Writing at Bridge | Bridge Junior School

Writing at Bridge

At Bridge, we endeavour to develop children’s writing skills so that they have a toolkit which they can confidently apply to a range of different types of writing. Children have the opportunity to write for a variety of purposes and audiences, covering a range of genres. Each text type is taught using the following teaching sequence:

Reading as a reader and then reading as a writer. This involves reading and understanding good-quality examples of the text type and identifying the features that make them successful.
Teaching the grammar and punctuation for writing depending on the year group and the text type.
Teacher-modelling of the thought process involved during writing.
Children apply what they have been taught to a piece of writing (including planning).
Children edit their work to ensure that it ‘reads’ well.
Children proof-read their work to ensure that it is accurate.

Grammar and Punctuation

Most grammar and punctuation is taught within the context of a piece of writing as this makes it more meaningful. Some is taught discretely. We follow the progression outlined in the National Curriculum as shown below.

Progression in Grammar
Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6
Noun phrase	Expanded noun phrases	Expanded noun phrases	Expanded noun phrases	Expanded noun phrases	Expanded noun phrases
Subordinating conjunctions	Subordinating conjunctions	Subordinating conjunctions	Subordinating conjunctions	Subordinating conjunctions	Subordinating conjunctions
Co-ordinating conjunctions	Co-ordinating conjunctions	Co-ordinating conjunctions	Co-ordinating conjunctions	Co-ordinating conjunctions	Co-ordinating conjunctions
Past and Present tense	Past simple Past progressive Present simple Present progression	Past simple Past progressive Present simple Present progression Past perfect Present perfect	Past simple Past progressive Present simple Present progression Past perfect Present perfect	Past simple Past progressive Present simple Present progression Past perfect Present perfect	Past simple Past progressive Present simple Present progression Past perfect Present perfect
	Sentence types Statement Command Question Exclamation	Sentence types Statement Command Question Exclamation	Sentence types Statement Command Question Exclamation	Sentence types Statement Command Question Exclamation	Sentence types Statement Command Question Exclamation
	Adverbs	Adverbials	Adverbials	Adverbials	Adverbials
				Relative clauses Relative pronouns	Relative clause Relative pronouns

Progression in Punctuation
Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6
Full stops Capital Letters	Inverted Commas	Inverted Commas	Inverted Commas	Inverted Commas	Inverted Commas
Full stops Capital Letters	Commas to separate a list	Commas to separate a list	Commas to separate a list	Commas to separate a list	Commas to separate a list
	Apostrophe for omission and possession	Apostrophe for omission and possession	Apostrophe for omission and possession	Apostrophe for omission and possession	Apostrophe for omission and possession
		Commas for fronted adverbials	Commas for fronted adverbials	Commas for fronted adverbials	Commas for fronted adverbials
				Commas for clarity Parenthesis: Dashes Brackets Colons Hyphens	Commas for clarity Parenthesis: Dashes Brackets Colons Hyphens
					Adding detail: Dashes Colons Linking Semi-colons

Handwriting

Children at Bridge are taught a cursive handwriting style where each letter has a lead in and a lead out. The style taught is shown below:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Children who develop a fluent, legible style will be awarded with a pen licence.

Spelling

At Bridge Junior, we follow a spelling programme called No Nonsense Spelling. This covers the statutory requirements for each year group which can be found here: http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/18288/1/English_Appendix_1_-_Spelling.pdf

The focus of the programme is on the teaching of spelling, which embraces knowledge of spelling conventions – patterns and rules; but integral to the teaching is the opportunity to promote the learning of spellings, including statutory words, common exceptions and personal spellings.

Teaching sequence

The programme has been written broadly following a teaching sequence for spelling, whereby each new concept is taught, practised and then applied and assessed. Frequently there is also a ‘Revise’ session before the teaching session. A typical teaching sequence is as follows:

Children are given individual spellings to learn each week at home and are tested on them the following week. Here are some useful websites to support children with spelling: