Our curriculum
How we teach writing
Several of you have asked about the Island’s new English entitlement. Here is what it is, and what it means for your child.
The Department of Education, Sport and Culture has introduced a consistent approach to English across the Island’s schools. The English Entitlement and Assessment Framework was piloted in a number of primary schools over the past year and is now in place in every primary, with Year 7 joining it so that the primary and secondary phases line up. It was developed with English and literacy leads from schools across the Island, and the Department has appointed an English Lead Practitioner to coordinate training and support.
The Department describes the aim as fairness, clarity and consistency: children who move between schools meet the same expectations and the same language for talking about their learning, parents get a clearer picture of what their child is working towards, and teachers share practice across the Island rather than school by school.
What it changes in the classroom
The writing framework sets out what children should be taught and experience in each year group, and it rests on a simple idea: writing is hard because it asks a child to do several demanding things at the same time. Forming letters, spelling, choosing words, building a sentence, holding an idea in mind and shaping it for a reader all compete for the same attention. When the mechanics are still effortful, there is less left over for the thinking.
So the teaching builds in a deliberate order. Handwriting and spelling are taught explicitly until they become automatic. Sentences are secured before children are asked to write at length. Children say a sentence out loud, refine it and then write it, which is why you may hear a great deal of talk going on in a writing lesson. Editing and revising are taught as skills in their own right, so children learn to check their work for accuracy and then improve it for meaning and effect.
Writing is organised around three connected strands:
Strand oneSentences
Strand twoComposition
Strand threeTranscription
Sentence structure and grammar covers how sentences are built and punctuated. Composition covers generating, organising and communicating ideas for a reader. Transcription covers handwriting and spelling. They are taught separately and brought together in every piece of writing.
How your child’s writing is assessed
Judgements are made at the end of the year and draw on a broad range of evidence gathered through ordinary teaching: what a child writes across the curriculum, how they compose out loud, how they explain their choices and how they edit and revise. No single test or final piece decides it. The framework is explicit that progress means applying skills accurately and independently over time, rather than using a feature once. You will see this reflected in what we tell you at parents’ evenings and in the end-of-year report.
Is there anything you need to do at home?
No. There is nothing new to buy, learn or practise, and no scheme to follow.
The things that have always helped still help most. Read with your child and talk about what you have read. Talk with them about their day, their opinions and their ideas, and give them time to finish their thoughts. Let them see you writing, whether that is a list, a message or a card. Children who have plenty of language to draw on find writing easier, and conversation at home is where most of that language comes from.
If you would like to know more about what your child is working on this year, ask their teacher at parents’ evening. They will be glad to talk it through.
