Writing

At St Jérôme School we support all children to become effective writers who are able to communicate their thoughts, ideas and learning in a wide range of text types and genres. We encourage children to write in real, meaningful contexts and to use vocabulary they acquire from reading in their writing.

We use the Oxford Criterion Scale which has ‘7 stages’ as the basis for progress in writing. You can download the areas for focus in each year group by clicking here. Staff regularly assess children’s writing and we moderate our judgements within the school and with other local schools.

Every child at St Jérôme School has a portfolio of writing which traces their development as a writer and the progress that they are making.

Children begin to write in French in Year 2. We have recently been writing to and receiving letters in English and French with one of our partner schools in France.

Handwriting

Handwriting is a basic skill that influences the quality of work throughout the curriculum. At the end of Key Stage 2 all pupils at St Jérôme School should have the ability to produce fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy joined-up handwriting, and to understand the different forms of handwriting used for different purposes. We aim to make handwriting an automatic process that does not interfere with creative and mental thinking.

We aim for our pupils to develop a neat, legible, speedy handwriting style using continuous cursive letters that leads to producing letters and words automatically in independent writing.

We use letter-join as the basis for teaching handwriting and we encourage parents to login to the letter-join website to practice their skills at home. For more information or to login please click here.

At St Jérôme School children use the same handwriting style for writing in English and in French.

Punctuation and Grammar

At St Jérôme School we teach grammar and punctuation explicitly in English and French and this is integral to all teaching across all curriculum subjects. We encourage children to use a range of punctuation in their writing and we encourage children to progress in their use of punctuation using the punctuation pyramid. Click here to download a punctuation pyramid.

Marking and Feedback

We encourage children to proof read and edit their own and others work. Teachers also provide written feedback and comments. All teaching staff at St Jérôme School use a common marking key for providing feedback on writing. You can download our marking key here.