Writing

Talk for Writing

At Bransty we use the ‘Talk for Writing’ approach to teach children to be writers.

Talk for Writing was developed by the author Pie Corbett. It is a fun, creative yet also rigorous approach to develop writers.

All of our Talk for Writing units are based on high quality texts which challenge and inspire children to become better readers and writers.

The Talk for Writing process starts with enjoying and sharing stories and texts. Throughout the school, we place a strong emphasis on children reading stories and enjoying a range of literature. Through regular reading, we want children to build up an extensive and rich vocabulary for use in their own writing.

During the initial ‘imitation’ stage of Talk for Writing, children learn to tell a story or non-fiction text off by heart. They retell the text with expression and actions and make use of a story map to support their retelling. Once the text is learnt, children are encouraged to adapt it. At the ‘innovation’ stage, children make the text their own, for example, by changing the character or setting. Finally, at the ‘invention stage, children write their own text independently.

 

Handwriting

We follow the ‘Penpals’ handwriting scheme throughout the school.  Children work hard to earn a pen licence in Key Stage 2 which then allows them to work in pen in most of their lessons.