At The Ridge, it is our aim that all children:

• understand and appreciate the importance of language and how essential spoken language and the ability to read and write are to their future lives
• are motivated to write, see themselves as writers and can express themselves through their writing
• appreciate the art of writing and the different forms it can take
• develop automaticity in handwriting so that they are free to concentration on the compositional aspects of writing and other transcriptional strands such as spelling
• are taught phonics, spellings and grammar that is contextualised within a writing unit
• are exposed to high-quality shared and guided reading and writing,
• understand how to plan, draft, revise following feedback and evaluation and publish their writing

Throughout their time at The Ridge, we intend our children to be exposed to an ambitious curriculum which exposes them to a range of plot patterns, text types, grammar foci and genres for them to not only grow as writers but also develop as individuals.

Phonics and Spelling

Phonics

At The Ridge we use the synthetic phonics programme called ‘Read Write Inc’ produced by Ruth Miskin. 

Our staff teach learners the relationship between sounds and the written spelling patterns, or graphemes, which represent them.  All children in Reception, KS1 and, where necessary, KS2 have daily phonics sessions in small ability groups where they participate in speaking, listening, spelling, reading and writing activities which are matched to their current needs. 

 We have an agreed progression for the teaching of new sounds and use a variety of schemes and resources to support this. The teachers draw upon observations, continuous and summative assessment to ensure children are stretched and challenged to identify children who may need additional support. Timely intervention is planned for those children who are working below expected levels as soon as their needs are identified, we want all children to be able to keep up and not have to catch up

Spelling

In Key Stage 2 children’s spelling is taught using Jason Wade’s ‘Sounds and Syllables’ approach.

Sounds and Syllables teaches all aspects of spelling in a simple, logical way using a 5 step sequence:

More information about Sounds and Syllables can be found here: http://jweducation.co.uk/spelling/ 

Handwriting 

At The Ridge, Kinetic Letters is used to teach handwriting. Kinetic Letters is a systematic, high-quality teaching programme. 

More information about Kinetic Letters can be found here:

https://kineticletters.co.uk/

 

Writing 

 We teach writing through the Talk for Writing approach, which enables children to read and write independently for different audiences and purposes.

At the beginning of each unit, all children learn a new story map, which they can recite with actions and expression. Through ‘talking the text’ children internalise different language structures, patterns and vocabulary needed to write. The approach moves from dependence towards independence, with our teachers using shared and guided teaching to develop our pupils’ ability to write creatively and powerfully.  

The impact of the curriculum will be that all children, when they leave The Ridge, are able to communicate effectively through their writing, have agency and are able to engage in meaningful conversions about their own writing and that of others.

Formative assessment is used to target and adapt teaching so that teaching is effective and ensures children achieve their potential.

As well as on-going formative assessment, teachers moderate writing. These judgements are moderated at staff meetings and/or pupil progress meetings. The writing lead quality assures the writing as part of the process.

Teachers used documents produced by Herts for Learning to support their judgements.

Year 2 and Year 6 use the TAF (Teacher Assessment Frameworks) and exemplification materials to moderate writing during the summer term.