Our Writing Inspiration

We use a wide range of resources as stimuli for our writing, these include: high quality texts, cross-curricular links, current events, music videos, pictures, children's interests, song lyrics. What inspires you to write? 

Long term planning ensures that the children's writing will cover a wide range of genres. As the children progress through school they will become increasingly familiar with the structure, key knowledge and language features of each genre. 

An overview of the range of writing genres the children will be learning about can be found here. 

All writing planning follows the objectives set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage and National Curriculum, which can be found here.

How We Teach Writing

Nursery- Year 4

Children from Nursery- Year 4 write using the Talk for Writing scheme. Talk for Writing was developed by Pie Corbett. It is fundamentally based on the key principles of how children learn. Talk for Writing enables children to imitate the key language they need orally before they try reading, analysing and recording it. It is a fun, creative yet also rigorous approach to develop writers, that can be used for any writing genre.

Talk for Writing has three key phases which work together to develop knowledge, confidence and independence in writing:

Imitation

During this phase the children create actions to accompany the oral re-telling of the story. They also create story maps, using pictures and symbols, to depict actions and events from the text. The key to success for the children is that they internalise the text type through repetition and rehearsal. They also begin to look closely at the language and text features that have been used. 

Innovation

During this phase the teacher and the children begin to change aspects of the model text using their own ideas. They explore the text using different characters, settings or events and new ideas for descriptive language whilst sticking closely to the underlying structure. This process enables the children to write their own versions through developing their ability to generate good words and phrases.  It is during this phase that children also look at how they can address their targets to progress their writing.

Invention

During this phase the children plan and write their own story based on the text type they have been learning. They experiment with the ideas and begin to explore their own style of writing using sentence types from the model text before finally writing their version of the text. 

Year 5 & 6

When children enter Upper Key Stage Two they utilize the knowledge and skills they have gained through the Talk for Writing scheme to produce their writing. Talk for Writing techniques are used and have been adapted to ensure that the children are writing with greater independence.

Handwriting

All children receive weekly handwriting sessions. We teach handwriting using the Teach Handwriting scheme. The scheme takes a holistic view of teaching handwriting, developing both a child's key strengths (fine and gross motor skills) and key abilities (knowledge) from Nursery through to Year 6. It's systematic, differentiated and progressive approach supports children of all ability levels. 

Teach Handwriting can be accessed here. 

We always encourage our children to take great care and pride in the handwriting and presentation of their work. As children develop their letter formation and handwriting they progress through our Handwriting awards!