At Thomas Coram, we believe that every child is a writer and we want them to confidently communicate and imaginatively express their ideas in their writing. We provide a range of writing opportunities that engage and enhance learning which are underpinned by beautiful, high-quality books to inspire our children to become successful, life-long writers.

Writing Scheme

We use Herts for Learning’s Essential Writing programme because it is underpinned by robust research and built on the foundation of an understanding of writing for purpose and audience.  Essential Writing is based upon beautiful, high-quality books and expertly pitched to enable children to learn the craft of writing and inspire high quality individual writing outcomes. The units are carefully designed to build children’s vocabulary and enable them to focus on the language choices that will underpin their ability to write and converse effectively. Each lesson is designed to build on the last and each unit fits into a sequential overview that gradually introduces grammar, spelling and composition skills. In Essential Writing lessons, each stage of the writing process has dedicated teaching time to enable all children to behave as writers; they learn about the discrete stages of generating and exploring ideas, planning, drafting, editing and proof checking before publishing their writing to share it with their intended audience.

For every unit of learning, writing is built upon a foundation of writing for purpose (eg to inform, entertain or persuade) and a specific audience; these considerations then drive the choices that are made during the writing process.

The Writing Process

At every stage, children organise and compose their writing orally before writing; they are given ongoing opportunities to share their writing by reading and rereading it aloud. Children continually discuss what they have written with their teacher and their peers to ensure their meaning is clear and their ideas are communicated effectively.

At every stage of the writing process, the teacher models the skill being taught to the class (in real time), making explicit the thought processes, considerations and choices made as they write.

Generating and Exploring ideas phase: the class share a book/s, discussing how the writing affects the reader and how they think that writer has achieved this. Children are explicitly taught each skill required to create a similar effect in their own writing. They then practise the skill so they can use it confidently in their own writing.

Planning phase: children gather their ideas for writing, make notes about the language they intend to use and decide how to organise their writing. Children may record their planning using writing and drawing; their plan then guides them as they draft their writing.

Drafting phase: this stage is all about children getting their ideas onto the page using their plan as a guide. There is no expectation of neatest handwriting and accurate spelling and punctuation as this is addressed at the proof checking stage of the writing process.

Editing phase: at this point the learning focus is solely on editing the content and composition of the drafted writing. Children read through their own and others’ work and offer feedback about the effectiveness of how it is written. The teacher supports and guides children to make additions and changes to their writing to help them achieve the effect they want but every child retains agency over their writing choices.

Proof checking phase: in this phase, children proof check their writing and make corrections in spelling, grammar and punctuation so that their readers can follow their writing clearly

Publishing phase: this is the final part of the process with the focus is on presenting the writing neatly and clearly so that it can be shared with the intended readers and proudly celebrated.