Writing

The writing curriculum is sequenced so that it is cumulative, whereby the children’s knowledge is constantly revisited and built upon. It has also been designed so that, in non-fiction, once the skills have been learnt there is an expectation that they will be applied across the curriculum.

Writing is taught daily across the school and additional spelling and grammar lessons are planned in when, and where, necessary.

This diagram explains the planning that is in place to support the implementation of the curriculum’s intent and the whole school overview. These plans are all available within the school’s English Team’s folder.

Long Term Yearly Overview

For every year group, a detailed long-term overview which clearly explains prior and future learning alongside age-related expectations. The document details unit outcomes, relevant supporting literature alongside the model, focus and plot pattern being taught.

The grammar expectations for each year group are then included and it is expected that through diagnostic assessments teachers will weave in the grammar into the units of work so that it is taught contextually. In many cases the unit of work are complemented by the Talk for Reading units as we believing that the reading feeds the writing.

Additionally, cross curricular links are plotted to ensure that children apply non-fiction writing in the context of a discreet subject

The long-term and yearly overview will be evaluated on an annual basis taking into consideration impact on learning and feedback from pupils and teachers.

Detailed planning for units is archived in the English folders for teachers who wish to access fine planning detail and unit overview.

Every unit, in every year group, has a document with the model text, suggested elements of the toolkit for that init, plot pattern or structure and a five sentence story. Teachers use theis document to plan, or modify, the unit, which follows the journey from start to finish as shown below.  Teachers select a 25, 15 or 10 day planto suit the planned length of the unit as indicated in the long term map.

Refer to our Early Writing Curriculum document, which can be found in our Curriculum section of the website, for more information on the pedagogy and methodology of our approach to teaching early writing.

All staff are routinely trained and supported in the Talk for Writing approach by an accredited TfW trainer(s) and phase leaders. CPD opportunities are detailed on the training schedule and rigorous, intensive support is provided where necessary by expert teachers. We believe at East Hunsbury that we learn best together so we have created a vibrant professional learning culture that is focussed on a relentless drive to improve ourselves so that we can improve the lives of those whom we teach.

At EHPS we have a Talk for Writing team who actively seek out best practice and use this to further expand teachers’ competencies and confidence when delivering the approach. They work closely together to develop and support staff to drive through the approach successfully.

We develop our staff by drawing upon research-based practice but also using our own practice as important research.

We have 3 members of staff who have completed the NPQ in Leading Literacy and one member of staff who is a moderator for the county.

Our ambition is to expose our children to a rich and varied array of enriching writing opportunities. We purposefully plan opportunities that will allow the children to apply the skills that they have learnt from their writing units but equally allow them to be the writer that they want to be.

In exercising their authorial agency as writers, our curriculum provides regular opportunities for them to be able to decide:

• what they want to write about (content),

• what their writing is seeking to achieve (purpose)

• who will read their writing (audience)

• what form might be appropriate (form)

Our annual work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, author visits, live lessons (from Pie Corbett) drama for writing and free writing / invention sessions all contribute to the writing enrichment that we provide at EHPS.

We believe that Talk for Writing is inclusive and through careful scaffolding all children will be able to achieve and make the progress which they are capable of. Each of the 3 stages of Talk for Writing can be adapted to meet the needs of the learners. For example, all children can be innovating, retelling or learning a story but all in a way that has maximum impact on their learning. At EHPS, we understand the importance of liberating the transcriptional elements to facilitate the recording of the compositional. As such, we ensure that we scaffold and challenge in both these areas accordingly.

Intent

We are an inclusive school, and our curriculum is inclusive by design. At the centre of the Hive curriculum is the Talk for Writing strategy. Our intent is that our learners develop a love of story and to experience high quality texts that will develop their receptive and expressive language and for their learning opportunities to be immersive and memorable.

Implementation

Working with Jane Ralphs, Talk for Writing’s SEND specialist, we have created a curriculum using the Talk for Writing Approach that is adapted for pupils with SEND. Following the 3 I’s of Immersion, Imitation and Innovation the children learn to progress their receptive and expressive language at a rate and stage that is appropriate to them, individually.

A teacher in the Specialist unit is a member of the TfW team and works closely with the teachers in the Specialist Unit to amend the approach to suit the diverse and individual needs of the children. Talk for Writing will feature as an anchor in their curriculum and be a thread that unites mainstream and The Hive. Development work in 2025-26 with a SEN specialist Talk for Writing consultant will move the strategy forward to embed.

To develop sentence level writing in our Hive, a progression of key sentence building helps teachers to pitch teaching to suit the individual needs of both classes and individuals so that all children experience success as emergent writers.

Impact

At the heart of our approach is the belief that the journey through story to develop receptive and expressive language, will permeate confidence in the use of everyday spoken language and support the transcription of sentence and simply written forms.

See The Hive webpage for more information about how writing is taught and assessed.

