English

At Horsenden, we teach writing through the 'Talk for Writing' approach which is an oracy-based program. This approach enables pupils to read and write independently for a variety of audiences and purposes within different subjects. A key feature is that pupils internalise the language structures needed to write through ‘talking the text’ as well as close reading. The focus on oracy skills and learning through actions and visual prompts engages all learners and breaks down learning barriers that many pupils have. By developing pupils’ ability to say high quality sentence structures, it develops their ability to write these sentence structures themselves.

Through a carefully sequenced learning journey, our Talk for Writing program allows pupils to move from dependence to independence in their writing. The movement from imitation to innovation to independent application can be adapted to suit the needs of learners of any stage and shared and guided writing allows pupils to develop the ability to write creatively and powerfully.
 
You can find an overview of the Talk for Writing approach here, as told by founder, Pie Corbitt:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/VI2OWdZo6nY 

There are three key stages to the Talk for Writing process:

We have carefully chosen texts that engage our pupils in their English learning. Selected texts cover a broad range of themes, characters and settings and these support children's development of their own ideas for their independent writing. We have also chosen the stories and texts that all pupils will have read to them by their class teacher. 

Story Maps & Model Texts

Story maps are created for every Talk for Writing unit and are used by teachers and pupils to learn the text off by heart. We use actions in conjunction with the visual prompts on the story maps to help children internalise the new vocabulary as well as sentence and overall text structure.

The model texts are word-only versions of the story map and show pupils what the text should look like, including the correct spelling of unfamiliar/new words, the correct punctuation and the layout of the text. Our model texts are pitched so that they are a good challenge for the year group. By internalising these texts, pupils learn how to replicate similar structures in their own writing, thus supporting their composition skills.

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling

Grammar, punctuation and spelling is embedded in the Talk for Writing lessons and key features can be seen within the model texts each half term. Grammar, punctuation and spelling is also linked through our handwriting programme, Penpals, so these skills are taught and revisited in multiple ways. A breakdown of the skills taught in each year group can be found here.

Spelling lists are linked to phonics work in Reception to Year 2. From Year 1 to Year 6, we also teach the National Curriculum spellings and use RWI’s Oxford Owl to teach spelling patterns and rules. These spellings are assessed at the start of every half term. The National Curriculum spellings can be found here.