Meet our Writing Lead:

Hi, I’m Mrs Sefton, and I’m proud to be the Writing Lead here at Joseph Turner.

I have been part of the Joseph Turner team for eight years, taking on the role of Writing Lead in 2022. Over that time, I’ve had the privilege of championing writing across our school and supporting our children as they develop confidence and creativity in their work.

In 2025, I gained my NPQLL (National Professional Qualification in Leading Literacy), which has strengthened my knowledge and leadership in developing high-quality literacy teaching across the school. This enables me to support our staff to deliver evidence-based, quality-first teaching and nurture a love of writing, ensuring that every child has the opportunity to flourish.

I have always loved the magic of storytelling. There is something incredibly special about watching a child’s imagination come to life on the page - whether they are creating an exciting adventure, describing a meaningful moment or sharing their own experiences. Writing gives children a voice. It allows them to express their thoughts, feelings and ideas in a way that is completely unique to them and I am passionate about helping every child feel confident enough to use that voice.

For me, writing is about creativity, expression and confidence. It’s about helping children see that their stories matter and that their voices deserve to be heard. I feel very proud to lead writing at Joseph Turner and to support our pupils in becoming enthusiastic, capable writers.

Our Writing Vision

Intent - the aims of our writing curriculum

At Joseph Turner Primary School, we believe every child is a writer. Our aim is to inspire a love of writing and help pupils become confident, creative, and skilled communicators. Writing is more than words on a page – it’s a way to express ideas, explore imagination, and share your voice with the world.

As a school at the heart of Tipton, we recognise the important role literacy plays in widening opportunity and raising aspirations within our community. We aim for pupils to engage with meaningful, local contexts as well as wider experiences, helping them see writing as purposeful, relevant and connected to their own lives. This supports cultural awareness, broadens horizons, and strengthens confidence in expressing ideas about their community and the world.

Implementation – What is taught and how?

Our curriculum, based on the National Curriculum, is carefully planned so that skills build year by year.  Pupils learn from a wide range of inclusive, high-quality texts, developing their vocabulary and grammar while writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. Writing tasks encourage individuality, creativity, and self-expression, helping children feel proud of their work.

In EYFS and into Year 1, children follow the Drawing Club, using engaging texts to develop sentence construction, vocabulary and early writing skills.

From Years 2-6, pupils follow a consistent writing journey across a wide range of progressive genres. We begin with and put audience and purpose at the heart of writing, guiding children to write with intention. Pupils explore texts as readers, analysing structure, language, grammar, and vocabulary, before becoming writers through explicit instruction of drafting, revising, editing and shaping their writing for a clear audience and purpose. 

Each writing includes a shared outcome combining vocabulary instruction, oral rehearsal, sentence building, modelling and guided practice, leading to an independent piece where pupils showcase creativity, individuality and independence.

One of the highlights of our writing journeys are our engaging experience lessons, where pupils embark on adventures - raft-building, dragon-hunting, or exploring a Winter Wonderland - sparking creativity and a genuine love of writing.

Each English lesson begins with whole-class feedback, giving pupils the chance to revise their work independently or with teacher guidance. Visitors to our lessons will see pupils take part in a 'Mini Lesson', where grammar and vocabulary are taught explicitly before being applied in their writing. This learning is underpinned by a Gradual Release of Responsibility, following our My Turn, Our Turn, Your Turn approach, guiding pupils from modelling and guided practice to confident independent application.

A strong emphasis is placed on a strong start in key transcription skills and these are taught through daily handwriting and weekly spelling lessons, where these skills are explicitly taught, reducing cognitive load and freeing pupils to write with confidence and creativity.

We recognise the diverse needs of our pupils and use adaptive teaching to support their progress in writing. Our teachers incorporate a range of scaffolding strategies, including guided writing, sentence starters, and word banks to support less confident writers and challenge our high-fliers. 

Impact - What impact does our writing curriculum have on pupils?

Pupils at Joseph Turner Primary School leave as confident, independent writers. We are consistently adapting, striving to ensure they achieve high standards in spelling, grammar, and punctuation, express ideas creatively across a range of genres, and develop a genuine love of writing. Our approach ensures all pupils, whatever their background or ability, feel valued, supported, and challenged, leaving them ready to thrive in the next stage of their education and beyond.

Proud Publishers

Have a look at some of the fantastic pieces of independent writing produced by our pupils.

Content coming soon.