the write stuff at The Meadows

From January 2023, writing is taught using Jane Considine’s ‘The Write Stuff’ approach. This approach is rooted in Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, and employs a high level of intensive modelling before children move into the independent writing phase of each unit. This enables staff and students to work to a high standard to craft writing that has the ‘wow’ factor. ‘Experience days’ are woven through each sequence of lessons to ensure children have the relevant knowledge and practical experiences to aid their writing. This is particularly useful for our vulnerable pupils and those with SEND. For the most able pupils, ‘deepen the moment’ challenges help to stretch their abilities by broadening the detail in their writing rather than plot pushing to the end of the text. Furthermore, the ‘Writing Rainbow’ interacts with the ‘Reading Rainbow’ so that children learn the key components of writing and how they are related to their reading.

Accurate grammar and punctuation are vital to good writing; therefore these skills are taught in context during writing lessons. Where required, specific lessons are dedicated to learning the more challenging content from the curriculum so that children can apply the skills correctly during independent writing tasks. Teachers use the Meadows Writing Progression Map and Jane Considine’s Progression Through Genres document to aid their selection of grammar on which to focus.n spend a 30-minute session investigating a spelling hypothesis to develop understanding of patterns, morphology and rules, and a 20-minute session called “Go Grapheme Grafters” where they analyse the phonic structure of 15 specific words which become a focus over the two-week period. During Week Two, each day features a 10-minute burst activity to learn about common patterns, errors, misconceptions and how to commit spellings to long-term memory.

It has long been recognised that the weekly testing of spellings and learning them by rote has very little impact on their use in the context of independent writing, and therefore we no longer send weekly spelling homework or test children on a Friday. Instead, the Go Grapheme Grafters sessions track how well children are progressing against 15 words over two weeks, and each child has a “Focus Five” spellings identified from their independent work that they focus on to improve their overall spelling.