English
Intent
At Bellfield, we want every child to see themselves as a writer. Our writing curriculum is designed to develop confident, creative, and skilled writers who can communicate effectively for a range of purposes. From the earliest stages in EYFS, we nurture a love of writing through mark-making, storytelling, and imaginative play. We focus on both transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (ideas and structure), ensuring children have the technical accuracy and creativity to express themselves. We use ISHA handwriting to develop fluent, legible writing and introduce a Word of the Week to broaden vocabulary. For pupils with SEND, learning is adapted and supported so every child can succeed.
Implement
In EYFS, children begin with mark-making and oral storytelling, progressing to writing simple words and sentences as phonics knowledge develops.
Across Key Stages 1 and 2, writing is taught through a carefully sequenced approach that builds skills in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and handwriting alongside creativity and composition. Pupils write for a range of audiences and purposes, inspired by high-quality texts and real-life contexts. Daily opportunities for writing are provided across the curriculum, supported by Word of the Week activities to enrich vocabulary. Handwriting is taught explicitly using the ISHA approach to ensure fluency and consistency. For SEND learners, tasks are scaffolded with visual prompts, word banks, and additional adult support, alongside targeted interventions for spelling and handwriting. A genuine love of writing is promoted through class writing areas, author studies, and opportunities to share work with peers and families.
Impact
By the end of EYFS, children will be able to write simple words and sentences using phonics knowledge and enjoy expressing ideas through mark-making and writing. By the end of primary school, pupils will write confidently and creatively, with secure transcription skills and the ability to structure and adapt their writing for different purposes. They will have a rich vocabulary, a love of writing, and the resilience to edit and improve their work. All children—including those with SEND—will leave Bellfield as confident writers, ready for the next stage of their learning journey.
Word of the Week
Following on from our belief of how important a wide and varied vocabulary is, we have created a ‘Word of the Week’ plan. Each year group is given an overview of vocabulary which links to their current topic. Each new word is presented and taught to children weekly. Our children are given the opportunity to think about the word and its meaning, the word class associated with the word, how to use the word correctly in a sentence and synonyms and antonyms associated with our word. Our children are then actively encouraged to include this wider vocabulary across their writing.
