Intent:
In our Federation, we believe that writing is a vital skill and an expressive tool: pupils not only learn to write, but to think, plan, revise and present as writers.
Our writing curriculum is carefully sequenced from Nursery through to Year 6 (see also Early Years page), so that children build knowledge, skills and confidence systematically.
In EYFS up to Year 1, the children follow the Read, Write Inclusive programme to become willing and accurate writers,applying their phonic knowledge.
From Year 2 upwards, we use the Literacy Tree programme throughout our schools, which provides high-quality, structured units that develop children’s writing across genres, vocabulary, grammar and purpose. These units allow pupils to build on prior learning (e.g., sentence structure, paragraphing, audience awareness) and then extend into more sophisticated composition and editing skills.
Our sequence aligns to the National Curriculum for English which states that pupils should “write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.” At the same time, the Writing Framework emphasises that children’s writing development depends on two connected strands: transcription (handwriting, spelling) and composition (planning, drafting, revising).
We ensure that our teaching covers both strands in a coherent way:
from explicit transcription lessons (handwriting fluency, spelling patterns) to enable children to write with automaticity, to the gradual release of composition skills (planning for audience + purpose, drafting, editing, publishing). We also embed grammar, punctuation and vocabulary teaching within meaningful writing contexts, as recommended by the Writing Framework.
All classes have a daily English lesson. Teachers of the EYFS ensure the children learn through a mixture of adult led activities and child initiated activities both inside and outside of the classroom, using a range of core texts for their starting points – See EYFS page.
