Intent

At Brackenwood Junior School, we aim to cultivate a passion for writing in every pupil by providing exciting and original materials including new author texts and Grammarsaurus units. Our curriculum is designed to inspire children to become confident and enthusiastic writers. They will learn to express themselves, develop communication skills, and understand the impact of their word choices and writing styles.

Implementation

Teaching and Curriculum: Our lessons are structured to ensure pupils secure their year group knowledge while having opportunities to deepen their learning. We encourage pupils to make connections between their experiences and the world,

fostering natural curiosity and critical thinking. Teaching is active, collaborative, and cognitive.

Writing Process: Writing at Brackenwood Juniors follows a three week process, which can be extended if needed. This structured approach ensures high-quality writing and helps pupils understand how to plan and complete engaging written work. Spoken language is emphasised throughout the curriculum, enhancing vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension skills. The first week of the writing process is solely dedicated to speaking and listening activities alongside text immersion activities. Week 2 is where the children learn grammar elements linked to both year group expectations/genre-specific features and plan their writing. In week 3, the children draft, edit/up-level and publish their writing.

Language and Literacy: We prioritise high standards in language and literacy, encouraging pupils to engage in drama and role- playing to develop their spoken and written skills (week 1). Grammar and vocabulary development are integral parts of our writing process (week 2), supporting pupils' transcription and composition abilities (week 3).

Editing and Up-levelling: Pupils are taught to edit and up-level their writing to make improvements. By the end of Year 6, pupils will recognise the importance of constructive feedback and take pride in their work. They will be prepared to transition to high school and beyond with strong speaking, listening, and writing skills essential for future success.

Genres and Skills: Throughout the year, pupils will explore a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres, preparing them for future academic challenges and real-life applications. Our curriculum equips pupils with essential skills for future job roles, including effective communication, grammar usage, handwriting, spelling, debating, and idea organisation.

Writing Curriculum Planning

 Each writing unit will follow a 3 week process (to be extended if necessary). On average, two genres of writing will be covered each half term.

Week 1 – Text immersion

Speaking and listening lessons, unpicking themes and characters in a text, immersion in the text/genre, discussions about audience and purpose.

Week 2 – Grammar and planning

Unpicking language and structural features of the genre, grammar lessons focused on year group specific features and/or genre language features, planning lessons.

Week 3 – Writing

Drafting, editing/up-levelling and publishing the final piece of writing.Teachers are to follow the LTP for their year group to know what texts, genres and grammar to teach.

Year group features, genre language features and genre structural features must be made explicit to children throughout the teaching of the unit, and they should be given to children in the form of ‘learning leaves’. This will allow the children to know what they need to include in their writing, and they can ‘pink pen underline’ the features and tick them off their ‘learning leaves’ as they draft, edit and up-level their work.

 Grammarsaurus PVPG units

At the start of every year, the Autumn 1 term writing lessons will be dedicated to ‘Grammarsaurus Place Value of Punctuation and Grammar’ units. This is to ensure that sentence structure teaching is made explicit to children and they are secure in identifying and writing full sentences. At the end of the 4-6 week unit, an ‘application unit’ will be taught and children will apply their knowledge from the previous weeks to a piece of writing. These application units are from Grammarsaurus.

Year 3 – Extinct Animals non-chronological report.

Year 4 – Stone Age letter.

Year 5 – Hansel’s escape letter.

Year 6 – Planets of the Solar System non-chronological report.