Writing

At Wilbraham Primary School we are proud of our diverse and multicultural population. We celebrate these differences, whilst also acknowledging the challenges that they may bring. We want every child to be able to communicate their ideas, knowledge and emotions through their speaking and writing. 
Through debate and high-quality texts of all genres and media, we immerse children in vocabulary-rich environments.  English skills, both spoken and written, are taught across the curriculum incorporating the use of metacognitive learning strategies to ensure that they become embedded. Research provides the foundation for our curriculum. 
We recognise the significance in spoken language for all learners, but especially for those who do not speak English as their first language. We believe that this underpins the development of reading and writing. Therefore, we provide opportunities for children to engage in conversation and debate and participate in drama activities from EYFS right up to Year 6. We are also working with Voice 21 to fully embedded an oracy-based curriculum throughout. More information can be found here.

We understand the importance of Early writing and how important it is to ensure children are secure in the basics before moving onto more challenging writing outcomes. This is why the curriculum has been developed to master basic skills to depth and the writing forms and text types have been carefully selected to mirror this.
The wider school community is vital to us, and we work hard to build links with families, so they can understand and enhance the English skills taught in school.   

In EYFS and Y1, we follow the EY2P curriculum planning which we cannot publish for copyright reasons so you can see the skills that will be covered in the overviews.

Handwriting

For handwriting, we use the Penpals for Handwriting scheme which teaches letters in Letter Families. Letter families are groups of letters that are formed in a similar way. Teaching letters in families helps children learn handwriting patterns, improves letter formation, and builds writing confidence. By practising similar movements together, children develop greater fluency and consistency in their handwriting. We also have Ready to Write routines that we use to remind the children about their posture and their pen grip.

Spelling

For spelling, we use the Read Write Inc spelling programme from Year 2 to Year 6. The Read Write Inc. Spelling programme helps children become confident and accurate spellers. Children are taught to recognise and apply spelling patterns and rules.

Children explore how words work by learning:

• Common spelling patterns and letter strings

• Rules for adding prefixes and suffixes

• How sounds can be represented in different ways

• Strategies for spelling unfamiliar words

• Common exceptions to spelling rules

Lessons are interactive and encourage children to investigate words, spot patterns, and explain their thinking. This helps them understand why words are spelled in a particular way, making it easier to remember and apply their learning in their own writing.

By focusing on patterns rather than memorisation alone, Read Write Inc. Spelling develops children's confidence, independence, and accuracy as writers.

Reading

We follow a systematic phonics programme with the aim of developing both decoding and comprehension skills. We follow Read Write Inc for this. You can find out more information here. While it is essential that children leave school being able to read fluently and with confidence, we also aim to encourage a lifelong love of reading.  Our progressive and consistent curriculum gives children the opportunity to build upon their skills and learning year upon year. The wider school community is vital to us, and we work hard to build links with families, so they can understand and enhance the English skills taught in school. We are also dedicated to raising the status of ‘reading for pleasure’ amongst all children and staff. 

Reading Comprehension using DERIC

During our reading lessons, we use for different question types to help unpick the text and build meaning.

In Year 1 and Year 2, they will sometimes use Decode to support their phonics skills.

In KS2, we just use Explain, Retrieve, Interpret and Choice. We ensure that children understand what is required for these different question types. We cover the question types as and when they support the text we are reading. This enables the children to see what good readers do when they interact at the point of reading.

This document also gives more information about what we need to do to answer each question type.

Here is a handy guide for parents which shows how you can support this approach at home.

Wilbraham Booknic in December 

Wilbraham Bookshop in March 

Wilbraham Book Choices in July

World Book Days

We like to celebrate World Book Day as a whole school. Children are encouraged to dress up as characters or in comfy reading clothes and, as a school, we all read the same book and use it as inspiration for our activities on the day. You can see the books we have looked at in previous years from 2017 to 2026!