At Weston On Trent, we us The Talk for Writing approach, which enables children to read and write independently for a variety of audiences and purposes within different subjects. We meet all the requirements of the National Curriculum through this approach.

A key feature is that children internalise the language structures needed to write through ‘talking the text’, as well as close reading. The approach moves from dependence towards independence, with the teacher using shared and guided teaching to develop the ability in children to write creatively and powerfully.

We underpin our English work with an established core reading spine of quality fiction, poetry and non-fiction that all children experience and draw upon. Imaginative units of work are developed to create a whole-school plan that has been refined over the years. It is well-resourced and documented to release teachers from planning and preparation so that they can focus on adapting their teaching for children’s learning.

The key phases of the Talk for Writing process, as outlined below, enable children to imitate orally the language they need for a particular topic, before reading and analysing it, and then writing their own version.

As we are a research based school, underpinning a lot of our practice with Rosenshine's principles of learning, the following document outlines why this approach to writing tie in so closely with our other curriculum work.