teachers encourage ambitious vocabulary choices, explore alternative sentence structures and focus on age-appropriate grammar and punctuation. 'A writing toolkit provides a focus on features and structure of a particular text type, enabling children to write independently over a period of time and self or peer assess (or both).'
Each teacher clearly displays their class text on their working wall, as well as work produced by the children. Children’s writing is also celebrated during whole school celebration assemblies, where certificates are presented.
IMPACT
By the time our children leave Year 6, it is our aim that they will be confident at writing successfully for a purpose and audience. They will have the ability to plan, draft and edit their own work. Children will be able to use spelling rules, punctuation and grammar that is appropriate. They will have the key skills and knowledge necessary for the next stage of their learning.