Writing

Write with skill. Communicate
with
confidence.
Write with purpose.
In Drawing Club, our youngest writers bring stories to life through talk, drawing, and early writing. From ‘secret codes’ to full sentences, they build transcription skills, expand vocabulary, and develop a love of writing that lasts a lifetime.
From science to stories, every subject inspires our writers to think, talk, and create together.

Growing A Community of Writers

 

Where Writers Begin to Flourish ... 

At Tavistock Primary and Nursery School, our youngest writers take their first steps into the world of storytelling through Drawing Club — a joyful, imaginative approach inspired by Greg Bottrill. Each week, children journey into a new story or animation, discovering rich vocabulary and bringing tales to life through talk, drawing, and mark-making. From their earliest “secret codes” and labels to their very first sentences, children learn that every mark has meaning and every idea has value.

Through Drawing Club, we nurture the will to write as much as the skill — imagination and language flourish side by side. Carefully planned sessions weave together phonics (supported by Little Wandle programmes of learning), vocabulary, fine motor skills, and storytelling, ensuring children build strong transcriptional foundations while developing a lifelong love of writing.

We believe our goal is simple — every child should develop the skill and confidence to write, so that writing inspires their creativity, helps them discover their voice and enables them to achieve.

 

Creating a community of confident, skilled writers with ideas worth sharing.

At Tavistock Primary and Nursery School, writing is an adventure. We help children find their voice, develop their ideas, and express themselves with confidence and creativity. Using Literacy Tree Writing Roots, our lessons are carefully structured to build strong foundations in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and composition — while always keeping high-quality texts that inspire the joy of writing front and centre.

From imaginative stories and poems to reports, letters, and persuasive writing, our children explore a wide range of genres and styles. Writing can be cross-curricular, helping children deepen their learning across all subjects, from science to history, while discovering that their ideas have power and purpose.

Our classrooms are Communities of Writers, full of opportunities to write, reflect, and share. Children proudly develop their Journals, where they reflect on themselves as writers with a ‘Me as a Writer’ page. They also enjoy Just Write sessions, where they have complete freedom to write whatever they like — stories, poems, reflections — celebrating independence, imagination, and joy in writing.

We celebrate every stage of the writing journey, nurturing confident communicators who are not only skilled but inspired to write throughout their lives.

 

 

Mastering the Craft

 

Mastering the mechanics of writing gives children the freedom to express themselves with clarity and confidence.

 

At Tavistock Primary and Nursery School, we believe that strong writing starts with mastering the essential skills. Through Literacy Tree teaching sequences, Little Wandle and the No Nonsense Spelling and Grammar programmes, children learn spelling, handwriting, and sentence-level techniques in a structured and purposeful way — but that’s just the start.

 

Children regularly practise and consolidate these transcriptional skills, building accuracy and fluency in their writing. Dictation sessions are used as a key tool to reinforce spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure, while high expectations of handwriting and presentation using our Ready to Write Routines ensure every piece of work reflects pride and care.

We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised systematic synthetic phonics programme to transform children from phonetic spellers into accurate, fluent writers.
Here is how we support and develop your child’s spelling every day:
  • The ‘Best Bet’ Strategy: When faced with an unknown word, children do not guess blindly. Guided by their phonetic understanding, they segment the word into sounds, look at their classroom Grapheme Mats to find the alternative choices, and make three phonetically plausible attempts at the word. They then discuss these with an adult to choose their ‘Best bet’ based on their phonetic knowledge and what looks visually correct.
  • Diagnostic Error Analysis: We believe every spelling mistake is a valuable window into a child's learning. Teachers actively analyse children’s errors to pinpoint exact learning gaps—whether it is a missing phonic sound, a mismatched alternative, or a missed Tricky Word—and provide immediate, targeted feedback.
  • High Accountability: We have high expectations for age-related spelling. If a child has been explicitly taught a word, a phonic rule, or a high-frequency Tricky Word, they are expected to spell it correctly in all everyday writing.
  • ‘Write it Right’ Section: To secure long-term memory, we live by the principle that "practice makes permanent." Children maintain a dedicated ‘Write it Right’ section in their spelling books. When key errors are identified, children use structured retrieval routines to practice the correct spelling multiple times, ensuring right habits stay permanent.
We selectively focus on high-impact words to avoid overwhelming children, fostering a culture where errors are embraced as a vital stepping stone to precision.

By combining structured teaching with regular practice, children develop confidence in the mechanics of writing, giving them the foundation to express themselves clearly, creatively, and with precision.

 

We are committed to ensuring inclusive practice so that all our children, regardless of their ability, see themselves as writers and are given opportunity and appropriate support to further develop their writing skills. See the document below for some of the ways in which we do this at Tavistock Primary and Nursery School. 

JARGON BUSTER!!
Phonics uses a few specific terms that your child will hear every day in the classroom. Here is what they mean:
  • Phoneme: The smallest single unit of sound in a word. For example, the word cat has three phonemes: /c/ - /a/ - /t/. The word bright also has three phonemes: /b/ - /r/ - /ight/.
  • Grapheme: The written letter or group of letters that represent a sound. For example, the sound /ff/ can be written using the grapheme 'f' (as in fan) or the grapheme 'ph' (as in phone).
  • Digraph: Two letters that join together to make just one sound (e.g., sh in shop, oa in boat).
  • Trigraph: Three letters that join together to make just one sound (e.g., igh in night, ear in fear).
  • Split Digraph: A digraph that is split up by another letter in the middle of a word, often called a "magic e" or "silent e" in the past. It stretches out the vowel sound (e.g., the o-e in home or the i-e in bike).
  • Tricky Words: Words that cannot be easily sounded out using our current phonics rules because they have an unusual spelling pattern (e.g., said, was, people). Children are taught to learn these by heart.
  • Phonetically Plausible: This means a word is spelled using the correct sounds, even if it isn't the standard spelling. For example, spelling blue as blew is phonetically plausible because it sounds exactly right, even though it's the wrong choice for that specific word.
 
Talk and Writing
 
Learning, performing, and immersing in exceptional texts helps our writers bring stories to life on the page.
 
At Tavistock Primary and Nursery School, we use aspects of the Talk for Writing approach which empowers children to internalise language, structure, and storytelling techniques through oral rehearsal, role play, and drama. By acting out stories, creating dialogues, and exploring characters and settings, children develop a deep understanding of narrative and vocabulary, which strengthens both their speaking and writing. Drama and role play provide a bridge between spoken and written language: children practise rich sentence structures, expressive language, and imaginative ideas aloud before transferring them confidently onto the page. This dynamic, engaging approach ensures that writing is purposeful, meaningful, and grounded in children’s own voices, fostering skilled, confident communicators who are ready to write with flair and authenticity.