Writing

Our writing curriculum is carefully designed to ensure children experience a wide range of genres, with regular opportunities to revisit these genres and deepen their understanding of key features. Writing is taught through our structured Writing Journey, which supports progression and enables teachers to cover all curriculum objectives. While all stages of the journey are followed, teachers use adaptive teaching to meet the needs of their class and enhance learning flow.


1. Model Text and Toolkit
Children explore a high-quality model text that demonstrates the key structural and language features of the genre. Together, they identify and highlight these features, creating clear examples to refer to during their own writing.

2. Text Mapping and Vocabulary Development
In Key Stage 1, children create a text map to support their understanding of structure and vocabulary. In Key Stage 2, ambitious vocabulary is introduced to enrich children’s writing. Pupils explore meanings and practice using these words in context, with Upper Key Stage 2 also identifying word classes.

3. Skills Lessons
Children are explicitly taught the skills required for each genre, with opportunities to practice before applying them in shared and independent writing. Throughout this stage, staff reinforce grammar, punctuation and spelling, including relevant statutory word lists.

4. Planning
Children plan an age-appropriate piece of extended writing for a specific purpose and audience, identifying key features, grammar and vocabulary. We value planning as a vital part of the writing process, helping children organise their ideas, improve sentence structure and sequence their writing effectively. Like real writers, children learn that planning leads to clearer, more confident writing.

5. Shared Writing
Teachers model high-quality writing while thinking aloud to demonstrate how authors craft and refine their work. Children contribute ideas, evaluate language choices and learn how to edit for impact. These shared experiences equip pupils to apply the same processes independently.

6. Editing
At St James, we aim to develop confident editors. Children learn how to reflect on and improve their writing by revising vocabulary, enhancing punctuation, refining sentence starters and strengthening cohesion across paragraphs. They may also revisit whole sections to ensure their writing meets its purpose and engages the intended audience.

7. Independent Writing (Hot Write)
Teachers design meaningful independent tasks that allow children to apply the skills and structures they have learnt while demonstrating creativity and independence. Children use feedback gathered throughout the journey to develop their own authorial voice, with older pupils exploring literary language, characterisation and structure.

8. Publishing
Throughout the year, children have opportunities to publish their writing. Publishing provides a real audience and purpose, helping children feel proud of their achievements. It builds confidence and motivation, encourages reflection, and supports the development of presentation, perseverance and ownership of learning.

At our school, we place a strong emphasis on the teaching and development of Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary across all subjects, recognising that a rich vocabulary is essential to pupils’ understanding, communication and academic success.
Key vocabulary and subject-specific terminology are clearly displayed on working walls to reflect current learning. These words are explicitly taught within lessons and consistently revisited throughout each teaching sequence to deepen understanding and support retention.
Across all foundation subjects, essential vocabulary is carefully identified prior to teaching. Throughout the learning sequence, this vocabulary is regularly revisited, with meanings explicitly taught, explored and discussed.
We have high expectations that pupils will confidently and independently use this vocabulary in their spoken language and written work, enabling them to articulate their understanding clearly and accurately across the curriculum.
 

Early writing in our Foundation Stage begins with developing children’s understanding of initial and final sounds at word level, supported through engaging books that provide a stimulus for writing based on characters and settings. Children are encouraged to write at word, caption and simple sentence level, using high-frequency words alongside phonetically plausible spelling through segmenting and blending. Opportunities such as ‘talking the text’, early mark making and continuous provision enable children to practise and apply their skills in meaningful contexts throughout the day. Staff model writing and support children to rehearse sentences orally before writing, helping to build confidence and fluency. Through these experiences, children begin their writing journey by exploring sounds, forming letters and communicating ideas, laying strong foundations for future writing success.