Writing at Healdswood

At Healdswood, we want all children to leave Year 2 being creative storytellers and writers, to develop strong transcription skills and coherently write fiction and non-fiction pieces. Above all we want children to develop a love, passion and enjoyment towards writing.

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Children are immersed in Talk for Writing from Nursery to Year 2. They are taught how to compose stories using a variety of story structures (e.g. Journey Story) and how to create effective and coherent stories to engage the reader. Teachers act as expert models of the writing process in daily story telling and shared writing.  

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Grammar is taught explicitly through Talk for Writing units, as the familiar context ensures grammar knowledge is better internalised. Spelling lessons continue to build on solid phonic knowledge and children are taught key national curriculum spellings. Handwriting expectations are set high at Healdswood and children learn to write using a 4-line writing frame.

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We regularly ensure opportunities for children’s ideas and writing to be shared, displayed, published but above all celebrated.

Talk 4 Writing

Talk for Writing was developed by the author Pie Corbett. It has four phases (Invention, Imitation, Innovation and Independent Application), that all support the children to retell stories and create their own story using different styles and structures. Children explore high quality texts (stories), and draw upon their previous knowledge and skills to create their own pieces of writing. The teacher models the writing process during daily shared writing sessions and there are regular opportunities for children’s writing and ideas to be shared and displayed.

The end goal of the teaching of any writing should be to develop children into thriving independent writers, and so at the end of each ‘unit/block’ – once all of the teaching, modelling, skills and knowledge have taken place – there is an opportunity for children to produce a final, independent piece of work.

We provide a wide variety of purposes for writing and, in the Early Years, provide many opportunities for child-initiated and role-play writing.