English - Writing
Teaching children to read, write and speak is the vehicle through which children can access the entire curriculum. Being able to communicate in a variety of ways ensures that our children develop the necessary skills to become the inquisitive thinkers, conscientious learners, creative individuals and responsible citizens that we strive for our pupils to be.
Our English curriculum is based on teaching writing skills in a range of genres using high-quality models and texts. Many of our units are based on texts from a broad range of contexts (historical, non-fiction and fiction).
Children develop their skills as they progress through the curriculum. At Pixmore, we use our Silver, Gold and Platinum standards to help the children develop their writing skills in each year group. Children use these standards to see how well they are doing but also to give them next steps to develop their work.
The Writing Project
Nine years ago, Pixmore created a writing project aimed at using a high-quality text as a stimulus for developing creative writing across the school. The project had such an impact on the quality of writing and the children's engagement that we shared the idea with other local schools and the Stevenage and North Herts Schools Writing Project began. Since that very humble beginning, over 27,000 children in over 28 different schools have been involved in the project, which all started here at Pixmore.
Each project begins with the children exploring a beautiful book. They then spend three weeks building vocabulary, exploring ideas and creating high-quality pieces of writing. The approach allows teachers to be as creative and cross-curricular as possible with their classes to produce high-quality writing. These are then used as displays across the entire school.
This year's project involved 16 schools in the local area and they all report that it has become one of the highlights of the school year. An awards ceremony is held at the Broadway Theatre to recognise the efforts and talents of the children within the project. Mrs Inman has even written an article for the National English Teachers Association about the impact of the project.
Over the last few years, we have used some beautiful books including:
Zeraffa Giraffe by Dianne Hofmeyr
Journey by Aaron Becker
Flotsam by David Wiesner
Winter's Child by Angela McAllister
The Barnabus Project by the Fan Brothers
The Midnight Fair by Gideon Sterer
Here we are by Oliver Jeffers
