Years 1-2 (age 5-7 years)

Aims

• To encourage students to develop a positive attitude towards writing and to improve their writing skills relevant to their age group.
• To engage with a range of texts and meaningful writing tasks.
• To assist students in broadening their vocabulary and improve spelling.
• To introduce learners to a multi-stage writing process necessary to become a successful writer (generating ideas, planning, writing, editing and ‘publishing’).
• To improve grammar knowledge, including the use of different tenses and punctuation in writing.

Details of areas covered in the course

Introduction of Texts: Learners will be exposed to a range of example texts to inspire an interest in and appreciation for writing.
Writing Conventions: Learners will learn how to put their ideas into words; how to connect words to make sentences and how to group sentences in paragraphs. They will be introduced to the writing process including idea generating (brainstorming), organising ideas (planning), the first writing process (handwriting and typing methods, group and individual writing projects); editing, proofreading and re-writing; and finally a ‘publishing’ stage, where they get to share their finished work with others.

Spelling: In Years 1-2, learners are still developing their understanding of the relationship between the sounds of words and their spelling (grapheme-phoneme correspondence). They will be encouraged to try and work out the spelling of unknown words and look at different possible spellings for the same sounds. Common exception words will be covered, as well as the spelling of, plurals, common prefixes, suffixes and silent letters.

Punctuation: Students need to know how to successfully use capital letters, full stops, commas, apostrophes, question marks, exclamation marks and contracted word forms. These aspects will be focused on in the context of different writing tasks.
Uplevelling sentences: Students will be introduced to expanded noun phrases and shown how to use adjectives to improve description.

Years 3-4 (age 7-9 years)

Aims

• To encourage students to develop a positive attitude towards writing and to improve their writing skills relevant to their age group.
• To engage with a range of texts and meaningful writing tasks.
• To assist students in broadening their vocabulary and improve spelling.
• To facilitate the development of learners as effective writers through a multi-stage writing process (generating ideas, planning, writing, editing and ‘publishing’).
• To improve grammar knowledge, including the use of different tenses and punctuation in writing.

Details of areas covered in the course

Textual study: Learners will read and critically discuss a range of narrative and non-fiction text types, considering how the structure, vocabulary and grammar relates to the purpose and intended audience of the texts.
Writing Conventions and Skills: Students will begin to focus on what makes writing effective, expanding their vocabulary and knowledge of narrative and grammatical structures. They will begin to appreciate and use figurative language.
Students will learn how to structure a text into paragraphs and to use headings and subheadings. They will be engaged in a multi-stage writing process for a variety of tasks, which includes: idea generating (brainstorming), organising ideas (planning), the first writing process (handwriting and typing methods, group and individual writing projects); editing, proofreading and re-writing; and, finally, a ‘publishing’ stage, where they get to share their finished work with others. They will also be guided to reflect on their writing and that of others; and to suggest potential improvements.
Students will practice identifying the main ideas of a text and writing a summary. They will also practice retrieving and rephrasing information from non-fiction texts.
Spelling: By Years 3-4, students should have a good understanding of how to spell words with regular spellings, and also common irregular words. They will explore word families and the application of prefixes and suffixes. Commonly misspelt words and homophones will be attended to.
Punctuation: Students will revise how to successfully use capital letters, full stops, commas, apostrophes, question marks, exclamation marks and contracted word forms. They also now need to know how to use inverted commas in direct speech and apostrophes to indicate possession. These aspects will be focused on in the context of different writing tasks.
Grammar: Students will learn how to use the present perfect tense appropriately and accurately. They will expand their range of conjunctions used to link clauses or different sentences.
Uplevelling sentences and texts: Students continue to expand their knowledge of conjunctions, multi-clause sentences, prepositions, adverbs, and direct speech in their writing. They will work on adapting their writing style (vocabulary, format, tone) to the intended writing purpose (e.g. to narrate, describe or explain) and target audience.

Years 5-6 (age 9-11 years)

Aims

• To encourage students to develop a positive attitude towards writing and to improve their writing skills relevant to their age group.
• To engage with a range of texts and meaningful writing tasks.
• To assist students in broadening their vocabulary and improve spelling.
• To improve grammar knowledge, including the use of different tenses and punctuation in writing.
• To develop student’s appreciation for how choice of vocabulary, grammar and structure can enhance meaning and impact on the reader.
• To facilitate the development of learners as effective writers through a multi-stage writing process (generating ideas, planning, writing, editing and ‘publishing’).

Details of areas covered in the course

Textual study: Learners will read and critically discuss a range of narrative and non-fiction text types, considering how the structure, vocabulary and grammar relates to the purpose and intended audience of the texts.
Writing Conventions and Skills: Students will continue to focus on what makes writing effective, expanding their vocabulary and knowledge of narrative and grammatical structures, including figurative language. They will study the concepts of metaphor, simile and analogy.
Students will learn how to identify the audience and purpose of a text, and to select an appropriate form of writing. They will consider how the use of organisational and presentational devices can make a text more accessible and help to guide the reader. Students will be engaged in a multi-stage writing process for a variety of tasks, which includes: idea generating (brainstorming), organising ideas (planning), the first writing process (handwriting and typing methods, group and individual writing projects); editing, proofreading and re-writing; and, finally, a ‘publishing’ stage, where they get to share their finished work with others. They will also be guided to reflect on their writing and that of others; and to suggest potential improvements.
Students will practice identifying the main ideas of a text and writing a summary. They will also practice retrieving, recording and presenting information from non-fiction texts.
Spelling: Students should have a good understanding of how to spell words with regular spellings, and common irregular words. They will explore word families and the application of prefixes and suffixes. Students will learn more homophones and words with silent letters. They will be expected to be able to use a dictionary and thesaurus to look up words.
Punctuation: Students will continue to develop their punctuation knowledge, now incorporating colons, semicolons, hyphens, brackets, dashes and bullet points. They will also revise how to use inverted commas in direct speech and apostrophes to indicate possession. These aspects will be focused on in the context of different writing tasks.
Grammar: Students will continue to improve their knowledge of accurate use of tenses. They should consistently use the correct subject-verb agreement. They will expand their range of conjunctions and relative pronouns used to link clauses or different sentences. Students will also practice the use of the subjunctive mood.
Uplevelling sentences and texts: Students continue to expand their knowledge of conjunctions, multi-clause sentences, prepositions, adverbs, and direct speech in their writing. They will work on adapting their writing style (format, tone/register) to the intended audience and writing purpose (e.g., to narrate, persuade, describe or explain).