English
Writing at Kirkdale St Lawrence C of E Primary School
“Reading and writing float on a sea of talk.” James Britton
Writing Curriculum Statement
Intent
Our writing curriculum is designed to provide a broad, ambitious and inclusive education that meets the needs of all pupils. We aim to develop confident, articulate and independent writers who can communicate effectively for a clear audience and purpose. Through high expectations and a carefully sequenced curriculum, we ensure that all children—regardless of background or starting point—can succeed and take pride in their writing.
We follow the award‑winning Ready Steady Write programme from Literacy Counts, which is research‑informed and impact‑proven. This approach ensures that pupils systematically develop the foundational skills of writing, including transcription, sentence construction and composition, while progressively building stamina, vocabulary and control over different text types.
Implementation
Writing is taught through a clearly structured and progressive curriculum, underpinned by high‑quality, vocabulary‑rich texts that provide meaningful and engaging reasons to write. Units are carefully sequenced to build knowledge and skills over time, ensuring coherence and progression across year groups.
Teachers use a range of evidence‑based pedagogical approaches, including:
- Explicit teaching of sentence accuracy and grammatical structures
- Modelled and shared writing to make the writing process visible
- Regular opportunities for editing, revising and improving work
- Careful scaffolding and adaptive teaching to support pupils with additional needs
Spoken language is prioritised as a foundation for writing. Through structured talk, drama and purposeful vocabulary exploration, pupils learn to organise, rehearse and refine their ideas orally before writing. This supports clarity of thought, confidence and compositional fluency.
Impact
As a result of our writing curriculum, pupils make strong progress from their starting points and develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to write fluently and accurately. They can adapt their writing to suit different audiences and purposes, using increasingly ambitious vocabulary and structures.
Pupils are enthusiastic about writing, demonstrate resilience when editing and improving their work, and take pride in the final outcomes. By the time they leave primary school, our pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, equipped with the writing skills and confidence needed to succeed.