English

Writing at Kingsley

At Kingsley CP, we have very high expectations for writing. We want every child to become a confident, creative and independent writer who can communicate their ideas clearly and take pride in their work.

Our Writing Curriculum

We follow Pathways to Write, developed by The Literacy Company. Each half term, every class explores a new high-quality book which provides the inspiration and purpose for their writing. Alongside this, children are explicitly taught a set of Mastery Keys – carefully chosen writing skills appropriate to their year group. These skills are modelled, practised and revisited so that children build upon their previous learning and develop an increasingly sophisticated writing toolkit. At the end of each half term, children complete an independent piece of writing. This allows teachers to assess how confidently children can apply their newly learned skills for themselves.

I do, We do, You do

Our writing lessons follow the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model, using a consistent "I do, We do, You do" approach.

I do – the teacher explicitly models how a writer thinks, orally rehearses, writes, edits and improves.
We do – children explore and practise the skill with their teacher and classmates.
You do – children apply what they have learned independently.

This gradual release ensures that children receive plenty of modelling and support before being expected to use a new skill for themselves.

Talk First, Write Second!

Oracy is an important part of writing at Kingsley. Children regularly rehearse sentences aloud, discuss vocabulary and share ideas with a partner before writing. Teachers model high-quality spoken sentences so that children learn to formulate and refine their ideas before putting pencil to paper.

Becoming Better Writers

We place a strong emphasis on sentence composition as we teach children how to construct, manipulate and improve sentences. Children also learn that successful writers continually reread, edit and revise their work. Our Steps to Success (a child-friendly and visual checklist containing the skills for that lesson) make the lesson focus clear and help children reflect on their writing throughout a lesson. Additionally, ‘live marking’ takes place where possible, meaning that feedback is often given in the moment, allowing children to respond and make improvements straight away.

High Expectations for Every Child

Our approach at Kingsley is consistent across school and closely aligns with the Department for Education's Writing Framework, including its emphasis on gradual release of responsibility, oracy, sentence composition, handwriting, spelling, posture and positioning, and editing and revision.

Most importantly, we believe every child can become a successful writer, as we provide support and scaffolds where needed, without lowering our expectations. Through inspiring books, excellent modelling, purposeful practice and increasing independence, we give our children the knowledge and confidence they need to see themselves as writers.

Handwriting at Kingsley

At Kingsley CP, we are passionate about handwriting and have exceptionally high expectations for every child. We don't want our children's handwriting to be simply OK – we want it to be the Kingsley way! We expect children's work to be neat, fluent and beautifully presented, and we explicitly teach the skills they need to achieve this.

Building Strong Foundations

Good handwriting starts long before children begin joining letters. From the earliest stages, we develop the gross and fine motor skills children need for writing and explicitly teach the physical habits that make handwriting comfortable and efficient.

Across school, we consistently focus on:

‘Ready to Write’ posture – sitting correctly with feet supported and the chair positioned appropriately.
Pencil grip – explicitly teaching children how to hold and control their pencil.
Paper positioning – ensuring paper is positioned at the correct angle for comfortable, fluent writing.
Letter formation – teaching children how to form letters correctly from the beginning.
Size and spacing – developing handwriting that is consistent, clear and easy to read.

These routines become automatic because the same high expectations are reinforced throughout school.

Supporting Every Writer

We recognise that handwriting is not one-size-fits-all. Teachers identify children who may need additional support and provide appropriate adaptations while continuing to maintain high expectations. We pay particular attention to our left-handed writers. This includes considering where they sit to ensure sufficient writing space and positioning and angling their paper correctly (we call this the ‘lefty lift!’).

From Formation to Fluency

Our approach to handwriting is carefully progressive, with each stage building securely on the one before it.

In EYFS, children learn to print, with a strong focus on developing the physical skills needed for writing and forming letters correctly from the very beginning.

In Year 1, children progress to pre-cursive handwriting, introducing lead-ins and preparing them for joining.

To help children understand and remember how letters are formed, we teach letters in four letter families according to the movements needed to form them:

One-Armed Robot Letters
Zig-Zag Letters
Ladder Letters
Curly Caterpillar Letters

These memorable groups give children a consistent language for talking about letter formation as they progress through school.

From Year 2, once children have mastered correct letter formation and are developmentally ready, they begin to use cursive handwriting. We do not rush children into joining before they are ready – secure formation comes first. We keep joining simple and consistent by teaching children just two types of join: the horizontal ‘washing-line’ join and the diagonal ‘crane’ join. This gives children a clear strategy they can apply when developing their own fluent cursive handwriting.

As children move through Key Stage 2, the emphasis increasingly shifts towards fluency, speed and quality, while maintaining the neatness, legibility and consistency we expect at Kingsley.

Handwriting is not something that is taught once and then forgotten. It is explicitly taught, practised, modelled and reinforced continually throughout a child's time at Kingsley, helping handwriting become increasingly automatic so that children can focus their attention on the content and quality of their writing.

The Kingsley Way

Our approach reflects the principles of the Department for Education's Writing Framework, recognising that fluent handwriting supports successful writing. When handwriting becomes automatic, children have greater capacity to concentrate on composing, developing and improving their ideas. Teachers model the same high standards we expect from our children, and handwriting and presentation are valued across the curriculum.

At Kingsley, beautiful handwriting is something to be proud of. Through explicit teaching, consistent routines, regular practice and very high expectations, we help every child develop handwriting that is fluent, legible and unmistakably the Kingsley way.

