Writing
Writing at Echelford
At Echelford, we believe writing is a vital life skill, and our goal is to help every child become a fluent, confident communicator who enjoys writing for pleasure. To inspire their imagination, we use exciting "hooks," school trips, and high-quality books as a starting point for their work. Our progressive curriculum ensures that as children move through the school, they build the skills needed to write everything from engaging stories to informative non-fiction. From Reception, our children learn to develop their transcription skills and engage in activities which improve their fine-motor skills and learn rhymes to form each letter. In Key Stage One, the children print their handwriting but then learn to join in Key Stage Two. This is a very exciting time as children earn their pen licences as they continue to practise their handwriting through daily 'Handwriting Sprints'.
Each week, children are guided through the full writing process—planning, drafting, editing, and publishing—while developing a strong grasp of grammar, a rich vocabulary, and legible, fluent handwriting. Above all, we want our pupils to take pride in their work, and we make sure to celebrate their writing successes across the school community.
Oracy in Writing
At Echelford, we use oracy as a "verbal draft" to inspire and refine creative writing. By using dramatic inquiry and role-play children can explore sophisticated vocabulary and rehearse their ideas aloud before committing them to paper. This talk-rich environment builds phonetic confidence and reduces cognitive load, allowing pupils to focus on their imagination rather than struggling for the next word. As children grow in confidence through presentational talk—learning to inform, explain, and persuade—they develop a powerful bridge between their spoken voice and their written work, ultimately showcasing their creativity with pride.
Spelling
At Echelford, we have adopted a spelling approach which continues on from the children’s phonological understanding that they develop during Reception and KS1.
During the school day, children have a daily 10-minute spelling session focussing on a particular spelling pattern. Each spelling pattern links to a phonics sound so they can draw on their previously learnt knowledge and use this to support further learning. This supports children in retaining this information and transferring it into their long-term memory.
For example: In Year 4, a spelling objective is words which have the ‘k’ sound in but are spelt as mosque, cheque and antique. Children begin to recap the initial sound which is ‘k’ and previously taught patterns such as crack, increase, sky.
The children have shared that this is helping them in their spelling and the consistent daily approach is helping them remember these spelling patterns and rules.
Time is also given to rehearse the National Curriculum’s statutory words in each year group to ensure children can both read and spell these words. These word lists are attached below and contain words which do not follow a regular spelling rule or contain a spelling rule which isn’t taught in that particular year group. The children complete a 'Spelling Sprint' to help them learn these words and also have access to a spelling bookmark and a dictionary to help reinforce their learning. Spelling is differentiated across the school and pictorial representations of words are used to ensure all of our children experience success.
Click to link to Collins Connect
