Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation Policy
There are four main purposes to this policy:
· To establish an entitlement for all pupils;
· To establish expectations for teachers of this subject;
· To promote continuity and coherence across the school;
· To state the school’s approaches to this subject in order to promote public,
and particularly parents’ and carers’, understanding of the curriculum.
Introduction
The importance of English to the curriculum
Writing is a primary means of expression, both for personal purposes and for
communicating meaning with others. Pupils learn how to write with confidence,
fluency, imagination and accuracy by using their knowledge of context and
composition (text level), grammatical knowledge (sentence level) and knowledge of
phonics, word recognition and graphic knowledge (word level at Key Stage 1) and a
wider range of spelling strategies at Key Stage 2.
Strategy for implementation:
Grammar should be taught in context and embedded in Literacy hour as part of the
approach to writing. This will also include the specific teaching of the vocabulary and
technical language associated with it.
Much of the programme of study can be delivered through the literacy hour,
particularly during shared and guided writing sessions. However, time is required for
teaching specific grammar and spelling skills. This can be provided by using
additional time for English during the school day such as in guided reading sessions.
Teaching and Learning:
To enable access to the whole curriculum for every pupil, to cater for the variety of
learning styles within each class, and to ensure progression and reinforcement of
skills and concepts throughout the year groups, we employ a variety of teaching
styles.
Grammar, spelling and punctuation are basic skills and are key to accurate and
coherent writing across the curriculum. We want our pupils to find learning exciting,
compelling and intrinsically worthwhile. Therefore, we use a variety of interactive
teaching and learning techniques so that pupils can respond successfully to their
learning.
Continuity and Progression
See scheme of work to accompany the policy.
Inclusion
Individual programmes for teaching and support are drawn up as appropriate by the
teacher in consultation with the SEN co-ordinator. Individual targets for improving
grammar, spelling and punctuation are set in the context of overall literacy targets
All staff are aware of the specific grammatical challenges faced by EAL learners and
regularly undertake writing scrutiny to ascertain which specific challenges their pupils
need direct teaching in. This informs planning and teaching by both teachers and
TAs working with small groups. The scheme of work has some additions in to make
sure that those needs of the EAL children have been addressed. Alternative
methods of recording, e.g. use of ICT, are provided to support pupils who experience
extreme problems with handwriting or spelling to demonstrate their compositional
skills and understanding of text.
Staffing (teaching and non-teaching)
The role of teachers and, where appropriate, support staff and other adults:
· to follow the school policy with the aim of helping pupils to become
independent writers;
· to provide modelling through speaking and listening, shared writing and
focused support through guided writing;
· to respond to pupils’ writing in line with the school’s marking policy;
· to provide explicit guidance for future development through monitoring and
assessment.
· to make decisions about the selection and organisation of materials to support
the teaching of spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Assessment and recording
Assessment is used to inform planning and teaching. Teachers identify key learning
outcomes from the linked teaching objectives for each block of work and identify
appropriate assessment opportunities. Grammar, spelling and punctuation are
assessed in the course of children’s writing linked to individual and group targets.
Monitoring pupils’ progress
The following forms the basis for the school’s routines for marking pupils’ written
English work:
 response is made to content linked to the learning objective, first
 marking is matched to individual pupil’s targets, age and ability
 the pupils should clearly understand what the teacher is looking for (assessment
criteria). This helps them to focus on the kinds of things they need to look for
when they check/evaluate their own work
 at Key Stage 1, teachers mark selected spelling mistakes linked to spelling
targets. At Key Stage 2 errors are signalled rather than corrected
 teachers read, or get pupils to read their work aloud with appropriate expression,
to help them to punctuate correctly


a written comment is always used and teachers should remember that the
audience for these comments will be wider than the pupil to whom it is directed
teachers try to develop the pupil’s own response to a piece of work and FIX IT
time is given for the children to improve their work at the beginning of the literacy
lesson.
Monitoring and Evaluation of Policy
This policy will be reviewed in a year, when the new curriculum to which it refers is
further embedded into normal classroom practice.
Signed by:
Literacy Co-ordinator___________________________________________
Head Teacher ________________________________________________
Literacy Governor______________________________________________
Date of implementation - September 2014
Date for review - September 2015