Children at De Havilland love to write. They are excited and enthusiastic about it and can express their ideas confidently and imaginatively by writing effectively across a range of genres for different purposes and audiences. Children’s writing shows a high degree of grammatical accuracy and they acquire a wide vocabulary, which enables them to write clearly, coherently and creatively, with a strong command of the written word. Children develop fluent, legible handwriting, accurate spelling and are able to proof-read and edit their own work. Our high expectations and consistent approach to the teaching and learning of writing enable children to reach their full potential and achieve high standards of language and literacy. We love to see our children use and apply their writing skills in other areas of the curriculum too, which is why we look for evidence in all of their books, not just their writing one!

The Talk for Writing approach, which we use, enables children to read and write independently for a variety of purposes and audiences. A key feature of our approach is that children are given the opportunity to internalise the language needed to write. By teaching children the ‘language of writing’, which is different to spoken language, they can internalise structural and language patterns, enabling them to write imaginatively and powerfully. Through this approach, they are able to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to have control over their own writing and to apply this independently.