Writing at King's Gate Primary School
Our Intent for Writing
|
At King’s Gate Primary School, we believe that writing is both a powerful means of communication and an important tool for thinking and learning. Our writing curriculum is designed to ensure that all pupils develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to express ideas clearly, creatively and accurately.We aim for every child to become a fluent and thoughtful writer who understands how language works and can make deliberate choices about vocabulary, grammar and structure. Through carefully sequenced teaching, pupils gradually build the transcription and composition skills required to write with increasing independence and control. Our approach reflects research on how writing develops, recognising that pupils need secure foundations in spoken language, sentence construction, handwriting and spelling before they can successfully compose longer pieces of writing. Over time, these elements combine to enable pupils to write effectively for a range of audiences and purposes. |
||
KGPS Writing Milestones
In 2025, we developed our set of Writing Milestones, underpinned by rich, research-informed curriculum thinking, to help teachers and pupils understand how writing skills build progressively across their time at King’s Gate.
Sentence mastery forms the foundation of writing: beginning with oral rehearsal and sentence-combining in Reception and Key Stage 1, and developing into the deliberate crafting and control of a wide range of sentence structures in Key Stage 2.
Grammar teaching is always rooted in meaning and effect, helping pupils understand how grammatical choices support clarity for the non-present reader.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
KGPS Sentence Progression
 |
Alongside our Writing Milestones, we have developed a carefully sequenced Sentence Progression that maps how pupils’ control of sentence structures develops from Reception to Year 6. This progression ensures that grammar and sentence construction are not taught as isolated rules, but as tools that writers use deliberately to shape meaning for a reader. Children begin by rehearsing sentences orally, developing confidence in speaking complete ideas before recording them in writing. As pupils’ transcription skills develop, they are taught to construct clear sentences and gradually expand them by adding detail, precision and complexity. Across the school, pupils learn to: • combine ideas within a sentence This carefully sequenced approach supports pupils in developing increasing control over sentence craft, allowing them to communicate ideas clearly and fluently. Teachers model how writers make deliberate grammatical choices and provide opportunities for shared writing, guided practice and independent application. Over time, pupils build a repertoire of sentence structures that they can apply confidently across a range of genres and subjects. By the end of Year 6, pupils understand how to select and adapt sentence structures to suit audience, purpose and context. |
||
How Writing Builds Over Time
Our writing curriculum is carefully structured so that knowledge and skills build progressively from Reception to Year 6.
In the early years and Key Stage 1, the focus is on establishing strong foundations. Pupils develop spoken language through discussion and storytelling, rehearse sentences aloud, and begin to record their ideas in simple written sentences. At the same time, explicit teaching of phonics, handwriting and spelling develops the transcription skills needed for fluent writing.
As pupils move into Key Stage 2, they build on these foundations by developing greater control over sentence structure, grammar and punctuation. They learn how sentences combine to form coherent paragraphs and how writers organise ideas across a whole text.
Throughout the school, teachers model the writing process, demonstrating how writers plan, draft, revise and edit their work. Pupils are gradually supported to take increasing responsibility for these processes, allowing them to write with growing independence and stamina.
By the end of Year 6, pupils are able to write with increasing fluency and control, adapting their writing to suit different audiences, purposes and subjects across the curriculum.
