At St Matthew’s we aim to encourage the children to see writing as a process where drafting, proof-reading and editing are important skills. We encourage them to develop these skills through peer assessment, responding to teacher feedback and self-reflective time to improve. Consequently when they leave us, the children will have developed the skills needed to thrive in Keys Stage 3 and beyond.

Across Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, a plethora of genres are covered. With a diverse range of stimuli including film footage; rich and challenging narrative texts; picture books and topic related experiences being utilised to engage the children to create imaginative fiction and non-fiction pieces for a varied range of purposes and audiences. At the start of each unit, the children are immersed in the characters, story or topic through a range of exciting activities including pay dough modelling, role play and soundscapes.

Meanwhile, in Reception the focus is on the acquisition of early fine motor skills, talk and phonics in order to develop their writing skills. Our creative indoor and outdoor environments, which the children access daily, reflect all aspects of language development- speaking, listening, reading and writing with topics reflect children’s interests; high-quality texts and real life opportunities, are used to inspire a desire to write.

Through the use of drama such as role play or reciting aloud; speaking and listening activities such as debate; the creation of art projects or soundscapes; and real-life situations such as trips or visitors, we look to provide the children with interesting scenarios from which the skills of grammar and composition can be taught.