Writing
Key Curriculum Information
Writing Long Term Plan Curriculum Progression
Writing at Woodlands
At Woodlands, we want every pupil to become a confident, capable and enthusiastic writer. Writing enables pupils to communicate their ideas, experiences and imagination clearly and effectively.
Our writing curriculum is supported by Jane Considine’s approach, alongside systematic phonics and spelling, explicit handwriting teaching and carefully sequenced grammar and punctuation. Through rich discussion, oral rehearsal, explicit modelling and carefully structured practice, pupils develop the vocabulary, knowledge and confidence needed to compose and improve their writing.
From Nursery to Year 2, pupils build the language, physical and transcriptional foundations of writing before moving towards greater fluency, control and independence.
How we teach writing
We use Jane Considine’s approach to writing to support the teaching of composition, vocabulary and sentence construction.
Writing is taught through carefully structured lessons which include explicit modelling, rich discussion, oral rehearsal and shared construction of sentences. Teachers make the thinking behind writing visible, helping pupils understand how writers make choices about vocabulary, sentence structure and effect.
Pupils are supported to:
- gather and organise ideas
- explore and use ambitious vocabulary
- rehearse sentences aloud before writing
- construct sentences in manageable steps
- apply taught grammar and punctuation
- reread and improve their work
- write with increasing independence
Alongside this approach, pupils have regular opportunities to apply their learning in extended pieces of writing across a range of genres and curriculum subjects.
Writing in Nursery
In Nursery, pupils develop the foundations for writing through talk, stories, rhymes, role play and purposeful mark-making.
They learn to:
- communicate ideas and experiences orally
- develop vocabulary through conversation and stories
- join in with repeated language and retell familiar events
- give meaning to marks
- develop gross and fine motor control
- use drawing, symbols and early writing in play
- begin to recognise and write parts of their name when ready
The priority is to build language, confidence and physical readiness rather than rush pupils into formal writing.
Writing in Reception
In Reception, pupils begin to apply their growing phonics knowledge to writing.
They learn to:
- say a sentence aloud before writing it
- segment words into phonemes
- represent sounds using taught graphemes
- spell an increasing number of tricky words
- write simple phrases and sentences
- use finger spaces, capital letters and full stops
- reread their writing to check that it makes sense
- form lower-case and capital letters accurately
Writing is developed through phonics, shared and modelled writing, purposeful provision and opportunities linked to stories and wider curriculum learning.
Writing in Year 1
In Year 1, pupils become increasingly confident in composing and recording their ideas.
They learn to:
- rehearse sentences orally
- sequence sentences to form short narratives and non-fiction texts
- use capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks
- join words and clauses using conjunctions such as and
- use taught spelling patterns and common suffixes
- apply accurate letter formation and appropriate spacing
- reread their writing and make simple corrections
Pupils write for different purposes and audiences, including stories, recounts, descriptions, instructions and information texts.
Writing in Year 2
In Year 2, pupils develop greater control, stamina and independence.
They learn to:
- plan and organise ideas
- write narratives about real and imagined experiences
- write for a range of non-fiction purposes
- use expanded noun phrases and a wider range of conjunctions
- use past and present tense accurately
- apply full stops, capital letters, question marks, exclamation marks, commas in lists and apostrophes
- spell using taught phonics, spelling patterns, suffixes and common exception words
- reread, evaluate and improve their writing
- develop increasingly fluent and legible handwriting
By the end of Year 2, pupils are expected to write clearly and coherently, drawing on the vocabulary, grammar, spelling and punctuation they have been taught.
Oracy and writing
Speaking and listening are essential foundations for writing.
Pupils are given regular opportunities to:
- discuss ideas
- learn and use new vocabulary
- rehearse sentences aloud
- retell stories
- explain their choices
- listen and respond to others
- refine their ideas before writing
Oral rehearsal helps pupils organise their thinking and compose increasingly effective sentences.
Spelling and handwriting
Spelling is taught systematically through Little Wandle phonics and spelling. Handwriting is also taught explicitly and progressively from Nursery to Year 2.
Further detail can be found on our dedicated pages:
