English Writing

Growing Confident, Courageous and Compassionate Writers

At Dodleston C.E. Primary School, our writing curriculum is ambitious, coherently planned and carefully sequenced to enable every child to become a fluent, confident and independent writer.

Guided by our vision of Growing in Confidence, Courage and Compassion, we nurture children who take pride in their writing, communicate with clarity and integrity, and use language thoughtfully and responsibly.

We follow the award-winning Ready Steady Write programme from Literacy Counts to develop confident, independent and successful writers with high aspirations.

Curriculum Intent

Our writing curriculum is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND and disadvantaged learners. It is research-informed and impact-proven, carefully structured to support children in mastering the foundational knowledge and skills of writing and applying them with increasing independence.

In line with the National Curriculum, we ensure pupils:

·        Acquire a wide range of vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of conventions for writing.

·        Write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.

·        Develop both transcription and composition

Our curriculum is ambitious for all learners. Knowledge builds cumulatively so that pupils remember more over time and apply skills with increasing fluency and confidence.

We value spoken language as a foundation for writing. Through structured talk, drama and vocabulary exploration, children learn how to organise and express their ideas clearly before writing them down.

Our aim is for every child – regardless of starting point – to write fluently, develop their own writer’s voice and leave primary school as enthusiastic writers, ready for the next stage of their education.

Early Years Foundation Stage

In Reception, writing begins with communication, storytelling and purposeful mark-making. We recognise that strong spoken language underpins successful writing and prioritise vocabulary development and oral rehearsal.

Children develop early writing through:

·        Little Wandle Phonics

Children are taught early reading and spelling through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, developing secure phonic knowledge which underpins both reading and writing. Handwriting is explicitly taught alongside phonics, ensuring children learn correct letter formation and develop an effective tripod grip in preparation for fluent writing.

·        Drawing Club (Greg Bottrill)

Through high-quality core texts, children explore story structure, characters and ambitious vocabulary. They orally rehearse ideas, engage in rich discussion and record their thinking through drawing and early writing.

·        Helicopter Stories

Children dictate their own stories verbatim to an adult, which are then acted out by the class. This strengthens narrative structure, sentence formation, creativity and confidence. Adults model grammatically correct sentences, supporting language development.

Children learn to:

·        Retell stories using story language (opening, build-up, problem, ending).

·        Rehearse sentences aloud before writing.

·        Write labels, captions and simple sentences.

·        Use capital letters and full stops correctly.

·        Spell words using secure phonic knowledge.

By the end of Reception, pupils write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others and re-read their work to check that it makes sense, ensuring they are ready to access the Key Stage 1 curriculum.

Implementation (Key Stage 1 & 2)

Ready Steady Write uses engaging, vocabulary-rich texts to create meaningful and purposeful writing opportunities within and across the curriculum. Children are immersed in literature and taught to craft their writing with precision.

The programme provides structured opportunities to:

·        Develop secure understanding of sentence structure, grammar and punctuation through daily  sentence accuracy sessions

·        Explore writing structures and genre features, identifying purpose and audience.

·        Plan, draft, revise and evaluate writing.

·        Edit and redraft to improve clarity, accuracy and effectiveness.

Teaching is underpinned by strong pedagogical practice and high expectations:

·        Modelled writing – Teachers think aloud to make the writing process explicit, modelling ambitious vocabulary and sentence construction.

·        Shared writing – Pupils contribute ideas as texts are constructed collaboratively.

·        Scaffolding – Targeted support enables all pupils to achieve success within quality-first teaching.

·        Editing – Pupils are explicitly taught how to evaluate and improve their work.

Spelling and Handwriting

Spelling and handwriting are taught explicitly and systematically outside of English lessons to ensure pupils secure the foundational skills necessary for fluent writing.

Spelling builds progressively from secure phonics knowledge into explicit teaching of morphology (word structure) and orthography (spelling patterns). Handwriting is taught to develop fluency, legibility and automaticity.

These transcription skills are then consistently applied within English lessons through sentence accuracy sessions, drafting and editing. This ensures spelling and handwriting are embedded within the writing process and support pupils in writing confidently and independently across Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

Across the curriculum, pupils write widely and often, applying taught knowledge in meaningful contexts to deepen understanding and strengthen long-term learning.

Impact

As a result of our writing curriculum:

·        Pupils develop secure and progressive knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and writing structures.

·        Children write fluently, accurately and with increasing stamina.

·        Pupils demonstrate independence, resilience and pride in their work.

·        Outcomes reflect high expectations and ambition for all learners.

Assessment is ongoing and responsive. Teachers use daily feedback, sentence accuracy monitoring, end of writing outcome next step documents and regular moderation in our clusters and CDAT to ensure consistency and strong subject knowledge across school.

Through our ambitious and well-sequenced writing curriculum, pupils grow as confident communicators, courageous thinkers and compassionate writers — equipped with the knowledge, skills and self-belief to succeed in the next stage of their education and beyond.