How we assess Phonics at Gawber - Writing

EYFS

In EYFS in Autumn term week 1, a writing baseline assessment is completed identifying hand preference, grip used, control of the pencil and any correctly formed letters. Then in week 2, onwards provision is provided based on the needs of the children. Activities used target the specific fine motor skills needed for writing, these include ‘Dough Disco’, ‘Jump Ahead’ and fine motor activities. Targeted children are identified and adults assess and monitor the development of skills and specific interventions are delivered to any children with developmental needs in writing so they can keep up with their peers.

Half Termly assessments

All children from ‘Red books’ onwards on the Read Write Inc programme and on Read Write Inc Comprehension are assessed half termly using the Read Write Inc assessment grids. The assessment grids form individual records for each child which clearly identifies each child’s ability to apply their spelling, handwriting and punctuation knowledge appropriately to the stage they are at on the phonics programme. Any children that have been identified as requiring additional support with their writing will quickly have interventions put in place to support this e.g., fine motor skills – ‘Write From the Start’ intervention programme, additional handwriting practise using RWI Handwriting Stages to ensure correct and accurate letter formation and the over learning of spelling the ‘red words’.

All children’s progress is tracked throughout school and the RWI Leader monitors this progress to ensure children are making the expected progress.

Formative Assessments

The ongoing day to day assessment of writing is also an important way of monitoring progress. Throughout the phonics session the phonics teacher is continuously monitoring the participation of all children within their group to check their understanding and application of skills. Through ‘LIVE MARKING, teachers will provide individual feedback to children and identify any children that need additional practise adapting the session to allow this e.g. modelling the correct formation of a letter and applying phonic knowledge to spellings.

Peer Support

Within RWI from yellow books onwards, children work in pairs throughout the sessions on their writing. This includes children supporting each other in ‘Spell Check’ where partners assess each other on the ‘red’ and ‘green’ words they are learning that week. They provide the partner with feedback and support them to learn the words they find tricky. In RWI, children also work in pairs during ‘Partner Proofread’ where they provide feedback and support helping each other edit and Improve their writing. E.g., If a word is spelt incorrectly, they will ask their partner to identify how many sounds and to break it up in to the sounds using their ‘Fred Fingers’. Other strategies they use include breaking the word in to syllables, root word and whole word as well as remembering red words have tricky letters in them.

Across the Curriculum

Writing is continuously monitored across the curriculum to ensure all children are transferring the skills they have learnt in phonics and are applying them correctly in all the writing they produce. These include using the correct letter formation, application of phonic knowledge to spellings, spelling ‘red words’ correctly and using capital letters and full stops accurately.