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Teaching Strong Foundations in Writing - Yr3-Yr6

Summary

Teachers will have a clear understanding of the research and rationale underpinning best practice in the teaching of early writing for lower achieving pupils including those with SEND and new arrivals. Training will be broken down into small steps so that practitioners have the opportunity to apply it in their classrooms, before reflecting on its impact during follow-up sessions.

The focus of these half-day sessions is to develop effective teaching of strong foundations in writing for lower achieving pupils across Ks2, ensuring that all pupils make progress. There will be a focus on supporting learners to develop fluency and automaticity in the transcriptional elements of writing to reduce the cognitive load required of writers in writing composition.

These sessions will include a mix of subject knowledge and pedagogy and will be closely linked to the recent publication, Strong Foundations in the First Years of School, Ofsted report. Content will include diagnostic review of lower achieving pupils’ writing to identify need and provision of scaffolding to meet them. A range of scaffolding techniques, including oracy, will be introduced alongside advice on the removal of scaffolding.to lead to independence. Gap tasks will be set for teachers to ensure development of teaching practice and impact on their lower achieving pupils’ writing including those with SEND.

The sessions will also provide opportunities to develop generic subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in writing, share good practice and network with other schools.

Proposed session content

Session 1: Diagnosis of writers’ needs. Understand the teaching of writing and the cognitive load required to write effectively. Teach strong foundations in handwriting and phonics for spelling to build fluency and automaticity. Use dictation as a tool.

Session 2: Understand end of year expectations for Ks2 pupils and how to support LA writers and stretch and challenge able writers. Use scaffolds to support accurate writing of sentences and build strong foundations in age related grammar expectations.

Session 3: Develop effective teaching of strong foundations in writing through linked shared and guided writing. Gap task: videoing of your teaching of shared and guided writing.

Session 4: Develop the teaching of strong foundations in English through video coaching of shared and guided writing. Reflect and build on strategies to develop independent writing.

Session 5: Develop composition through the use of oracy. Reduce the complexity of tasks required of writers: planning for progression.

When completing this booking form, you will be booked onto all the training dates as below. (The booking confirmation will only show the date for session 1)

Session dates

Sessions 1 and 2: 13th October 2025, 9am to 4pm at NSPCC

Session 3: 27th November 2025, 1pm to 4pm at NSPCC

Session 4: 13th February 2026, 9am to 12noon at NSPCC

Session 5: 20th March 2026, 9am to 12noon at NSPCC

Please note: In addition to the above dates, an impact session will be attended by English Subject Leaders only (not the teacher delegate) at the end of the programme. Leaders will share the impact of the CPD training programme on teacher practice and lower achieving pupils’ writing, including new arrivals and those with SEND, across the school. This session is included as part of the Strategic Leadership of English meetings.

Recommended for

Teachers in years 3, 4, 5 and 6

For schools signing up to the Teaching Strong Foundations in Writing courses, it is recommended that English Leads would benefit from attending the Strategic Leadership of English course.

For example:

School A

Strategic Leadership of English - English Lead

Teaching Strong Foundations in Writing EY – EY teacher

Teaching Strong Foundations in Writing Y1-Y2 – KS1 teacher

Teaching Strong Foundations in Writing Y3-Y6 – KS2 teacher

Venue

NSPCC National Training Centre, 3 Gilmour Close, Leicester LE4 1EZ

Cost

Free for Leicester City maintained schools. £375 for non-maintained city schools and all Leicestershire schools.

Further Information

For further information, visit the PDL website or contact sonia.dayal@sdsa.net

This event has now exceeded the number of places.
You are welcome to register below to be placed on a waiting list

Your name

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Your Job title / role

Please select your school from the choices below. If you are based outside of Leicester City, please enter the name of your school in the 'Other organisation' box below.

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In which year group do you teach?

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Your school's commitment to this booking

Involvement in this booking will require substantial commitment and we do need to emphasise this. Expectations between projects will vary slightly, but by signing up you and your school are agreeing to:

Release the named staff to attend all events within the programme.
Give staff the necessary support to undertake school-based activities, gap tasks and improvement work.
Engage well with the opportunities in the programme and, if invited, school-based support.
Give at least 48 hour’s notice if you are no longer able to attend a session you have booked. Failure to notify or cancellation within a 48 hour window of the training date will result in a 100% charge of the course fee. If you are a maintained Leicester City primary school, and accessing the course free of charge, the cancellation cost will be the charge advertised for non-maintained/Leicestershire schools. For non-maintained/Leicestershire schools the advertised charge will apply.

I can confirm that my school is in agreement with the terms outlined above