At Askern Moss Road Infant Academy, we recognise that writing is an integral part of everyday life and want to reflect this in our own curriculum. We wish to give children the opportunity to develop a lifelong, enthusiastic attitude towards writing and enable our pupils to consider themselves ‘writers’.

We believe to become literate, children need to understand that writing is a representation of speech, and that both come in a variety of forms linked to purpose. We understand that these aspects of language are inextricably linked, and can rarely be taught or experienced discretely. As a result, Speaking and Listening has a high profile, as good oral work enhances pupils’ understanding of how language is the vehicle for communication in both oral and written forms.  

We believe that exposing children to a wide range of literature enhances the children’s language, imagination and excitement for writing. To promote this, we use a range of books that children study to use as a base for their writing.  

Writing Intent 

At Askern Moss Road Infant Academy, we understand that writing is an essential skill, and we want our children to become confident writers. Our goal is for all children to leave infant school with a love of writing and with the ability to express their thoughts, ideas and emotions clearly and creatively through the written word – for a range of audiences, purposes and genres.  

We aim for our children to see themselves as writers and to develop a lifelong love of writing. We want to give them the opportunity to develop an understanding of how widely writing is used in everyday life and, therefore, how important and useful the skills are that they are learning.

The early development of oracy, reading and physical development, play an integral role in a child’s journey to writing at our school. By the time children leave Moss Road, they will have experienced writing across a wide range of real life and creative genres, all of which have purpose within the child’s life experience.  

Our aim is to equip children with the skills needed to be able to orally rehearse, plan and compose their writing and in KS1 begin to edit their ideas. A secure knowledge of spelling and grammar is taught throughout the school in a systematic and progressive way. The content of writing lessons is planned to build on children’s previous knowledge as well as introduce new learning in a fun and memorable way.  We have high expectations for all pupils within our school and endeavour to ensure that all children make good progress in their writing.  

Writing Implementation

Our pupils begin their writing journey in Nursery where begin to learn that print conveys meaning and they also develop their ability to mark-make.

In Reception the children begin the Read, Write Inc. Phonics programme.  This is a systematic programme of synthetic phonics that ensures that the children quickly learn the sounds that letters make as well as beginning to blend those sounds to read words and then explicitly teaches them how to use their phonics skills in writing.  

The school follow the Pathways to Write scheme and all work is closely linked to a selection of diverse and interesting texts. Great importance is placed on children being able to orally retell stories. 

Writing and reading are closely linked and we ensure that children are reading daily, as well as being read to, in order to build on their knowledge of different genres of writing and develop their vocabulary.