Ambassador Writing Leaders

I am the English Lead and Y6 teacher at St Michael’s C of E Primary School.

St Michael’s is a large two-form entry primary school in Exeter. We are close to the city centre but the school has a village school feel and is central to the local community, with close links to families and the surrounding area. Our school is a church school and vision and values are at the core of everything we do. We’re part of St Christopher’s Academy Trust and work collaboratively with other schools across Devon and beyond.

When we re-designed our writing curriculum, we wanted to ensure that high quality children’s literature was at the heart of how we teach. We also wanted to sharpen our focus on the purpose and audience of writing, ensuring that pupils grow to become able to confidently make choices about their writing with the reader in mind. BookWrites offers a diverse selection of texts to select from as a starting point and then carefully sequenced units of work which move from immersing pupils in the texts to teaching skills, practising writing and then making vocabulary, grammatical and organisational choices for their own independent pieces.

We have found that the resource has supported teachers’ skills in teaching writing and many are confident enough now to use the BookWrites pedagogical model to plan their own sequences, especially where a specific new text meets needs and interest in classes. We use the Writerly Knowledge Chart ‘rectangle grids’ throughout our writing sequences to enrich pupil discussion about the effectiveness of writing and to give explicit meaning to our skills teaching.

We have seen a real impact on our children’s writing: they now write with growing ambition, imagination and confidence. They are especially strong when talking about their own choices for writing and are able to talk about these in relation to the texts they have drawn on as models. For those who find writing challenging and for our under-resourced pupils, the rigour of the sequences together with the Writerly Knowledge Charts supports their skills. The focus on using high quality children’s literature develops their knowledge of authors as well as developing knowledge of the world. Our higher attaining writers are similarly supported and challenged by the focus on purpose for writing and are becoming far more reflective writers, making deliberate choices for effect.

I joined the Ambassador Writing Leaders about four years ago. With my experience in Y5 and Y6 particularly, I am involved in recommending text suggestions for Y5/6 sequences and developments in the pedagogical approach at KS2. I also contributed video clips of teaching when the English Team were developing the Shared Writing training. I believe strongly in being a writer alongside the children and I try to develop a classroom culture where we all are learning to write together using the brilliant books we have studied together as our models and inspiration.

I am the Assistant Head teacher and English Lead at Ilfracombe C of E Junior School

Our Junior School serves one of the most disadvantaged towns in the country with significant health, economic, social and housing needs. On entry, data of pupils in Year 3 is consistently significantly below the national average in reading, writing and maths and we have higher than average levels of pupils with SEND linked to SEMH needs.

The overall structure of BookWrites supports us with a consistent approach to writing. Not only do the sequences introduce high quality texts but they also provide our pupils – and teaching staff – with the joy and knowledge of all it means to be a writer. Our teachers feel confident in teaching English and are particularly supported by the strategies for teaching specific grammatical skills and concepts. BookWrites has not limited our curriculum design but rather has enabled our curriculum to be designed to meet the needs of our pupils with a robust approach to the teaching of writing. The impact of the sequences and our school-led adaptations were recognised in our latest OFSTED:

‘The school has embedded an ambitious curriculum that increasingly successfully meets the needs of its pupils. The curriculum is designed to address the low starting points of many of the pupils when they join in Year 3. The curriculum focuses on helping pupils catch up to their expected levels as they move through the school. Disadvantaged pupils, including pupils with SEND, quickly gain the confidence and resilience needed to tackle challenges and develop their skills…. It has thought carefully about what pupils need to know and understand’ OFSTED Report 2024

We are proud to say that writing in our school is enabling our pupils to become expert communicators across the whole curriculum. One example ‘wow’ moment was when a Year 5 pupil stood up in front of the whole school to deliver a speech titled ‘What makes a positive identity’ which was the final outcome of a Year 5 PSHE unit. Although not written as part of a BookWrites sequence, it was evident that the pupil was confident to write effectively for the audience and purpose as they now apply their knowledge of writing beyond the English curriculum.

I joined the Ambassador Writing Leaders about seven years ago. During this time, I have contributed in many ways to the work of the English Team. For example, I have hosted visits from other schools and have been involved in training initiatives designed by the team such as Devon Developing Vocabulary CPD and the Shared Writing training. My expertise is across KS2, particularly working with under-resourced pupils and I am constantly striving to improve my teaching of writing and to support my school team to do the same.

I teach a mixed-age class of Reception and Year 1 children at Rackenford C of E Primary School. I am the Reading and Phonics lead and as we are a small school, I also lead History.

Rackenford is a small rural school in a village about 10 miles from the nearest town. Consequently, we have a large rural catchment area. We usually have around 70 children on roll and currently have three classes.

We have used BookWrites for many years now and I joined the Ambassador Writing Leaders about 5 years ago. We find the sequences particularly helpful as we have mixed-aged classes and the plans give us confidence that we have planned for good progression in writing from Year 1 to Year 6. We have recently added BookBuds, so children from Reception to Year 6 have a well- planned writing curriculum. Our Year 6 teacher added that, “BookWrites offers high quality texts which the children enjoy. The texts help to inspire children to write and I think it has improved their use of vocabulary”.

As an Ambassador Writing Leader, my expertise is specifically in Reception, KS1 and working with mixed-age classes, particularly the challenge of simultaneously teaching both the EYFS curriculum and the Y1 National Curriculum. My text suggestions have informed some of the choices of Y1/2 BookWrites and, more recently, I have become one of the BookBuds authors. I love sharing fabulous books with children and seeing the amazing progress that they can make in writing with a strong pedagogical model…and I am always on the lookout for new ones!

I am Senior Teacher and English Lead at Drake’s C of E School in East Budleigh where my role involves teaching a mixed EYFS/KS1 class as well as Y3/4. I am also the English Lead for The Link Academy Trust of 24 schools in Devon. Many of our schools are small with mixed age or whole key stage classes and we have found the adaptability of the BookWrites approach ideal for these contexts.

As a voracious reader myself, I see the huge benefits of bringing high quality texts into the world of our pupils. Using the BookWrites texts has meant that children can access books chosen due to their high literary value that can be used as models for their own writing. At Drake’s we have seen the huge impact that the consistency of using the BookWrites model has had, with confident and enthusiastic writers emerging year after year. I am now enjoying supporting this approach across many schools in The Link Academy Trust in my role as English Trust Lead.

We have found that the curriculum planning support provided through BookWrites has been particularly instrumental in ensuring a progressive but flexible writing curriculum is being taught. Our teachers feel confident that the writing they are teaching not only covers the curriculum for the different year groups in their classes but is cumulative and progressive, allowing children to build their skills and knowledge over time. Within this framework, teachers have the freedom to make professional choices as they consider the needs of their classes – this flexibility to focus the sequences to suit their children is greatly appreciated!

I joined the writing Ambassador Writing Leaders about five years ago and have really enjoyed supporting other schools. I have also as been involved in exciting initiatives such as developing professional development materials for the Shared Writing training. More recently, I have been one of the authors of the EYFS BookBuds units.