At Beechview Academy, the teaching of writing is the foundation of our curriculum. Our main aim is to ensure that every single child progresses to the best of their ability in writing to confidently express themselves through their written work. Writing is critical to pupils’ success in education and beyond. At Beechview we value the process of writing and practice regularly to build strong, confident writers over time. Good thinking is the foundation of good writing, and high quality class texts linked to our curriculum allow children to develop their ideas and authorial voice around key concepts.

At Beechview, we use the writing for pleasure principles from the Writing for Pleasure Centre and a research-based practice to support our delivery of the writing curriculum. Children are able to choose what they write about based on a few guidelines we provide them with. In enabling this choice, we remove any barriers to the process of writing, allowing children to use what knowledge they have already, so their focus is on the skill of writing itself. We also use personal writing projects that allow children to write beyond lessons, further developing and demonstrating their skills.

At Beechview, we aim to teach writing skills so that children are continually building upon previous knowledge and skills in a purposeful and progressive manner. Ambitious vocabulary is explicitly taught across subjects to enable children to express themselves creatively as well as to consolidate learning. Writing opportunities are purposeful and engaging, with a focus on the audience to shape the style and tone of the text. The process of writing allows children to build their knowledge and understanding and explore ideas creatively through ‘ideas parties’ before their planning and first draft, from which they will then use self, peer and teacher feedback to revise and edit before they publish their work. Publishing opportunities illustrate the importance of presentation, and writing from every child is celebrated in class and school displays.

In line with the National Curriculum, we also ensure that each year group is taught the explicit grammar, punctuation and spelling objectives required for their age range. Phonics interventions are taught to improve children’s progress with their spelling and reading skills. In addition to this, we have EAL support directed to children who are not fluent English speakers where they work to develop their vocabulary and access to the curriculum.