Writing

"All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the

world upside down." Friedrich Nietzsche

 

At Great Hockham Primary and Nursery School we want all of our pupils to become confident, competent and creative writers.

 

In 2018 we launched 'Talk for Writing', a strategy devised by Pie Corbett to help children to progress and improve their writing skills.

 

                                                

 

The strategy enables pupils to, "imitate the language they need for a particular topic before reading and analysing it, and then writing their own version of the text. It builds on three key stages - Imitation, Innovation and Independent Application."

 

Talk for Writing runs across the whole school from Nursery to year Six. Each unit of work begins with a Hook to instantly engage the children. For example, Rabbit class discovered a crime scene for Supertato, Owl Class found footprints for the Gruffalo, Deer Class found a mysterious bottle for George's Marvellous Medicine, and Hedgehog Class were shown an intriguing painting for King Lear. 

 

Once introduced to their texts the children learn and analyse them. This could be by oral rehearsal of the text using a story map, or through drama. The children have opportunities to examine the vocabulary and key features of the text before writing their own versions. They are encouraged to 'Magpie' ideas from the original text and apply them into their work. Letter formation, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation Skills are taught discretely and within the Talk for Writing Sessions and texts include fiction, non-fiction and poetry.