At Kilmersdon, we implemented our new approach to writing in September 2022 and follow an adapted version of Talk for Writing. This is a creative approach to writing developed by the author Pie Corbett. It is fundamentally based on the key principles of how children learn.

The Talk for Writing process begins at the Imitate Stage. It is this stage that enables the children to imitate the key language patterns they need for a particular text type orally with visual prompts provided by story mapping as well as actions. This approach is taken across each Key Stage and into Year 6. High quality model texts are carefully chosen and used so that the children have great examples of specific genres of fiction and non-fiction writing. Once the modelled text’s language features and patterns have been embedded, the children then explore the actual text, reading as a reader (what do you like and what affect does the text have on you?) as well as reading as a writer (what grammatical features have been included and how has the writer created this effect for the reader?).

During this time, the children also have lots of opportunities to complete fun, short burst writing activities. These activities always relate to whichever of the seven writing toolkits (Description, Settings, Suspense, Action, Characterisation, Dialogue, Openings and Endings) they are focusing on for the unit. These toolkits are designed to equip the children with the necessary writerly skills and tools needed to produce fantastic pieces of writing independently. The skills advance and develop over the course of the years to ensure progression. As well as short burst writing activities, the children will complete explicit grammatical activities to embed the ‘rules of writing’ alongside their writing skills.

Once the imitate stage is complete, the children move onto the Innovate Stage. This is where they take all of the previous stage’s learning and use this to create their own pieces based on the original model text. The children explore different ways they could change aspects of the original text, for example changing characters, setting or writing from a different point of view. They spend time planning their own version through story mapping and boxing up before starting to write. Through shared and guided writing, the children write this new version in manageable sections. This stage is very supportive so children gain confidence and know what they need to do in order to get better.

The final stage is ‘Invent’. In this final stage, the children use all the skills they have learned so far to write an independent ‘hot’ piece. This is a chance for the children to ‘show what they know’ with complete independence. There is freedom to draw upon their own ideas and teachers can use this task to assess how much progress the children have made.