Writing
Intent
At Canada Hill, we understand that writing is integral to every aspect of the curriculum and is a vital means through which children communicate, learn and express themselves creatively. We strive to ensure that every child leaves our school with the ability to write accurately and communicate their ideas effectively and confidently for a range of purposes and audiences and, above all, to see themselves as writers.
To achieve this, pupils engage with high-quality texts that inspire, inform and serve as models for their own writing. We aim for children to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style to suit different contexts, purposes and audiences. We believe that a rich vocabulary, secure phonics knowledge and the ability to apply spelling rules and patterns accurately are essential components of effective communication.
A strong understanding of grammar and sentence structure lies at the heart of our writing curriculum. We believe these should be taught systematically and in meaningful contexts, linked closely to the text types children are learning to write. This enables pupils to develop automaticity in their writing and frees cognitive capacity to focus on composition and authorial choices.
We want children to understand that writing is a process and to recognise the importance of planning, drafting, revising, editing and rewriting in creating effective pieces of writing. We provide regular opportunities for pupils to publish their work and take pride in its presentation through the development of a fluent, legible joined handwriting style.
Our intention is for every child to leave our school seeing themselves as a writer: with a genuine love of writing, the confidence to express their ideas and the resilience to take risks, learn from mistakes and continually develop their writing.
Implementation
Writing in EYFS
In EYFS, children are introduced to the foundations of writing through a language-rich environment and engaging opportunities to communicate, mark make and write for a range of purposes. Alongside the systematic teaching of phonics, Drawing Club is used as a key approach to develop children's early literacy skills.
Drawing Club immerses children in high-quality texts, stories and imaginative worlds, encouraging them to develop their vocabulary, oral language and storytelling skills. Through discussion, drawing and early writing opportunities, children learn to generate ideas, create narratives and communicate meaning. The approach promotes creativity and engagement while providing purposeful opportunities to apply their developing phonics knowledge and emergent writing skills.
Through Drawing Club, children develop confidence as communicators and writers, build resilience in expressing their ideas and begin to see themselves as authors, laying the foundations for future success in writing.
Writing in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2
Our school-designed writing curriculum ensures that the teaching of writing is structured, systematic and engaging. It combines the explicit teaching of essential transcription and sentence-level skills with opportunities for purposeful and creative composition.
A typical teaching sequence is built around a high-quality model text, through which vocabulary is explicitly explored and taught. Each sequence is front-loaded with sentence-level work and grammatical knowledge work drawn from our Sentence Knowledge Curriculum (adapted from Stanley Road School and STEP Academy Trust), enabling children to develop automaticity and confidence in constructing sentences. This forms the imitation stage of the teaching sequence.
Teaching sequences then follow the Talk for Writing approach through innovation and invention stages, allowing children to apply both the focus sentence structures and previously taught sentence knowledge in increasingly independent contexts. During the innovation stage, shared and high-quality modelled writing are used to explicitly demonstrate the thinking, choices and decision-making processes of an effective writer.
In the invention stage, children are taught how to plan, organise and craft their writing for a specific purpose and audience. Opportunities for drafting, revising, editing and publishing are built into each sequence, enabling children to improve their work, achieve their writing targets and take pride in presenting their writing for publication and display.
We are committed to ensuring that all pupils can access and succeed within our writing curriculum. Teachers use adaptive teaching strategies to support pupils in achieving the intended learning outcomes, including the use of scaffolds, modelled examples, Colourful Semantics to help secure sentence structure, assistive technology to help with composition and transcription, additional adult support and carefully structured learning tasks.
High expectations are maintained for all pupils, including those with SEND and disadvantaged pupils. Adaptations are responsive to individual needs while ensuring that children continue to access an ambitious writing curriculum and make progress towards age-related expectations.
Phonics for Spelling
Children begin phonics lessons in EYFS, where they work within Levels 2–4 of the Twinkl Phonics Programme. Through a systematic and progressive approach, children are introduced to phonemes and graphemes and learn to apply blending and segmenting skills for both reading and writing.
In KS1, children progress through Levels 5 and 6. The carefully sequenced teaching within Level 5 provides opportunities for children to apply their phonics knowledge and skills as the primary approach to spelling. Learning focuses on phonetically decodable two- and three-syllable words, alongside alternative ways of pronouncing and representing long vowel phonemes. As a result, children develop increasing confidence in attempting to spell more complex words.
Within Level 6, children build on this knowledge through the exploration of spelling patterns, grammatical concepts and common exception words. This supports the development of greater accuracy and independence in spelling. Throughout the programme, children are encouraged to develop confidence, resilience and engagement in phonics lessons, establishing the strong foundations required for accurate spelling and successful reading and writing.
Spelling in KS2
In KS2, children are taught spelling using the Decision Spelling scheme, which is linked directly to the National Curriculum and offers a systematic, dyslexia-friendly approach to the teaching of spelling. There is a focus on etymology, vocabulary and morphology within lessons, which continue to build on the phonics knowledge and meta-language acquired in KS1. Through explicit teaching, regular retrieval of prior learning and opportunities to apply spelling knowledge across the curriculum, children develop a deeper understanding of spelling patterns and conventions. The scheme teaches children to recognise rules and patterns and supports them in making informed and increasingly independent decisions about their spelling choices, enabling them to write with greater accuracy and confidence.
