We welcome children back to school on Thursday 4th September! Have a lovely summer holiday!
We welcome children back to school on Thursday 4th September! Have a lovely summer holiday!
St Stephen Churchtown Academy

Writing 2025-2026

Writing
Our intent:

At St Stephen Churchtown Academy we value writing as a key life skill and are dedicated to enabling our pupils to become confident and competent writers.

 

Every pupil will:

  • be able to transcribe and compose their ideas into writing.
  • learn to spell accurately and quickly using a secure understanding of phonics.
  • learn to create and articulate their ideas in a coherent way.
  • be aware of their audience and the purpose of their writing and adapt their language accordingly.
  • Be exposed to a wide vocabulary that is taught discreetly and through exposure to high quality texts.
  • develop a fluent and legible handwriting style.
  • appreciate our literary heritage through exposure to high quality texts
Nursery
In Nursery writing is a specific area of learning within Literacy. Writing is accessed across all areas of learning through inside and outside provision targetted at developing gross and fine motor skills. Nursery enjoy exploring gross motor skills through 'Squiggle While You Wiggle' which supports their writing development. Fine motor skills are developed through a variety of activities including threading, cutting and pencil control.  
Reception
In Reception, we are active writers always starting with a finger fit activity to ignite our love of writing. All reception pupils take part in an independent write four times per week. The children work towards creating super sentences to go on their proud cloud. 
 
Year 1
In year 1 we say out loud what we are going to write about and compose a sentence orally before writing it. We sequence sentences to form short sentences and reread our writing to check it makes sense which we begin to independently make changes to. We use adjectives to describe, capital letters for names, places the days of the week and the personal pronoun 'I'. We use finger spaces to seprate our words and full stops to end sentences. We use the joining word (conjunction) and to link sentences to create compound sentences.
Year 2
In year 2 we write narratives about personal experiences and those of others (real and fictional). We plan our writing including writing down ideas and/or key words and new vocabulary. We reread to check that our writing makes sense and that the correct tense is used throughout and proof read to check for errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation. We use the present tense and past tense mostly correctly and consistently and use expanded noun phrases to describe and specify. We begin to use subordination to create complex sentences and use the full range of punctuation taught at Key Stage 1.
 
Year 3

In year 3 we begin to use ideas from their own reading and modelled examples to plan our writing. We begin to organise our writing into paragraphs around a theme and  compose and rehearse sentences orally (including dialogue). We begin to use the structure of a wider range of text types (including the use of simple layout devices in non-fiction) and make deliberate ambitious word choices to add detail. We learn how to punctuate direct speech accurately, including the use of inverted commas and create subordinate clauses by using a wider range of conjunctions, including when, if, because, and although.

 

 

Year 4

In year 4 we continue to compose and rehearse sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures. We consistently organise our writing into paragraphs around a theme to add cohesion and to aid the reader. We write a range of narratives, that are well- structured and well-paced, and non-fiction pieces using a consistent and appropriate structure. We create detailed settings, characters and plot in narratives to engage the reader and to add atmosphere and always maintain an accurate tense throughout a piece of writing. We use all of the necessary punctuation in direct speech, including a comma after the reporting clause and all end punctuation within the inverted commas and to consistently use apostrophes for singular and plural possession.

Year 5
In year 5 we plan our writing by identifying the audience for and purpose of the writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for our own and consider, when planning narratives, how authors have developed characters and settings in what we have read, listened to or seen performed. We consistently produce sustained and accurate writing from different narrative and non-fiction genres with appropriate structure, organisation and layout devices for a range of audiences and purposes. We describe settings, characters and atmosphere with carefully chosen vocabulary to enhance mood, clarify meaning and create pace. We use commas consistently to clarify meaning or to avoid ambiguity and use brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis.
 
Year 6
In year 6 we write effectively for a range of purposes and audiences, selecting the appropriate form and drawing independently on what we have read as models for our own writing. We look to enhance and clarify the meaning of our writing through our use of vocabulary, grammar and punctuation. We use a range devices to build cohesion in and across paragraphs and organisational and presentational devices to structure writing. We use the full range of punctuation from Key Stage 2 including colons, semi-colons,dashes and hyphens.