Our writing curriculum is designed to provide a broad, ambitious and inclusive education that enables every child to become a confident, independent writer. We follow the award-winning Ready Steady Write programme from Literacy Counts, using high-quality, vocabulary-rich texts to immerse children in meaningful writing opportunities with a clear audience and purpose. Our curriculum is research-informed and carefully sequenced, ensuring children develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to write effectively across a range of genres.
We recognise that high-quality talk underpins high-quality writing. Through purposeful oracy opportunities, including discussion, drama, storytelling, debate, role play and vocabulary exploration, children rehearse, refine and articulate their ideas before writing. Alongside explicit teaching through sentence accuracy, modelled writing, shared writing and regular editing, this enables children to write with increasing accuracy, fluency and authorial confidence.
Our aim is for every child to leave primary school as an enthusiastic, resilient writer who can communicate ideas clearly, write for a range of audiences and purposes, and take pride in the quality of their work.
Download: Spoken Language Outcomes Document [PDF]
Download: Ready Steady Write – EYFS Progression Overview [PDF]
Download: Ready Steady Spell – Year 2 Progression Overview [PDF]
Download: Ready Steady Spell – Year 3 Progression Overview [PDF]
Download: Ready Steady Spell – Year 4 Progression Overview [PDF]
Download: Ready Steady Spell – Year 5 Progression Overview [PDF]
Download: Ready Steady Spell – Year 6 Progression Overview [PDF]
Handwriting
Our spelling curriculum is designed to ensure that every child develops the knowledge, skills and confidence to become an accurate and fluent speller. At St Cuthbert’s, we follow the Ready Steady Spell programme by Literacy Counts, which provides a clear, progressive and research-informed approach to spelling from Year 2 to Year 6.
Children are taught spelling through engaging, structured lessons that focus on statutory spelling patterns, morphology, etymology and effective spelling strategies. Regular retrieval practice, assessment and opportunities to revisit prior learning help pupils secure spelling knowledge in their long-term memory and apply it confidently across the curriculum.
Our aim is to develop confident, independent writers who understand how words work and can make informed spelling choices. Where additional support is needed, targeted intervention and regular consolidation opportunities ensure that every child is supported to make strong progress in spelling.
Our handwriting curriculum is designed to develop fluent, legible and confident writers through a clear and progressive approach to handwriting. In the Early Years, children develop the foundations for handwriting through Read Write Inc. Phonics, where they are explicitly taught correct letter formation alongside early phonics, pencil control and fine motor development. In Key Stage 1, children continue to build these skills through the Letter-join programme before progressing to the Nelson Handwriting scheme in Key Stage 2, where they develop joined, fluent handwriting with increasing speed, accuracy and consistency.
Our aim is for every child to take pride in the presentation of their work and to develop handwriting that supports writing fluency across the curriculum. Through regular practice, explicit modelling and consistent expectations, children build the automaticity needed to communicate their ideas clearly and confidently.