Handwriting
At Canada Hill, we use a whole school consistent and progressive approach to the teaching handwriting, using the Letter-join scheme. Children are explicitly taught correct letter formation and joins and are given regular opportunities to practise and refine their handwriting skills. As pupils develop fluency and automaticity, they are able to record their ideas efficiently and present their work with pride, allowing them to focus their attention on the content, structure and effectiveness of their writing.
Impact
The impact of our writing curriculum is that children develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to communicate effectively through the written word. Pupils demonstrate increasing accuracy in spelling, punctuation, grammar and handwriting, applying their learning confidently across the curriculum. Through a secure understanding of phonics, spelling patterns, vocabulary and sentence structures, children are able to write with greater fluency, automaticity and independence.
As writers, pupils learn to adapt their language and style for a range of purposes, audiences and contexts. They draw upon a rich vocabulary, make informed authorial choices and use the writing process effectively, planning, drafting, revising and editing their work to improve its quality and effectiveness.
By the time children leave Canada Hill, they are equipped with the skills required for the next stage of their education and are able to write clearly, accurately and coherently. Most importantly, they leave seeing themselves as writers: confident in expressing their ideas, resilient when faced with challenge, proud of their achievements and with a genuine enjoyment of writing.
Reading
Intent
At Canada Hill Primary School we believe that reading is key to children’s independence as learners. Reading underpins learning in all other areas of the school curriculum as well as being of vital importance in life. Success in reading has a direct effect on progress and is crucial in developing children’s self-esteem, confidence and motivation. Our curriculum is delivered through synthetic phonics, a linked approach to shared and guided reading, home reading, reading across the curriculum, regular opportunities for independent reading and hearing quality texts read aloud every day. All of these are essential components as they offer the range of opportunities needed to develop fluent, enthusiastic and critical readers.
- We aim for the children at Canada Hill to:
- Read clearly, fluently and with good understanding.
- Develop strong decoding skills and strategies to help them tackle tricky, unfamiliar words independently.
- Love reading and get excited about the potential of books and see staff modelling their passion for reading through discussion and recommendations.
- Have the opportunity to listen to a range of books being read aloud every day.
- Enjoy sharing their reading with others, especially parents and carers.
- Have access to and be exposed to a range of high-quality texts in a variety of contexts.
- Build preferences in reading and to choose to read.
- Engage in book discussion in a range of contexts alongside both adults and peers.
Implementation
Our school delivers a comprehensive reading curriculum designed to support pupils from early decoding to independent fluency while actively cultivating a lifelong love for reading. In Reception and Key Stage 1, literacy begins with daily, structured Twinkl Phonics and guided reading sessions to embed vital decoding and comprehension skills. To inspire reading for pleasure, teachers share carefully chosen class readers daily across all year groups, exposing children to high-quality, challenging texts, while interactive classroom displays showcase favourite books to encourage peer recommendations. As pupils progress, independent reading is supported by the Accelerated Reader (AR) system from Year 2 through Key Stage 2, which allows children to choose appropriate library books, build stamina, and track their understanding through quizzes. Dedicated Guided Reading sessions and whole-class book studies further embed National Curriculum objectives, while Talk for Writing strategies integrate comprehension into the writing curriculum. Finally, cross-curricular learning enables pupils to apply their research and informational reading skills across the wider curriculum, with targeted interventions continuously available to ensure every child achieves their full potential.
Impact
By the time children leave Canada Hill Community Primary School, they are competent, enthusiastic readers who have a thirst for reading a range of genres. They can also read books to enhance their knowledge and understanding of all subjects on the curriculum, and communicate their research to a wider audience. Through systematic monitoring—including test data, evidence from the pupil, learning walks, and regular contact and co-ordination with parents and carers—we ensure every child becomes a fluent, highly motivated reader fully equipped for secondary education. We actively close achievement gaps; swift, daily interventions provide immediate, targeted support to keep our lowest 20% and most vulnerable learners moving forward alongside their peers. Our robust synthetic phonics program ensures that children can confidently decode and phonically sound out and blend words by the end of Year 1 with increasing fluency by the end of Year 2. By the end of Key Stage 2, our children possess the exceptional reading stamina and advanced language comprehension required to draw complex inferences and independently unlock the wider foundation curriculum. Above all, we have successfully cultivated an authentic reading-for-pleasure culture where children read widely, explore diverse genres, and discuss literature with infectious enthusiasm.
EYFS
In EYFS, high-quality texts are shared with children every day. Our daily snack-time story is an opportunity to share a wide range of books for enjoyment and to develop a love of reading. Children listen to and discuss stories with adults, using questions such as what, how and why to develop comprehension, understanding and vocabulary.
Alongside this, Drawing Club provides a separate opportunity to explore a core text in greater depth. Drawing Club texts are read and revisited several times across the week. Eight core vocabulary words are taught each week and children develop their understanding of the text through talk, drawing and writing. The texts identified in the overview below provide a planned selection of high-quality books across the year. As part of our responsive curriculum, these may change according to the interests and needs of the children.
Children read individually with an adult several times each week, with the frequency adapted according to individual need. Reading books are closely matched to each child’s current phonics learning and follow our phonics programme with fidelity. Once children are able to blend, they are also given a book from the school reading shelves which is matched to their developing phonic knowledge. This ensures clear progression in reading while allowing teaching and provision to respond to the needs of each cohort.