Writing Curriculum 

At The Duston School Primary Phase, we aim for our children to become independent and creative writers. We encourage them to write clearly and with confidence over a range of genres, for specific audiences and purposes. Throughout their writing, we place great value on the importance of accurate grammar, punctuation and spelling as well as the development of correct letter formation and neatly presented handwriting. Through our Writing Curriculum, we aim to nurture in the children a love of literature and language and the confidence to continue writing throughout their lives. Writing across all subject areas will enable our children to have a more in-depth approach to analysing, planning and innovating their writing. 

Spelling  

At The Duston School, phonic knowledge continues to underpin spelling after key stage 1 and this is achieved through the daily teaching of the Read Write Inc spelling programme. Teachers use this spelling programme to teach grapheme phoneme correspondence that do not fit in with what has been taught so far. Regular Read, Write, Inc spelling assessments take place to support teachers in their planning and interventions.  

Handwriting 

The key principles from The Handwriting Association’s ‘Good Practice for Handwriting Toolkit’ underpin our practice. The ‘P checks’ are used to support the process of handwriting and cover Posture, Pencil grasp, Paper position and Pressure and fluency. The order and groupings of the phonemes taught is in line with the Read, Write, Inc Handwriting Guidance so that it links to children’s phonics teaching.