English - Writing
Welcome to our English Curriculum
At Cuddington Croft, we believe that writing is a powerful tool that enables children to communicate, create, influence and express themselves with confidence. We are committed to fostering a lifelong love of writing through rich language experiences, high-quality texts and purposeful opportunities to write for real audiences and meaningful purposes.
From Years 1-6, writing is taught through Essential Writing (Herts for Learning), a carefully sequenced and ambitious curriculum that is fully aligned to the National Curriculum. Through reading, discussion and explicit teaching, children develop the knowledge, vocabulary and skills needed to become articulate, confident and successful writers.
Our aim is for every child to see themselves as a writer, take pride in their work and understand the power of language to inform, entertain, persuade and inspire.
Our Writing Intent
At Cuddington Croft, we want all children to develop a genuine love of writing and leave our primary school as confident, independent and effective communicators.
Our writing curriculum is designed to ensure children:
- Write confidently and successfully for a range of audiences and purposes.
- Develop a rich and ambitious vocabulary through reading and discussion.
- Securely apply spelling, grammar and punctuation knowledge.
- Build stamina and resilience as writers through regular opportunities for extended writing.
- Understand and value the writing process through planning, drafting, editing and publishing.
- Draw upon high-quality texts to influence and enhance their own writing.
- Reflect upon and improve their work through self-assessment and feedback.
- Take pride in their achievements and develop a lifelong appreciation of writing.
The curriculum is carefully sequenced so that knowledge and skills build over time. Children revisit and apply previously taught learning, enabling them to know more, remember more and achieve more as writers.
Implementation - how do we plan and teach English?
Writing is taught through Essential Writing (Herts for Learning) using carefully selected, high-quality texts that provide engaging contexts for learning and inspire children's writing.
Lessons are structured to build knowledge and develop writing skills progressively. Teachers use model texts, shared writing and live modelling to demonstrate the writing process and establish high expectations for all children. Vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and composition are explicitly taught and revisited throughout each unit, enabling children to apply their learning independently.
Children are provided with regular opportunities to:
- Explore and discuss ambitious vocabulary.
- Analyse how authors use language and structure for effect.
- Plan, draft, edit and publish their writing.
- Write for a range of audiences and purposes.
- Collaborate with peers through discussion and shared writing.
- Produce independent extended pieces which showcase their learning.
Writing checklists are used in Years 1-6 to support self-assessment, helping children identify strengths and next steps in their writing. Teachers use ongoing assessment to adapt teaching, address misconceptions and ensure all children are supported and challenged to succeed.
By linking reading and writing closely together, children develop a deeper understanding of authorial choices and learn how to apply these techniques within their own writing.
At Cuddington Croft, our spelling curriculum is taught through Spelling Shed, which provides a progressive and systematic approach to the teaching of spelling in line with National Curriculum expectations. Children develop a secure understanding of spelling patterns, rules and statutory word lists through regular practice and retrieval. Opportunities to apply spelling knowledge across the curriculum, particularly within writing, enable children to become accurate, confident and independent writers.
Impact - what does progress look like?
The impact of our writing curriculum is evident in the quality, creativity and independence of children's writing across the curriculum.
Children become increasingly confident in selecting ambitious vocabulary, making purposeful language choices and applying grammatical knowledge accurately. They can discuss their learning, explain how authors create impact and articulate how drafting and editing improve the quality of their work.
As children move through the school, they build the knowledge and skills needed to write successfully for a range of audiences and purposes. They become increasingly independent in making effective choices about vocabulary, grammar and structure, demonstrating resilience throughout the writing process and pride in the high quality outcomes they produce.
When our children leave Cuddington Croft, a good learner in Writing will…
Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering its impact on the reader.
Write confidently for a range of audiences and purposes using accurate grammatical features and a wide range of ambitious and effective vocabulary which draws upon what they have read as models.
Have a passion for writing that encourages them to write independently beyond the classroom.
Understand the purpose and importance of drafting, editing and publishing a piece of writing.
Make thoughtful and purposeful choices as a writer, selecting language and structure to achieve the desired effect on the reader.
Please find our English resources below:
Spellings
Our Spelling Intent
Throughout the school, discrete weekly spelling lessons are taught to enable the children to slowly build upon their existing knowledge and make links in their learning. In Years 1 & 2, this happens as well as regular phonics sessions each week. This allows clear progression through the objectives. As each year progresses, children will become more accurate spellers and therefore more skilled writers due to the development of spelling rules. Evidence of these spelling rules within the children’s written work will be seen across all subjects to help teachers assess the impact.
Implementation - how do we plan and teach Spellings?
Each week in Years 1-6 one discrete spelling lesson is taught. For Years 1 & 2, this is in addition to their regular weekly phonics lessons. Teachers use the year group objectives to plan their spelling lessons in order to ensure the correct spelling rules are covered to aid progression. Children are given differentiated challenge levels to choose from linked to their given spelling rules and spelling journals are used to document lessons. Children are given the opportunity to apply words following the given spelling rule to their writing by writing detailed sentences and paragraphs which also include some of their year group writing objectives. Weekly spelling homework on Readitwriter, linked to the spelling rule covered in the lesson, is given to help children practise the spelling rule within isolated words and within sentences to ensure they understand the meaning and how to spell it.
Impact- what does progress look like?
A spelling display is evident in each classroom and updated weekly based on each year group's current spelling rule. All classes from Years 1-6 have shown improvement in their year group spelling test scores from their baseline tests at the start of the year to their spring term tests, with some children already making a significant increase in their score. A spelling learning walk in the autumn term in Years 3-6 showed the impact of the spelling staff training at the beginning of the year through the use of high expectations in all classes, appropriate learning objectives and success criteria and differentiated challenge levels. As a result, staff and children in all classes had high quality discussions about spelling rules and patterns using a range of key spelling terminology. In Years 1 & 2, the use of RWI to teach regular phonics lessons each week as well as still teaching one discrete spelling lesson each week has allowed the children to make links in their learning and has created a more natural progression in their understanding of spellings.
