Writing
Supporting Your Child's Writing Journey
At our school, we believe that writing is a vital skill that empowers children to express their thoughts, ideas, and creativity. Our approach to teaching writing is carefully structured and develops progressively as your child moves through each year group. We aim to build strong foundations in spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, and composition.
How We Teach Writing in School
Early Years and Key Stage 1: In the early stages, writing is closely linked with phonics. Children learn to form letters, build sentences, and write for simple purposes like stories, captions, and lists. They’re encouraged to talk about their ideas and rehearse sentences out loud before writing.
Key Stage 2: As children grow, they learn to write for a wider range of purposes, including narratives, persuasive texts, reports, and poems. They focus on planning, drafting, editing, and improving their work. Grammar and punctuation become more advanced, and children are encouraged to develop their own voice and style.
Across All Year Groups: We use a mix of model texts, shared writing, guided practice, and independent tasks. Teachers give regular feedback, and children are encouraged to take pride in their work and to see themselves as authors. Please see our 'Child-Engaged Assessment Policy' which gives you a greater idea of how we encourage children to edit and redraft their writing.
How You Can Help at Home
You play a key role in supporting your child's writing development. Here are some simple and effective ways to help:
Encourage Reading: Reading widely helps children absorb new vocabulary, sentence structures, and ideas they can use in their own writing.
Talk Together: Discussing books, experiences, or even what happened during the day helps children practise putting their thoughts into words.
Write for Real Purposes: Let your child help write shopping lists, birthday cards, or keep a journal. This shows that writing has real-world value.
Celebrate Their Efforts: Praise the ideas and imagination in their writing, not just spelling or neatness. Encouragement builds confidence!
Support, Don’t Correct: When helping, ask questions like “What might happen next?” or “How could you describe that?” rather than focusing too much on mistakes.
Our Writing End Point document (below) shows you the expectation for children's writing in each year group.