THE GRANGE PRIMARY SCHOOL
Giving Every Child, Every Chance, Every Day
Headteacher: Francesca Mawson

Writing

Writing Policy

Transcription – Handwriting and Spelling

At The Grange Primary School, we appreciate that writing is a complex process and believe it is essential that transcription skills (pencil grip, letter formation and spelling) must be automatic to remove barriers to learning for recording oral composition. Therefore, we invest in handwriting and spelling practise as an essential foundation in developing writing as a whole.

Handwriting at The Grange Primary School is taught using the Nelson scheme, which offers a consistent and progressive approach to handwriting, ensuring that pupils meet the expected standard at the end of each stage. Handwriting is practised regularly in discrete sessions and is reinforced by teaching staff across the curriculum in order to support our pupils to develop their fine motor skills and ensure a fluent and effective handwriting style is established, so they can write legibly at speed. In EYFS, handwriting is taught in line with the EYFS statutory framework, focusing on fine and gross motor skills (including the use of strategies such as Dough Disco) and letter formation. In Year 1, handwriting is taught using Nelson at Blue level, focusing on letter formation and appropriate letter size. In Years 2-6, handwriting is taught progressively using Nelson at Red level, focusing on letter joins, increasing consistency and legibility to develop a personal handwriting style and apply to a range of writing opportunities. Additionally, our pupils progress from lined books (EYFS-Y1), to tramlines (Y1-Y3), to line guides (Y4-6) and have the opportunity to earn pen licences. This encourages our pupils to have high standards and pride in the presentation of their work.

Spelling at The Grange Primary School is taught in discrete sessions and is reinforced by teaching staff across the curriculum. Across the year groups, a specific spelling strategy focus is introduced and taught each week. Little Wandle Spellinga and the Spelling Shed resources are used to support the teaching of spelling and to provide children with the opportunity to learn strategies to spell both at school and at home.

For further information on Sounds Write, please visit the Phonics and Reading page on our website.

How Parents Can Support

  • Read and discuss a range of fiction and non-fiction texts with your child at home to expose them to different sentence structures, text layouts and vocabulary.  Please see https://www.booksfortopics.com/ and https://shop.scholastic.co.uk/reading-spine for further guidance on appropriate key texts.
  • Use the free library service to access a range of resources to support your child with writing.
  • Support your child in practising their set spellings for homework. Use letter sounds rather than letter names with their children at home. This will avoid confusion for the children and will reinforce the learning being done at school.
  • Offer your child the opportunity to write for pleasure with different writing tools for a range of purposes (e.g. write own party invitations, write a bedtime story).
  • Use the resources available in the home-school links book to practise spelling in line with National Curriculum expectations for their year group.