At Kates Hill Primary School, we believe that all pupils should be able to confidently communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions through their writing. We want pupils to acquire a wide vocabulary, a solid understanding of grammar and be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn through their time here. We also want them to write clearly, accurately, coherently and creatively, adapting their language and style for a range of meaningful contexts, purposes and audiences. Handwriting, spelling and grammar will be explicitly taught to ensure that children are able to understand the conventions of writing and manipulate language to create effects for the reader.

Writing progression at Kates Hill Primary School is carefully planned to build pupils’ skills year by year. From the early stages of mark making and sentence writing in EYFS and Key Stage 1, children gradually develop their ability to write with increasing accuracy, fluency, and creativity. Across the school, pupils are taught to plan, draft, and edit their work, while developing a strong understanding of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and vocabulary.

By the end of Year 6, children will be able to write confidently for a range of purposes and audiences, adapting their tone, style, and structure appropriately. They will have been exposed to a wide variety of text types, including narratives, persuasive writing, reports, explanations, biographies, and poetry. Pupils will be able to organise their ideas clearly, use ambitious vocabulary, and apply complex grammatical structures accurately. They will also understand how to revise and improve their writing independently, preparing them for the demands of secondary school and beyond.

In EYFS and Year 1, colourful semantics is used to support children’s understanding of sentence structure. Writing is based on age-appropriate texts and uses colour coded cues to highlight different parts of a sentence, helping learners to build grammatically correct sentences.

From year 2 onwards, the ‘Write Stuff’ approach is used- an initiative developed by educationalist Jane Considine. The initiative promotes excellent standards in writing, with the writing process taught explicitly and deliberately to pupils by teachers daily in dedicated writing lessons.  The ‘Write Stuff’ gives opportunities for children to explore language through all their senses, through drama, role play and talk. All grammar and punctuation requirements of the National Curriculum are embedded into the teaching approach to ensure that grammar is taught in context.

‘The Write Stuff’ follows a method called ‘Sentence Stacking’ which refers to the fact that sentences are stacked together chronologically and organised into ‘chunks’ to engage children with short, intensive moments of learning that they can then immediately apply to their own writing.  In line with the school’s commitment to excellence in writing, the structure of each lesson at Kates Hill and the journey of writing across the week enables all aspects of the National Curriculum for English to be taught; lessons are uniquely planned and tailored to meet the needs of all our learners. Colourful semantics is used as a scaffold where required, in line with the colour coding used in EYFS and Year 1.

Each half-term, children study at least 2 genres, 1 fiction and 1 non-fiction together with a poetry study. Grammar, sentences structures and vocabulary elements are all plotted across the year to ensure coverage and depth across the year groups.  Age-appropriate class texts are chosen to support the genre being studied as well as to engage the children in the particular unit.  Children have writing targets for each genre and use steps to success within each unit to support them in reaching their personal objectives.

Teachers provide opportunities for pupils to study and analyse different types of writing; providing writing opportunities for different purposes and audiences, encouraging the correct use of grammar, punctuation and spelling. Children become increasingly independent in their writing using talk for writing, rehearsal, drafting, editing and improving.

Writing is assessed against the age-related expectations set out in the National Curriculum, focusing on composition, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Teachers make ongoing assessments through pupils’ independent writing across a range of genres and contexts. To ensure consistency and accuracy, regular moderation takes place both within Kates Hill Primary and across schools in the Trust, where staff work collaboratively to review evidence, agree standards, and share best practice.

Children know that writing is a vital life skill that they will rely on in many areas of their daily life. They have a positive view of writing due to learning in an environment where writing is promoted as being an exciting, engaging and enjoyable subject in which they can express themselves confidently and creatively. Our children have a good understanding of their strengths and targets for development in writing and what they need to do to improve. Our English books evidence work of a high standard of which children clearly take pride; the range of activities demonstrate good coverage of genre, spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Strong writing skills have a significant impact across the curriculum. When children can write clearly and effectively, they are better able to express their understanding in all subjects. Writing helps pupils organise their thinking, communicate ideas with confidence, and deepen their learning. It also supports critical thinking, creativity, and independence, enabling children to access the full curriculum and achieve success in a wide range of subjects.

Handwriting

At Kates Hill Primary School, we follow the Kinetic Letters scheme for our handwriting, which supports children with their understanding of the sizing of letters, how to join letters together, how to sit properly to write and the proper way in which to hold a pencil. Handwriting is timetabled daily to ensure our children get consistent practice, and staff model correct practice to the children as to better their understanding.