Writing

The Writing Curriculum at Brentfield:

The writing curriculum at Brentfield is carefully designed to build strong, confident writers from the earliest stages of learning. We recognise that writing begins long before a child puts pencil to paper, grounded in physical development, rich talk, storytelling and oral rehearsal. In the early years, there is a strong focus on developing proprioceptive skills - building children's core strength, coordination and control through activities such as vertical mark making, climbing and the use of balance bikes. At this stage, emphasis is placed on crossing the midline which supports children in developing the coordination needed to move smoothly from left to right when writing. Practical activities such as using tweezers, squeezing tools and pouring water help to strengthen fine motor control, hand muscles and coordination, laying the essential foundations for writing. 

Through the use of high quality texts, children are immersed in rich language, varied sentence structures and engaging ideas that inspire their own writing.

In the Early Years, we follow principles of the talk for writing approach where children learn to internalise language through stories, actions and repetition. High quality texts provide models of language that children can imitate and adapt, while the emphasis on oracy allows pupils to develop vocabulary, sentence structure and a secure understanding of how language works. 

As children move through Key Stage 1, this strong physical and oral foundation alongside continued exposure to high quality texts, supports them in constructing simple sentences with increasing independence. They begin to apply their phonic knowledge, develop handwriting fluency and build confidence with expressing their ideas in writing. 

In Key Stage 2, our curriculum builds towards more sustained and purposeful writing through a carefully structured five phase sequence:

• Reading Phase where pupils are immersed in the text and begin to understand the features and purpose of different genres
• Skills Phase which focuses on explicitly teaching the grammar, punctuation and language techniques needed for effective writing
• Planning Phase where pupils organise and refine their ideas 
• Writing Phase where children apply their learning to produce structured and engaging texts
• Editing Phase which encourages pupils to reflect on their writing and make improvements 

Throughout the writing journey, we place equal importance on physical readiness, creativity, technical accuracy and the development of each child's unique voice, ensuring they leave us as articulate, thoughtful and skilled writers.