As a Trust and through the Teaching School School Improvement Groups (SIGs) we have identified that greater depth, particularly in writing is a focus for our schools. A greater depth subject leader working party has been set up, and the second meeting took place last night at By Brook Valley School, chaired by Emma Corr from Queen's Crescent.
Emma steered the group through a summary of the key contributors to supporting greater depth writing:
1. The power of high quality vocabulary
- teaching vocabulary explicitly
- adding vocabulary / phrases to 'ideas books'
- exposure to great literature
2. Reading
- adults reading to the whole class every day to ensure exposure to high quality literature, vocabulary and sentence structure
- guided reading sessions
- encourage a variety of reading at home; encouraging parents to continue to read to their children beyond key stage 1
- exposure to ideas / sentence structure
- avid readers are better writers!
3. Inspiration
- how to inspire children to read
- trips, role play, drama
- immerse children in picture books as inspiration
4. Marking and coaching
- verbal feedback in lessons
- small group sessions
- marking during lessons
The group talked about the importance of modelling writing, having high expectations, teaching reading explicitly and all leaders and teachers raising the profile of reading across the school.
The group then went on to discuss:
- the impact of vocabulary and how best to teach it
- examples of the best books to expose children to
- examples of experiences to improve writing
- the influence of reading on writing outcomes
- case studies that have worked
The thinking around these themes will be pulled together and shared with all schools and SIG groups. The passion and enthusiasm from leaders in the room was an absolute delight to see, and we are excited about working together on this project.
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