Welcome to our Writing Blog

At Monkwray Junior School, we strive for enjoyment and achievement whilst developing key Literacy skills, which can be used across all curriculum areas. Our pupils are given opportunities to learn and revisit skills to enable them to become confident, independent writers.

This year, we have begun using the Talk 4 Writing principles: imitate, innovate, invent.

We begin each unit of work with a Have a Go piece of writing, where children have the chance to write in a particular genre and show the skills that they already have. Children will be ‘hooked’ into the genre using an experience, visual stimuli, a book, or drama.

Following this, teachers set targets related to structure, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and spelling. Children are then exposed to a model text which they orally learn, map out and explore the vocabulary and structure.

Children then use drama techniques and teacher modelling to contribute to shared writing through the Imitate phase. At this point, children may choose to follow the shared writing closely to develop confidence or may begin to put their own creative twist on their work whilst showcasing the key skills modelled.

Once the Imitate phase is complete, children then begin to plan and draft an ‘Innovate’ text, which allows them to independently apply and adapt their skills in a new context. During this phase, children are encouraged to share, celebrate and improve their work through self and peer assessment against their unit targets. Children are given opportunities to edit and finally redraft and publish their final draft.

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