John Shelton Community Primary School Presentation Policy SEPTEMBER 2013 Introduction Presentation is an important part of children s learning. The quality of presentation reflects the effort and pride a child has taken in their work. Each child should have a clear understanding of what is expected from them when producing a piece of work and know that this will apply whichever teacher is taking the class. The expectation should be of the highest possible standard appropriate to the ability of the child and should develop a sense of pride and ownership. Aims This policy aims to: Children: Motivate each individual to present their work to the highest possible standard, increasing their confidence and self-esteem. Enable children to recognise work that is presented to a high standard. Ensure that each child knows the standard of presentation that is expected of them. Enable children to be proud of their achievements, by doing their best work and presenting it to the best of their ability. Encourage children to value every activity. Teachers: Create shared high standards and consistency across the school in terms of the standard of presentation expected. Provide a baseline for judging acceptable standards of presentation. Parents/carers: Provide an awareness of their child s progress in organising and presenting work independently. Offer a model for commenting on the standard of presentation of their child s work. Responsibilities All staff must: Have high expectations of children s work and the way it is presented; Regularly remind children of expectations for presentation and finishing off work. This includes sharing these expectations with the children at the start of each academic year; Communicate clearly to children expectations for the presentation of their work; Monitor children s work daily and provide adequate time for completing it. All work should be finished and it is the responsibility of staff to ensure that this happens at break and lunchtimes if needed; Encourage children to edit their own work and provide strategies for presenting it appropriately; Ensure that children are following the school handwriting policy (Nelson) in all pieces of work; Model the high expectations and procedures required from children at all times; Model the school handwriting script at all times including on the board and in marking. All children must: Do their best work at all times and take pride in it; Complete all work set; Not scribble on books or deface them in any way; Respect the work of others; Listen to and follow instructions for presenting work neatly.
Appearance of books All books should have the child s first and family name and subject clearly displayed on the front cover, using white labels which have been computer printed in the Nelson Handwriting font. These will be provided for staff to use. Covers and labels should be clean with no graffiti this must be insisted upon with the children. Please do not label book covers 1, 2 etc as children work through them the date of the work will show the order in which the books have been completed in. Pages of work should not be doodled upon this must be insisted upon with the children. General guidelines for presentation Use of pens and pencils: Pencils should be used in all Maths books throughout the school. Pencils should be used in all books up until October half-term of Year 4. Pens can be used for written work from October half-term of Year 4 onwards at the point where the teacher judges the child s handwriting to be sufficiently neat, fluent and consistently joined. Each year, the children should start in pencil and use this up until October half-term. Only blue ink may be used in exercise books. School handwriting pens only should be used. No ballpoint, felt pens or pens from home should be used. Work for displays around the school should be written as a best copy in pencil for Years 1 3 and in pen for Years 4 to 6 (unless the quality of the child s handwriting means they are still writing in pencil). All work that goes on display should be clearly marked using the school s marking policy. Pictures and diagrams: Felt pens and gel pens should not be used in exercise books for any purpose although they can be used on paper at the teacher s discretion. Colouring pencils only should be used to colour in. Drawings or diagrams must be done in pencil and straight lines drawn with a ruler unless it is intended to be a rough sketch. If children are producing a drawing or diagram in a subject where the exercise book contains lined pages, a piece of plain paper should be trimmed and neatly stuck in for this purpose. Page layout: All work should be dated and labelled with a learning intention. These should be written on the left hand side of the page against the margin and a line left between each one. In subjects and year groups where the short date is used, single digits should be written without a place holder, e.g. 1. 5. 10 not 01. 05. 10. In exercise books, both sides of the page should be written on. One page should be used for each piece of work unless only half of the page or less has been filled. In this instance, finished work, including the teacher s comments, should be ruled off using a ruler before the next piece of work is A4 sheets of paper should always be trimmed and stuck neatly into exercise books. Children should write on every line unless otherwise instructed. One complete line should be left to indicate the start of a new paragraph. Line guides are to be used in ALL year groups when children are writing on plain paper. Guidelines for presentation In Literacy and Maths, all children in Years 1 6 should record work in their books a minimum of 3 times each week regardless of the unit of work/phase being covered. In Literacy, Maths, Science and Theme all work should be stamped and ticked to indicate whether the child has worked independently or with support. A stamper is provided by the school for this purpose. In all subjects, every lesson should be accounted for in children s books. The date and WALT/learning intention should be written by the children and a success criteria sheet should be used to record the learning which has taken place. A photograph of the work the child has produced may also be used. It is good practice for the children to write a sentence about what they have learnt in lessons where no formal recording has taken place and this should be commonly seen in Y3 Y6.
