"When I read great literature, great drama, speeches or sermons, I feel that the human mind has not achieved anything greater than the ability to share feelings and thoughts through language."

Subject Overview:

English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils, therefore, who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.

Subject Intent:

Inspiring the greatest thinkers of the next generation.

Writing is a vital skill that plays an instrumental role in our lives. Through the effective teaching of Writing, we aim to provide all children with the skills they need in order to effectively communicate using the written word.

At Zaytouna, we will ensure that all of our children are able to confidently write for pleasure and purpose. We want our pupils to understand and use a wide range of words, grammatical concepts and to be able to use etymology and morphology of words to spell them accurately. We aim for all children to write coherently and accurately for a range of audiences and purposes and to feel confident in their ability to adapt their writing to suit the diverse outcomes we provide.

We believe that all children are entitled to a challenging mastery curriculum and that writing should be informed by what we read. We want all of our children to have a wealth of background knowledge to draw upon and the independent skills to confidently edit and improve their work. We want our children to hone their craft, to be enthusiastic and deliberate in their writing choices and to push the boundaries of what they can achieve. We envisage their writing to be well structured, clear and presented to a high standard. It is important to us that all of our children feel empowered by their writing and proud to share it with others. We would like our children to approach the end of their time at our school with the necessary skills to flourish in a literate world.

"Writing is thinking on paper."

What is Writing for Pleasure?

Writing for Pleasure is defined as “the discovery of your own writing voice” (Young, 2019). The writing has a clear purpose and is received and reacted to. The writer should feel a sense of achievement when the work is completed. At Zaytouna Primary School, we do not differentiate between writing for pleasure and writing in the curriculum, as we believe that children’s writing should encompass both.

Why is Writing for Pleasure important?

Writing for Pleasure promotes opportunities for children to feel like authors and write for enjoyment. At Zaytouna, we want to cultivate a “community of writers”, children, staff and parents who feel inspired and motivated to write. It has been proven that when children have a clear audience, purpose and outcome to their writing, their motivation for writing is heightened and their final product is of a better quality.