Writing

At St John's, we have chosen to implement the Curriculum with Unity School Partnership (CUSP) curriculum for writing. 

Each writing cycle takes place over a two-week module, which follows this process:

  1. Identify the context, purpose and audience for writing.
  2. Immerse pupils in quality models.
  3. Use worked examples to instruct and model key conventions and grammatical objectives, with opportunities for deliberate practice.
  4. Create a clear outline of the structure.
  5. Insert your own content.
  6. Internalise your text and its components.
  7. Record your writing, reading it aloud regularly.
  8. Edit your writing as you go for meaning secretarially for impact.
  9. Evaluate your writing against its intended purpose.

Each writing cycle has its own example of a high quality model text which includes age-related grammatical and vocabulary choices, as well as a knowledge strip which breaks down the conventions which will be internalised throughout the module. 

Similar text types are revisited within year groups and across key stages so pupils have the opportunity to improve their knowledge over time. 

CUSP writing often uses other CUSP topics (our wider curriculum sequences of learning) as a stimulus for writing, meaning new vocabulary and knowledge is recycled and reused in writing sessions, meaning sessions can have an explicit grammar or text convention focus. 

For more information, please visit the CUSP website, here

We believe that all children should be able to communicate effectively and accurately, both when writing and when speaking. Children in all year groups write from a given stimulus and for a range of purposes; these writing opportunities allow children to enter into the world of a character or respond to a moral or ethical problem that the writing stimulus has introduced.  

Spelling

To develop our pupils' fluency in spelling, we implement the CUSP spelling curriculum, which is comprehensive, systematic and progressive. The underpinning principles are: 

  • Teaching of spelling concepts
  • Pattern spotting
  • High volume of engagement with print
  • Systematic revisiting 
  • Additional time given to complex concepts with common errors
  • Zoom in on the composition of words 
  • Spelling and word meaning are intrinsically linked
  • CUSP principles of direct instruction 

Classes have two discrete spelling sessions each week and a third session focusing on spelling within their writing in a writing lesson. Within these lessons, the children learn spelling patterns, rules, etymology, word families and memory tricks in order to learn to spell different words. The focus is on learning to spell rather than on simply 'testing' spelling. The children then receive weekly spellings to learn, which are based on the words/rule learnt in class that week. Click here for long term sequence of CUSP spelling that shows which concepts are taught in each year group. 

Punctuation and Grammar

At St John’s, we believe that punctuation and grammar should be taught and learnt within the English lessons as it provides the structure for reading, writing and speaking. These elements are vital for literacy in life and they are taught, as much as possible, in context so that the children can see the relevance and the desired effect they have on the reader.

Handwriting

We teach St John’s cursive handwriting throughout the school. In Reception class, the children learn to form their letters, learning to join in KS1, and by Year 3, the children are working towards getting their ‘pen licence’, which is a highly sought-after achievement!ur expanding block titles will be hidden until the user clicks the + icon to expand it.