Ethos

At Ainslie Wood, we teach English in four distinct stages: immersion, text, sentence and word level. Text and immersion level focuses on the total immersion of a text, giving our pupils plenty of examples from which to draw ideas and develop a distinct style of writing. Sentence level is about the composition of sentences, with a focus on correct grammar, punctuation and conjunctions. Word level looks at our choice of language when writing, choosing accurate terms to convey meaning.

Genres

We currently teach ten different genres of writing at Ainslie Wood, ranging from narratives to non-chronological reports. Our Progression of Writing document was created as a framework for our teachers to plan from. It looks at the progression of each individual genre by year group; building on the skills and knowledge of previous years in order to progress.

Handwriting

Our belief is that children will naturally develop their own distinct style as they move through their education. As such, we do not have a strict handwriting policy or predetermined style which children must adhere to. As long as writing is legible, we are happy to let our pupils express themselves.

Spellings

Ainslie Wood uses ‘Shakespeare and More’, a spelling scheme covering Years 1 to 6 with progressively more difficult spellings. These are given out at the end of every week, with an informal ‘spell check’ conducted the following Friday.

Oracy

At Ainslie Wood, we believe that children should be given the opportunity to discuss ideas prior to writing in the form of oracy. This is a vital part of the writing process, as it allows for a collaborative attitude to be taken as we articulate our ideas and share good practice.