Writing

Writing is a fundamental life skill which enables pupils to communicate, express ideas and engage confidently with the world around them. At Holy Family, we believe that great writing begins with great reading. Through our Good Book Journey, writing is rooted in high-quality, rich and diverse texts which expose pupils to ambitious vocabulary, a wide range of genres and different voices and experiences.

Our writing curriculum is carefully sequenced to develop knowledge and skills progressively. Teaching incorporates research-informed approaches, including Rosenshine’s principles of instruction, with modelling, guided practice and scaffolding used to build confidence and independence. Grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and sentence construction are taught explicitly and applied purposefully within writing.

Through this structured and text-rich approach, pupils develop an understanding of purpose, audience and form and learn to plan, draft, edit and publish their work. We aim for every pupil to leave Holy Family as a confident, creative and ambitious writer, equipped with the vocabulary, knowledge and skills needed for future learning and life.

The Good Book Journey

At Holy Family, reading and writing are intrinsically linked. Our Good Book Journey places high-quality literature at the heart of our writing curriculum, with carefully selected texts used to inspire, engage and provide rich models of language.

Across the six terms of the academic year, each year group explores a carefully chosen core text. Writing outcomes are mapped progressively across the school to ensure pupils experience a balance of narrative and non-narrative writing, with increasing challenge in purpose, audience, form, vocabulary and composition.

This text-led approach enables pupils to become immersed in stories, characters, settings and ideas while providing meaningful contexts in which to develop and apply their writing skills.

Good Book Journey

Drawing Club - EYFS

In EYFS, Drawing Club provides an imaginative and engaging approach to developing early language, storytelling and writing. Through carefully chosen stories, traditional tales and animations, children are introduced to rich vocabulary and encouraged to talk about characters, settings and events.

Children use drawing as a starting point for their ideas before bringing their creations to life through marks, letters, words and sentences as their writing develops. Adults model language and writing, encourage children to explain their thinking and support them in applying their growing phonics knowledge.

Drawing Club helps children develop vocabulary, imagination, confidence and a positive attitude towards writing, providing strong foundations for their journey as writers at Holy Family.

Our Approach:

Our teaching draws upon principles from Jane Considine’s The Write Stuff and Rosenshine’s principles of instruction, adapted to meet the needs of our pupils. A consistent teaching sequence provides modelling and scaffolding before supporting pupils towards increasingly independent writing.

1. Immerse – Pupils explore the text, developing understanding, vocabulary, oracy and ideas.
2. WAGOLL – A 'What a Good One Looks Like' models high expectations and demonstrates the features of effective writing.
3. Features and Boxing Up – Pupils explore purpose, structure, language and features before organising their ideas.
4. Planning – Pupils use FANTASTICS and BOOMTASTICS symbols to generate and organise individual ideas, building these together to plan a section of writing.
5. Shared Writing – Teachers model how planned ideas can be developed into effective writing, verbalising choices around vocabulary, sentence construction, grammar and authorial technique.
6. Draft, Edit and Publish – Pupils apply their learning with increasing independence, drafting, reviewing and improving their writing before producing a final piece.

This sequence supports pupils in understanding how effective writing is constructed while gradually developing the confidence and independence to make their own choices as writers.

English Writing Overview

Colourful Talk

Colourful Talk, adapted from Language Through Colour and Colourful Semantics, provides a consistent visual approach to language, grammar and sentence construction. Colour-coded symbols help pupils recognise word classes, organise language and construct increasingly complex sentences. Used across whole-class, group and individual teaching, Colourful Talk provides effective scaffolding while supporting pupils towards greater confidence and independence in writing.

Sentence Time

Sentence Time provides regular, focused teaching of grammar, punctuation, word classes and sentence construction. Sessions take place three times each week, giving pupils opportunities to identify and explore grammatical structures before applying them within their own writing. Colourful Talk symbols reinforce pupils’ understanding of word classes and sentence structure, helping them make increasingly purposeful and independent choices as writers

Spelling

Spelling is taught through a structured six-step approach using Spelling Shed resources. These are reviewed and adapted to ensure progression and alignment with the strategies pupils learn through Read Write Inc. Regular teaching, practice and application enable pupils to build spelling knowledge and apply increasingly accurate spelling within their independent writing.

Handwriting

In EYFS and Key Stage 1, pupils follow the Read Write Inc. Handwriting Village approach, with daily handwriting sessions helping children establish secure habits from the earliest stages. At the beginning of each session, expectations for sitting position, pencil grip, feet placement and chair position are reinforced. Teachers then explicitly model correct letter formation, supported by visual prompts, phrases, mnemonics and letter families.

In Key Stage 2, pupils progress to our 3 Zones approach – Sky, Grass and Ground, which supports accurate letter formation, sizing and positioning. Handwriting continues to be explicitly modelled and reinforced across the curriculum, enabling pupils to develop fluent, legible and increasingly confident handwriting.

Writing Enrichment

Our English curriculum is enriched through carefully planned experiences which broaden pupils’ cultural literacy, introduce them to significant writers and voices and provide memorable contexts for writing.

Black History Poetry Week celebrates historic and contemporary Black voices through poetry. Each year group explores an age-appropriate poet or significant figure, including Mary Seacole, Marcus Rashford, Maya Angelou, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela. Pupils encounter a range of poetic forms while exploring themes including identity, equality, respect and community.

Shakespeare Week introduces pupils to the stories, characters and language of William Shakespeare through accessible reading, drama and writing activities. It provides an opportunity for pupils to encounter an important part of our literary heritage and develop confidence when engaging with challenging language and texts.

Film Units provide an alternative high-quality stimulus for writing. Carefully selected films enable pupils to explore character, setting, atmosphere and narrative while developing vocabulary, discussion and purposeful writing across different genres.

Together, these experiences broaden pupils’ knowledge of literature, language and culture while providing rich opportunities to apply their writing skills in engaging and meaningful contexts.

Writing in Action:

Writing in action