Writing

Many skills go into a good piece of writing. With so many terms an skills to learn, it is importand to support our pupils in building their knowledge so they can become competent writers who enjoy writing for a variety of purposes.

Spelling, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary - it can be difficult to know where to start. We sequence lessons carefully threading these skills through each unit of writing. On this page, you will find some useful websites to support pupils in consolidating the learning we teach in school.

For information at what is expected in Writing at the end of each year, please go to the page End of Year Expectations

Our teachers work with lists of words, called common exception words, for each school year. These are words which are spelled without using the normal spelling rules and so they just have to be learned as your child goes through school. Click on your year for an expanded picture.

At school we use a variety of interesting texts and short video clips to engage children's interests and support them in developing their writing. Sometimes we understand pupils can find it difficult to get their writing started. To support them with this, we may sometimes give children story openers (the first line of a story). Have a look at the Literacy Shed where you will find some fantastic resources and video clips to help develop your child's imagination.

To support teachers in gauging what level pupils are working at, the Department for Education have provided exemplification documents for the end of Key Stage 1 and the end of Key Stage 2. 

You can find these technical documents here:

BBC Bitesize is a great resource to support pupils in developing a variety of skills necessary for writing. They offer short video lessons and games for pupils to play all to support their love and learning of writing.

For games on building sentences and supporting pupils in developing their editing skills, go to Sentence Play. Here you will find a variety of games focussing on sentence structure.

For early reading and spelling, try PhonicsPlay. This website includes games for spelling using phonics and is full of handy hints and tips to support your child's learning

On primary resources you will find interactive games which build vocabulary, practise grammar and spelling. This website offers activities for Reception through to Year 6.