The use of worksheets should be kept to an absolute minimum in all year groups. Worksheets should only be used if they contribute something to the learning and/or support the children in presenting their work in a way which would not be possible independently. Years 1 and 2 1 Plain paper/wide lined paper. Short date written by all children from beginning of Autumn Term at left hand side of page, i.e. 1. 5. 10 All children to be writing long date by beginning of Spring Term, i.e. Monday 1 st May 2014. WALT stickers to be used for all pieces of work in Autumn Term starting with the letters WALT. Children should be taught at the start of term what these initials stand for. WALT to be written for all pieces of work by all children other than those on the SEN register from the beginning of the Spring Term. Line guide to be used for plain paper work from the Spring Term onwards. Medium squared paper. squares at left hand side of page from Autumn Term, i.e. 2.9.13 WALT stickers to be used for all pieces of work for Autumn Term. WALT to be written by all children other than those on the SEN register from the beginning of Spring Term across the squares.. This should be pre-prepared for the children. Use of a clean rubber, supervised by an adult. no crossing out. 2 page by all children, i.e. Monday 9 th September 2013. written using the initials WALT. Line guide to be used for plain paper work. squares at left of page, i.e. 2.9.14 written across the squares. One line to be missed between of a clean rubber. no crossing out.
Years 3 and 4 page and underlined once using a ruler, i.e. Monday 9 th September 2013 written on left hand side of page. WALT to be underlined once using a ruler. Year 4 L.I to be used instead of WALT, followed by the word To squares at left of page and underlined once using a ruler, i.e. 2.9.13 written on left hand side of page across the squares. WALT to be underlined once using a ruler. Year 4 L.I to be used instead of WALT, followed by the word To of a clean rubber. no crossing out 3 started against the margin. when using and Blank line to be left to mark pencil. 4 change of paragraph. Line guided to be used for plain paper work. Pencil to be used in Year 3. Pen to be used in Year 4 when handwriting is of an appropriate standard (see Handwriting Policy). Date, WALT/L.I and evidence to One line to be missed between Pencil to be used. Date, WALT/L.I and evidence to Years 5 and 6 page and underlined once squares at left of page and of a clean rubber for mistakes using a ruler, i.e. Monday 9 th underlined once using a ruler, made in pencil. September 2013 i.e. 2.9.13 One single line Line to be missed, then Line to be missed, then learning through error learning intention written on intention written on left hand using a ruler. left hand side of page, labelled side of page across the Tippex should squares, labelled L.I and L.I and followed with the word not be used. followed with the word To To Underline once using a Underline once using a ruler. ruler. 5 and started against the margin. 6 Blank line to be left to mark change of paragraph. Line guided to be used for plain paper work. Pen to be used where One line to be missed between possible. Date, L.I and evidence to be no crossing out recorded for EVERY when using pencil. Date, L.I and evidence to be recorded for EVERY
Children s prompt sheet A prompt sheet reminding children of the expectations for their presentation should be displayed on or next to the teacher s whiteboard in all classrooms for children to see and work from. This should be regularly referred to in order to insist on high standards at all times. Monitoring and Evaluation Books from all subjects will be monitored at least once a half-term against the guidelines set out in this policy. Feedback will be provided to teachers identifying strengths, good practice and where appropriate, next steps for further improvement. If necessary, feedback will also highlight any aspect of the policy which is not being adhered to. Where aspects of the policy are not being followed, books will be monitored within 10 days to check that appropriate corrective action has been taken. Where appropriate, good practice and areas for development will be recorded in a summary document for all staff to consider and discuss. Senior Member of Staff Responsible: Designated Member of Staff: Governor Responsible: Robbie Walker (Headteacher) Leadership Team TBC Original Policy: May 2010 Reviewed and agreed: September 2010 Reviewed and up-dated: September 2013