St Mary's C .E School
Walking in the light of God’s Love-Together we will succeed
Writing
Developing Confident Writers with Ready Steady Write
At St. Mary’s, we follow the Ready Steady Write scheme to develop children’s writing skills, ensuring a structured and progressive approach to handwriting, spelling, grammar, and composition. This scheme supports our pupils in becoming fluent, confident, and creative writers, preparing them for success in all areas of learning.
Writing Progression at St. Mary’s
How Our Writing Curriculum is Structured
Our writing curriculum follows a carefully planned progression model, allowing children to build on prior knowledge and skills as they move through each year group. The curriculum ensures that pupils develop:
- Strong fine motor skills through progressive handwriting development.
- Confidence in sentence construction, spelling, and grammar.
- A rich vocabulary, helping pupils to express themselves effectively.
- Creative and structured writing styles, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and persuasive writing.
- Editing and refining skills, enabling pupils to improve their work through self-assessment.
Each year group follows a clear sequence of learning that builds towards age-related expectations and mastery of key writing skills.
'READY STEADY WRITE' WRITING SKILLS PROGRESSION DOCUMENT
Overview of Writing Progression at St. Mary’s
| Year Group | Focus Areas |
|---|---|
| Reception | Pre-writing skills, letter formation, simple sentence writing. |
| Year 1 | Developing phonics knowledge in writing, sentence construction. |
| Year 2 | Expanded noun phrases, punctuation, and introduction to different text types. |
| Year 3 | Paragraph writing, narrative structure, and descriptive language. |
| Year 4 | Cohesion between paragraphs, varied sentence structures, fronted adverbials. |
| Year 5 | Writing for purpose and audience, advanced punctuation, figurative language. |
| Year 6 | Writing with fluency, editing for effect, preparation for secondary writing expectations. |
We ensure that writing is embedded across the curriculum, providing opportunities to develop writing skills in subjects such as Science, History, and Geography.
Our Approach to Teaching Writing
✏️ Daily Writing Opportunities
Children have regular opportunities to write for different purposes, reinforcing skills across fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
📖 Handwriting Mastery
Using Ready Steady Write’s handwriting progression, children are taught correct letter formation, joins, and fluency to develop neat, legible handwriting.
📚 Grammar and Spelling Focus
Children are explicitly taught spelling rules, punctuation, and grammar within the context of writing, ensuring they apply these skills independently.
📝 Editing and Redrafting
From Year 2 upwards, pupils are encouraged to edit and improve their work, developing resilience and confidence in refining their writing.
Want to Know More?
For more details on our writing curriculum, visit the Ready Steady Write official website or make contact your child’s class teacher via the school office.
Please more information you can also visit our;
🔹 Whole-School Curriculum Map Page
🔹 English Curriculum Overview
🔹 Reading and Phonics at St. Mary’s
📧 For further details about our curriculum, please contact us at admin@st-maryswestderby.liverpool.sch.uk.