Spelling, Punctuation & Grammar at Kingsley

At Kingsley CP, we want children to become confident and accurate spellers who apply their spelling knowledge independently within their writing. We know that spelling can be challenging, so we have developed an approach that combines explicit teaching with regular practice, high expectations and plenty of motivation.

Level Up Spellings

At the heart of our approach is Level Up Spellings – our very own Kingsley Spelling Championship! We created Level Up to make learning the National Curriculum spelling words exciting, achievable and rewarding. Rather than attaching words to particular year groups, we have organised the statutory words into 12 progressive levels, allowing every child from Years 1–6 to work towards their own next goal.

Children practise their Level Up words regularly and are assessed at the end of each half term. When they successfully unlock a new level, they receive a Level Up certificate and move on to their next challenge. There are four special milestone levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Reaching one of these makes a child a Kingsley Spelling Champion and earns them a special badge to wear proudly on their school tie. Their achievement is also celebrated on our Spelling Championship Wall in the school hall.

Level Up has had a huge impact on children's enthusiasm for spelling and, most importantly, on their ability to apply National Curriculum spellings accurately within their everyday writing.

Spelling Success for Everyone

We want every child to experience success as a speller. Alongside our main Level Up pathway, we have developed a bespoke Dyslexic Pathway, providing an adapted route through the championship so that our dyslexic spellers can experience the same sense of progress, achievement and celebration as their peers.

We have also created our own Power Up Pictures to support children who benefit from a more visual approach to learning. These use memorable images, patterns and mnemonics to help children remember tricky spellings.

By providing children with different strategies and pathways, we aim to remove barriers while maintaining high expectations. Every child can make progress, Level Up and experience success as a Kingsley speller!

Teaching Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation

Level Up sits alongside our regular Spelling Shed lessons, where children are explicitly taught age-appropriate spelling rules, patterns and strategies.

Grammar and punctuation are taught both discretely and through our writing lessons, enabling children to learn individual skills and then apply them purposefully within real pieces of writing.

Our ultimate goal is not simply for children to spell words correctly in a test. We want spelling, punctuation and grammar knowledge to become increasingly automatic, allowing children to concentrate on communicating their ideas and crafting high-quality writing.

Reading at Kingsley

At Kingsley CP, we want every child to become a confident, fluent reader who understands what they read and, most importantly, develops a genuine love of books. Our teaching of reading does not stop when children complete the Read Write Inc. phonics programme. We carefully support children as they move from learning to read to reading with increasing fluency, understanding and independence.

Moving Beyond Phonics

Once children are secure in their phonics and are ready to move beyond Read Write Inc., they progress onto our Bug Club book-banded reading scheme. To ensure that every child is reading at exactly the right level, we have developed our own bespoke Bug Club Fluency Assessments, mirroring the careful assessment approach that is so successful within our phonics teaching. These assessments look beyond simply whether a child can read the words. We consider their accuracy, reading speed, response to punctuation, expression and intonation – or what our children know as their ‘storyteller voice’. Children progress through our book bands from White to Lime, Brown, Grey, Blue and Red, before becoming a Free Reader. This careful approach ensures that books provide the right balance of success and challenge, helping children develop confidence and enthusiasm as they move into increasingly sophisticated texts.

Developing Fluent Readers

Fluency is the bridge between decoding words and understanding them. We therefore continue to explicitly teach children how great reading sounds. Teachers model fluent reading, including expression, intonation, appropriate pauses, phrasing and responding to punctuation, before children have opportunities to practise themselves. Our bespoke assessments help us keep a close eye on this development. Each book band has clear fluency expectations, including words read per minute and accuracy, alongside the quality and expression of the child's reading. Our aim is not for children simply to read quickly. We want them to read accurately, fluently and with understanding.

Reading With Understanding

Alongside individual reading, children take part in regular whole-class reading comprehension lessons. Children explore high-quality texts together and work in mixed-ability pairs and groups, discussing vocabulary, sharing ideas and answering questions about what they have read. We explicitly teach children how to become thoughtful, active readers. Lessons include vocabulary development and fluency practice before children explore questions and learn to find evidence within the text to support their answers.

Two phrases our children hear regularly is:

“Don’t believe you – prove it!”

“Good readers circle their evidence!”

Children learn that good readers don't just give an answer – they return to the text, find the evidence and use it to explain their thinking.

Reading for Pleasure

At Kingsley, we don't just want children who can read. We want children who choose to read. We have worked hard to create a strong reading culture throughout our school. Our school library has been completely relocated, redesigned and relaunched, creating an inviting space that feels more like a carefully curated bookshop than a traditional school library. Our book collection has been intentionally chosen to help every child find something they can connect with and enjoy, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, magazines, books in different languages, books for our youngest readers and a dedicated dyslexia-friendly section.

Reading for pleasure continues into every classroom through our consistent classroom Book Nooks. These are welcoming, organised spaces where books take centre stage. Rather than overcrowding shelves, we focus on carefully chosen, high-quality texts that are attractively displayed, accessible and regularly refreshed. This reflects the principles behind the reading areas we have developed across school.

Ultimately, our ambition is for every child at Kingsley to leave us with more than the ability to read. We want them to leave with a love of reading that stays with them – opening doors, sparking imaginations and allowing them to discover worlds, ideas and possibilities far beyond the classroom.