The Teaching of Writing

There are two areas to the National Curriculum programmes of study for writing at key stages 1 and 2:

transcription (spelling and handwriting)

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

Writing down ideas fluently depends on effective transcription: that is, on spelling quickly and accurately through knowing the relationship between sounds and letters (phonics) and understanding the morphology (word structure) and orthography (spelling structure) of words.

Effective composition involves forming, articulating and communicating ideas, and then organising them coherently for a reader. This requires clarity, awareness of the audience, purpose and context, and an increasingly wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. Writing also depends on fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy handwriting.

At Clifford Road Primary School, children write for different purposes and audiences. We use a range of stimuli for writing, such as drama, film, stories, pictures and articles. The children are taught how to plan, edit and redraft their work ready for 'publication'. As you walk around the school, the display boards are full of the children's published work.

Star Writer Award

We take great pride in the writing the children produce and celebrate achievement with a weekly Star Writer assembly. Teachers nominate children on the basis of personal achievement within a piece of writing. They send the writing, with reasons why the work is worthy of a Star Writer award, to Mrs. Wilson (the English leader), who will then choose up to 5 children from the nominations. Parents are informed and invited to the assembly. During the assembly, we celebrate this achievement with the whole school and each child reads part of their writing to the audience. They are given a very special Clifford Road Primary Star Writer pen and notebook and their work is displayed for all to see in the foyer. We keep all the writing in special portfolios for children and visitors to look at.   

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