At St. Leonard's, writing is at the heart of our curriculum. It's one of the most important skills your child will learn in their time with us as it gives them a tool to express and evidence all of their learning. It helps them develop their communication skills by sharing information and telling stories; it supports learning in all subjects across the curriculum; it helps them to build vocabulary and grammar; it encourages creativity and imagination and it also helps to develop their independence and confidence. Our aim at St. Leonard's is for children to leave us as successful, confident and independent readers and writers. Our writing curriculum is built around this aim. 

How do we teach writing?

Each writing unit starts with the most important thing: audience and purpose. For our children to be passionate, engaged and informed writers, they need to know why they're writing and who they're writing for. Teachers then craft a series of lessons to provide children with the written skills required to produce the writing. This may involve oracy sessions, grammar sessions, punctuation lessons, analysing the features of a text type - to name a few. Depending on their year group, the children will be taught to generate ideas, plan, draft, write and then edit within their English lessons. These skills are essential to develop independent, confident writers. 

How can you support your child's writing at home?

1. Encourage writing for fun
Let your child write about things they enjoy — stories, diary entries, letters to family, shopping lists, or even comic strips. When writing feels fun and personal, the children will want to do it more!

2. Read together often
Reading and writing go hand in hand. When children read regularly, they learn how sentences flow, how stories are structured, and they build a strong vocabulary — all of which help their writing.

3. Talk about ideas before writing
Talk with your child about what they want to write. Talking helps them organise their thoughts and come up with new ideas. 

4. Praise effort, not just perfection
Celebrate your child’s ideas and creativity first, not just neat handwriting or correct spelling. Positive encouragement builds confidence and helps them enjoy writing more.

5. Provide real writing opportunities
Let your child see that writing is useful in everyday life — writing thank-you cards, birthday invitations, recipes, or diaries. This shows writing has real purpose.

6. Encourage revising and sharing.
If your child writes a story, ask to hear it! Talk about what you liked and gently suggest ways to make it even better. This teaches that writing is a process — not something that has to be perfect right away.