Writing at AJS

At Alumwell, we are passionate about ensuring our children are given plenty of opportunities to express themselves creatively and we believe writing is a wonderful way for them to do this. Using engaging texts, real-life experiences and exciting visual resources for inspiration, we encourage our children to explore the limitless possibilities of their imaginations, whilst providing them with the structure and support they need to organise their ideas effectively and meaningfully.

 We aim for our children to understand that writing is a whole process, rather than a single task. From sharing ideas and planning to evaluating each other’s work- our children are expected to invest in every step of this journey. 

‘The Write Stuff’- Jane Considine

We have adopted  ‘The Write Stuff’ by Jane Considine as a way to clarify the mechanics of writing. Children take part in lessons based on ‘sentence stacking’- the idea that sentences are carefully crafted one by one, with clear intent and precise word choices, and ‘stacked’ together chronologically in order to create a piece of writing. During a sentence stacking lesson, the children work in separate learning chunks, each of which have a clear writing focus. The ideas of writing, techniques and grammatical elements are taken from the writing rainbow (see below).

Towards the end of the writing process, just like any successful writer, we always encourage our children to look for ways they can edit and improve their work so that they fully achieve their potential. Ultimately, we want our children to feel proud of their writing, knowing the final outcome is the product of their own passion, hard work and determination.