Our vision for writing is that children will learn the skills needed and have a deeper understanding of how our language works in order to become confident and capable writers. They will be able to use writing to express themselves and communicate to others and will write independently for a range of purposes, reflecting on their own and others writing.

Aims and Objectives

The programmes of study for writing at key stages 1 and 2 consist of two dimensions:

• transcription (spelling and handwriting)


• composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing)

It is essential that teaching develops pupils’ competence in these two dimensions. In addition, pupils should be taught how to plan, revise and evaluate their writing.

The aims of teaching writing at Beech Street Community Primary are consistent with the National Curriculum and Early Learning Goals.

We aim to:

• help children enjoy writing and recognise its value


• enable children to write with accuracy and meaning in narrative and non-fiction


• increase the children’s ability to use planning, drafting and editing to improve their work 

We follow a Mastery approach to English through the programme ‘Pathways to Write.’ Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for writing. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the writing activities provided.  Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.  

Children are expected to apply their writing skills and knowledge in cross curricular lessons; teachers provide extended writing opportunities to ensure children can write for sustained periods of time and at length. During all writing activities, high expectations and standards of writing in terms of composition, word selection, spelling and punctuation are expected.

We provide time for the children to reflect on their writing – evaluating and editing their work to make improvements. We encourage peer assessment where the children share their work with each other, providing feedback against the mastery keys. Writing toolkits including dictionaries, thesauruses, vocabulary mats, genre features and model texts are easily accessible.

Our young authors’ accomplishments are celebrated through classroom and whole-school writing displays, learning walls and certificates.

Children’s progress in phonics and spelling, punctuation and grammar is tracked through regular summative and formative assessment (including Phonics Assessment and NFER). Writing is teacher assessed against year group expectations; this is supported using Development Matters, and the Teacher Assessment Frameworks for Year 2 and Year 6. 

Writing teaching and learning is monitored on a termly basis through learning walks, pupil observations, discussions of work within school books, data analysis and progress meetings.