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At Cherry Burton Primary School, we believe that every child has the potential to become a confident, creative and successful writer. Our writing curriculum is underpinned by the Department for Education's Writing Framework and is designed to develop children who can write fluently, accurately and purposefully for a wide range of audiences and purposes.
Writing is taught as a journey. We recognise that becoming a skilled writer requires children to develop secure transcriptional skills alongside rich vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, creativity and an understanding of how writing changes depending on its purpose and audience. Through carefully sequenced teaching, children learn to communicate ideas with confidence whilst developing pride and enjoyment in their writing.
In the Early Years and Key Stage 1, writing is taught through the Talk for Writing approach. Children become immersed in carefully chosen, high-quality texts and spend time exploring stories, language patterns and vocabulary before beginning to write independently.
Through storytelling, drama, role play, oral rehearsal and shared writing, children develop a deep understanding of how texts are organised and how authors engage their readers. By learning stories orally before innovating and inventing their own versions, children build confidence as writers while developing a secure understanding of language, sentence structure and text organisation.
Alongside this, children receive explicit teaching in phonics, handwriting, spelling, grammar and sentence construction, ensuring that the essential building blocks of writing become increasingly automatic.
As pupils move into Key Stage 2, they continue to build on these strong foundations through a rich, literature-based writing curriculum. High-quality novels, picture books, poetry, non-fiction texts, films, short film clips and real-life experiences provide engaging and meaningful contexts for writing.
Children explore a wide range of genres, including narrative, poetry and non-fiction, writing for authentic purposes and carefully considered audiences. They learn that writing is a powerful way to entertain, inform, explain, persuade, discuss and express opinions.
Teaching follows the principles of the Writing Framework. Before writing independently, pupils spend time reading and discussing ambitious texts, analysing how authors craft their writing and developing the vocabulary and background knowledge needed to write successfully. Teachers model the writing process explicitly, demonstrating how writers plan, draft, revise and edit their work. Pupils are given regular opportunities to rehearse ideas orally, write collaboratively, receive feedback and improve their work before producing polished final pieces.
We believe that successful writing depends upon having something meaningful to say. Our curriculum is carefully designed so that writing is closely linked to the wider curriculum, enabling children to draw upon their growing knowledge of history, geography, science, literature and the arts. This ensures that children write with purpose, accuracy and increasing sophistication.
Vocabulary development is central to our writing curriculum. Through rich reading experiences and explicit vocabulary instruction, children encounter ambitious language, learn how authors make deliberate language choices and apply newly acquired vocabulary effectively within their own writing.
Grammar, punctuation and spelling are taught both explicitly and within meaningful writing contexts so that children understand not only how language works but why writers make particular choices. These skills are continually revisited and applied across the curriculum to develop accuracy and independence.
We also recognise that fluent handwriting and secure transcriptional skills free children's thinking to focus on composition. Handwriting, spelling and sentence construction are therefore taught systematically and practised regularly until they become increasingly automatic.
We believe that every child can become a successful writer. Teaching is carefully adapted to meet individual needs, with scaffolded support, targeted intervention and appropriate challenge ensuring that all pupils make strong progress from their starting points.
Children are encouraged to take risks with language, share ideas, reflect on feedback and celebrate their achievements as writers. Every child is supported to develop confidence, resilience and pride in their work.
By the time children leave Cherry Burton Primary School, they will have experienced a rich range of high-quality literature and writing opportunities. They will understand how to adapt their writing for different audiences, purposes and genres, write with increasing fluency, accuracy and independence, and possess the knowledge, vocabulary and confidence to communicate their ideas effectively. Most importantly, we want every child to see themselves as a writer and to leave our school with a lifelong appreciation of the power and enjoyment of writing.