Embedding British Values in the Writing Curriculum

British Values—Democracy, Rule of Law, Individual Liberty, Mutual Respect, and Tolerance—are integrated into writing to shape children’s perspectives, encourage critical thinking, and develop their voices as responsible citizens.

Democracy in Writing

Children express opinions, listen to different viewpoints, and engage in persuasive writing. Writing letters, speeches, and opinion pieces fosters participation and respect for diverse perspectives.

Rule of Law and Structure

Understanding writing rules mirrors the need to aspire to positive outcomes. Children learn structured writing, grammar, and text organization, reinforcing discipline and fairness.

Individual Liberty and Creativity

Encouraging free writing, storytelling, and poetry helps children to develop unique voices while exploring themes of personal freedom and responsibility.

Mutual Respect and Collaboration

Collaborative writing, peer reviews, and discussions promote respect for different perspectives. Exploring diverse cultures through writing builds appreciation for others.

Tolerance and Diversity

Exposure to literature from different backgrounds cultivates empathy. Writing from various perspectives helps challenge stereotypes and encourages inclusivity.

By embedding British Values in writing, children become expressive, open-minded individuals who understand language’s role in promoting respect and unity.

Protected characteristics

Our primary school writing curriculum embraces protective characteristics to promote inclusivity and respect. By encouraging diverse perspectives, empathy, equality, and a supportive learning environment for all students is built.

By the time the children reach the end of our writing curriculum, they will have experienced a rich variety of the finest literature, they will have written in a range of text types and for a variety of different audiences and purposes. The impact of the curriculum will be that they become an effective communicator through the medium of writing, have developed authorial agency and are able to engage in meaningful discussions about their own work and the work of others.

Writing evidence will be recorded in writing books.

Writing will be assessed using:

• Diagnostic assessment of the cold task.

• As the EEF states:

High-quality assessment and diagnosis should be used to target and adapt teaching to pupil’s needs. Rapid provision of support is important but it is critical to ensure that it is the right support. Diagnostic assessment can be used to inform professional judgment about the best next steps. Diagnostic assessment makes teaching more efficient by ensuring that effort is not wasted on rehearsing skills or content that a pupil already knows.

• The Independent Application task(s) – Hot task which is completed by pupils at the end of each unit- teachers must use this to assess the impact of the teaching and use the NPAT teacher assessment framework (see below) to support any judgements made.

• The NPAT Teacher Assessment Framework for each year group will be routinely cross-checked by teachers both at moderation and as an assessment tool when analysing outcome of the children’s hot tasks. This assessment document will be used to moderate and standardise our assessments both within school and across the Trust.

• Use of the school’s Primary Writing Toolkit folders which is a body of work produced by HfL and published by Collins. This toolkit supports teachers planning, assessment and moderation of writing alongside the NPAT Teacher assessment Framework.

• Cross-curricular writing as detailed in the long-term plan. Here the teachers can assess the application of non-fiction writerly skills in a newly learnt or revisited concept.

• Whole-school and cluster / academy writing moderation led by teachers in school one of which is an SLE.

• No more marking assessment – comparative judgement

• Pupil voice and surveys will help us understand how children perceive themselves as writers and value writing.

• Year 2 and Year 6, TAF (teacher framework) and exemplification documents are used as a reference during the in-school moderation of these specific year groups.

• Quality Assurance of writing is completed by the writing lead alongside the writing team and class teachers during data entry times.

The way in which we assess children as writers will be routinely monitored to ensure that the information we gather is appropriate, useful and impactful on teaching and learning.

The writing leader, along with phase leaders, will work collaboratively with all staff to offer bespoke support in order to continually improve practice. Leaders will identify any support required through skills audits, team meetings, staff and pupil surveys, learning walks, monitoring systems and the standard of work in books and classrooms.

Appendix 1: Grammar essentials LTM

Example of model text, toolkit and scaffold for a year 2 unit

Appendix 2: examples of literature to support British Values

Democracy

• The Day the Crayons Quit – Drew Daywalt (Encourages discussions about fairness and having a voice)

• We Found a Hat – Jon Klassen (Explores taking turns and making fair decisions)

• Duck for President – Doreen Cronin (Introduces elections and leadership in a fun way)

Rule of Law

• What If Everybody Did That? – Ellen Javernick (Explains the impact of following or breaking rules)

• Officer Buckle and Gloria – Peggy Rathmann (Emphasizes safety and why rules matter)

• No, David! – David Shannon (Discusses consequences of breaking rules)

Individual Liberty

• Giraffes Can't Dance – Giles Andreae (Encourages self-expression and confidence)

• The Dot – Peter H. Reynolds (Promotes creativity and believing in yourself)

• Be Who You Are – Todd Parr (Celebrates diversity and self-acceptance)

Mutual Respect and Tolerance

• The Name Jar – Yangsook Choi (Teaches respect for different cultures and names)

• Elmer – David McKee (Promotes inclusion and valuing differences)

• Last Stop on Market Street – Matt de la Peña (Encourages empathy and understanding)