Writing

Our writing curriculum is built on the belief that every child can become a confident, capable, and creative writer. We teach writing through a carefully sequenced progression of skills, ensuring pupils develop strong foundations in transcription, composition, grammar, and authorial craft. Across the school, children learn to write for a wide range of purposes and audiences, drawing on rich models, explicit instruction, and meaningful opportunities to apply what they have learned. 

High‑quality texts sit at the heart of our approach. We select texts that are ambitious, language‑rich, and structurally strong because they offer pupils the best possible models of effective writing. These texts are chosen with intention: each one deepens pupils’ understanding of how writers shape meaning and raises expectations of what they themselves can achieve. We also draw from a wide range of authors to reflect the diversity of our school community and the wider world, ensuring pupils encounter many voices, perspectives, and lived experiences. 

We have adopted an approach where children first become fully immersed in a text. They explore it deeply—learning the story, understanding its structure, and engaging with its language—before moving on to shaping their own ideas. This immersion ensures pupils develop a secure internal model of the text, enabling them to draw confidently on its patterns, themes, and techniques when crafting their own writing. 

A key principle of our curriculum is that pupils learn to write with clear purpose. Whether they are informing, entertaining, persuading, or describing, children are taught to understand why they are writing and how writers adapt their choices to suit audience and intent. This purposeful approach helps pupils develop control, clarity, and confidence in their writing. 

Throughout the writing process, teachers model what it means to be a writer. Through shared writing, explicit thinking aloud, and demonstration of drafting and revising, pupils see how writers make deliberate choices. This modelling demystifies the writing process and supports pupils in developing their own writerly habits. 

We use live marking to ensure pupils receive immediate, actionable feedback during lessons. This approach allows misconceptions to be addressed quickly and successes to be celebrated in the moment. Instant feedback supports rapid progress and helps pupils develop a strong sense of ownership over their writing. 

Foundational skills underpin every aspect of writing. We place significant emphasis on ensuring pupils develop secure, automatic skills that free them to focus on creativity, structure, and meaning. 

• Correct letter formation is taught explicitly from the earliest stages. Children learn the correct starting points, directionality, and size of letters to ensure legibility and fluency. 

• Correct pencil grip is prioritised early to support stamina, comfort, and control. Staff intervene promptly to establish effective habits that will support pupils throughout their schooling. 

• Handwriting fluency is developed through regular, purposeful practice. As pupils become more fluent, their working memory is freed to focus on vocabulary, structure, and composition. 

• Spelling knowledge is taught systematically through phonics, spelling patterns, morphology, and etymology. Accurate spelling supports clarity and confidence in writing. 

• Sentence construction forms a core part of early writing instruction. Pupils learn how to build complete, meaningful sentences and how grammar choices affect meaning. 

• Basic punctuation is introduced early and revisited regularly to ensure accuracy and consistency. 

• Oral rehearsal is used to help pupils internalise sentence structure, vocabulary, and rhythm before writing. This is especially powerful for early writers and those with additional language needs. 

These foundational skills are not confined to the early years; they are revisited, strengthened, and refined throughout the school. We ensure consistency of approach so that pupils build secure habits that support high‑quality writing across all subjects. 

Our aim is for every child to leave our school as a thoughtful, articulate writer who can communicate with clarity, creativity, and purpose. By combining strong foundational skills with rich texts, purposeful writing, and expert modelling, we ensure pupils develop the confidence and competence they need to thrive as writers.