What Will My Child Learn?

Children are taught to write with purpose, confidence and independence through a carefully sequenced writing curriculum. We use HFL Education's Essential Writing as a key planning tool to ensure that teaching is progressive, evidence-informed and enables children to develop the knowledge, skills and strategies required to become successful writers. It is essential that children understand that their own life experiences are valuable to readers and they are therefore encouraged to make choices about their own writing.

Writing is taught through a clear process of planning, drafting, editing, revising and publishing. Children are explicitly taught how to improve their work by evaluating the effectiveness of their writing, making thoughtful revisions to vocabulary, sentence structure and organisation, before producing high-quality final pieces where appropriate. This approach helps pupils understand that writing is a process and that effective writers continually refine their work.

Each half-term, every class studies a high-quality text that provides a rich stimulus for writing across a range of genres. Carefully chosen books expose children to ambitious vocabulary, varied language structures and high-quality models of writing while supporting them to write for authentic purposes and audiences. Writing outcomes focus on the key purposes of informing, explaining, persuading and entertaining.

Our curriculum ensures that the teaching of writing is underpinned by the explicit development of transcription, handwriting, spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence construction and composition. Children are given regular opportunities to rehearse ideas orally, explore language choices, build vocabulary and develop fluency before writing independently. Through carefully scaffolded teaching, pupils gradually become increasingly independent, applying what they have learnt across a range of subjects and contexts.

Sharing high-quality literature also broadens children's reading experiences by introducing them to a diverse range of classic and contemporary authors. Studied texts include works by Anthony Horowitz, Philip Pullman, David Almond, William Shakespeare and many others, helping children to develop as both readers and writers.

Alongside our text-based English curriculum, we provide a range of exciting, immersive experiences to inspire writing, including author visits and whole school book writing. These experiences provide meaningful contexts for writing and encourage children to make purposeful choices about language, structure and presentation.

Our writing curriculum is designed to ensure that all pupils develop the knowledge, vocabulary and writing stamina needed to communicate effectively. Through explicit instruction, high-quality models, purposeful practice and regular opportunities to write at length, children become increasingly fluent, articulate and confident writers who are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Handwriting 

Handwriting is recognised as a foundational skill that underpins successful writing across the curriculum. It is taught using the HFL Handwriting Teaching Overview, which is also used at Kingsway Infants School, ensuring a consistent, well-sequenced approach to progression from the earliest stages of learning. The programme develops a fluent, automatic and legible handwriting style, enabling pupils to write efficiently and with increasing confidence.

In line with the principles of The Writing Framework, handwriting is taught explicitly and practised regularly in every year group. Children receive direct instruction, expert modelling and frequent opportunities for deliberate practice so that accurate letter formation, orientation, spacing and joins become increasingly automatic. As handwriting becomes fluent, pupils reduce the cognitive effort required for transcription, allowing them to focus more fully on composition, vocabulary and communicating their ideas effectively.

All pupils are encouraged to write with a pen and to develop neat, joined handwriting as soon as they are ready. We recognise that children develop at different rates; therefore, where joined handwriting is not yet appropriate, targeted handwriting interventions provide additional support to secure accurate letter formation and legible printed writing before progressing to joins.

Through high expectations, consistent teaching and timely intervention, we ensure that this foundational skill is securely established for every child. Fluent handwriting enables pupils to present their work with pride, communicate their ideas clearly and achieve high-quality written outcomes across the curriculum. This reflects our commitment to an ambitious, knowledge-rich curriculum in which secure transcription provides the foundation for successful composition and sustained writing.

Spelling   

Children are taught spelling through the CUSP Spelling Scheme, which is carefully sequenced and aligned to the expectations of the National Curriculum. Spelling is recognised as a foundational skill within writing. Secure knowledge of spelling enables children to develop automaticity in transcription, reducing cognitive load so that they can focus on composing, crafting and improving the quality of their writing.

From Year 3 to Year 6, spelling rules, patterns and statutory word lists are taught progressively, building on prior learning through explicit instruction, regular retrieval practice and purposeful application across the curriculum. Weekly spelling homework reinforces the pattern or rule taught in class, while providing opportunities for children to revisit previously taught learning and challenge themselves with increasingly complex vocabulary.

Spelling is assessed regularly to ensure that teaching is responsive to pupils' needs and that misconceptions are identified and addressed promptly. Assessment information is used to inform targeted support and interventions, enabling all children to secure the essential knowledge required for accurate transcription. Where a child participates in a spelling intervention, their weekly spelling homework reflects the specific knowledge and patterns taught during those sessions, ensuring coherent practice between intervention and classroom learning.

By developing secure spelling knowledge alongside handwriting, grammar and punctuation, we enable children to become fluent, confident writers who can devote their attention to communicating ideas effectively rather than the mechanics of transcription.

Grammar and Punctuation  

As children progress through Kingsway Juniors, they develop an increasingly secure understanding of English grammar and punctuation. In line with the principles of The Writing Framework, grammar and punctuation are taught within the context of meaningful writing rather than as isolated, discrete lessons. This enables children to understand not only how grammatical features work, but also the effect their choices have on the reader and the purpose of their writing.

Our HFL Essential Writing planning, also used by Kingsway Infants to promote consistent progression, weaves grammar and punctuation seamlessly into each unit of work, providing a systematic and cumulative progression of knowledge and skills across the school. Each year group builds on prior learning, ensuring that children revisit and consolidate key concepts while being introduced to increasingly sophisticated language choices. Teachers carefully model and discuss how grammatical and punctuation choices can shape meaning, create specific effects and engage the reader, before supporting pupils to apply these skills independently in their own writing. Through this integrated approach, children become confident, accurate and purposeful writers who understand that grammar and punctuation are powerful tools for effective communication.

Vocabulary   

The explicit teaching of vocabulary is embedded throughout the English curriculum and across the wider curriculum, recognising the fundamental role that language plays in developing pupils' speaking, reading and writing. Carefully selected, high-quality texts provide a rich language model and create regular opportunities for teachers to explicitly teach, revisit and deepen pupils' understanding of ambitious vocabulary. New vocabulary is taught in meaningful contexts, explored through discussion and reading, and revisited to support long-term retention and application.

Children have regular access to dictionaries and thesauruses and are taught how to use them effectively to develop independence as writers. They are encouraged to make deliberate and purposeful vocabulary choices, selecting language that is precise, ambitious and appropriate for audience and purpose. Through shared writing, modelled writing and purposeful opportunities to write, pupils are supported to rehearse, refine and apply newly acquired vocabulary across a range of genres.

Vocabulary development is planned progressively so that pupils build a broad and increasingly sophisticated repertoire of language. This enables them to write with increasing accuracy, fluency and authorial control, while developing the confidence to craft writing that is coherent, engaging and effective. Teachers continually assess pupils' understanding and use of vocabulary, ensuring that all learners are supported and challenged to become confident, articulate communicators.

How can I help my child?