Writing at St Mary's RC Primary 

At St Mary's we follow a bespoke Mastery approach to English through the programme ‘Pathways to Write.’ which is delivered over a two year programme to ensure coverage and continuity of skills.

Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for writing. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the writing activities provided.  Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.  

Following the new writing framework 2025, we as a school wanted to ensure that we teach a robust and consistent scheme based on proven research. 

"Pathways to Write is a text-based approach founded in a mastery-learning model. Key skills are taught and repeated; there are multiple opportunities to use and apply the skills until they can be mastered fully and applied in an extended context.  

Each unit follows a process of conceptual understanding (hook and purpose for writing), procedural fluency (a series of lessons where writing skills are taught and practised) and an opportunity for pupils to apply their skills in an extended context (Carpenter, 2018). Components of writing are developed rigorously throughout a unit before pupils are challenged to write composite tasks (Ofsted, 2024)."

The Pathways to Write process encompasses planning, drafting, proof-reading and editing. Each stage is taught alongside specific writing strategies to help pupils succeed at each step. Throughout the units, these stages are systematically taught, modelled and practised. To develop independence, writing strategies are introduced using the gradual release of responsibility model, as recommended in the Improving Literacy in Key Stage 2: Guidance Report (EEF, 2021). By the time pupils reach the final extended piece of writing, known as the Writeaway, they are prepared to complete the process independently.

The importance of Oracy.

The research that underpinned the Primary National Strategy (DfES, 2003) is still hugely relevant today and was an influential source in the creation of Pathways to Write. Spoken language is integrated into Pathways to Write in a progressive way that develops pupils’ ability to communicate effectively so that they are talking to learn as well as learning to talk. This is echoed in work undertaken by Mercer and Dawes (2018) who state, “Ways of talking shape ways of thinking, and ways of thinking are expressed in ways of talking.” Many of the drama, group discussion, speaking and listening activities from the Primary National Strategy (DfES, 2003) have been incorporated into the units to ensure that pupils are immersed in stories and characters, can articulate their thoughts and use exploratory talk to develop their ideas and write effectively for a range of purposes.

The importance of vocabulary

Pathways to Write builds in extensive opportunities to develop and apply vocabulary. The EEF summarises the key strategies for teaching vocabulary and modelling language that the programme follows (Reynolds, 2023). Vocabulary specific to each text and unit is identified, both tier 2 and tier 3 words (Beck, McKeown and Kucan, 2013) alongside wordlist vocabulary (DfE, 2013). This ensures coverage across the year and supports teachers to identify words that need explicit teaching. Pathways to Write develops word depth by creating a planned approach to clarifying words and meaningful, repeated exposure to them through engaging and purposeful activities, as recommended in Improving Literacy in Key Stage 1, Improving Literacy in Key Stage 2 (EEF, 2021) and Closing the Vocabulary Gap (Quigley, 2018).

Early writing and the importance of EYFS

In EYFS, Pathways to Write is introduced through engaging picture books with different skills for 3- and 4-year-olds and children in reception based on guidance from Development Matters (DfE, 2023). Through a structured sequence of learning, children develop essential skills such as oracy, listening and an awareness that their marks or writing hold meaning. A key focus of Pathways to Write in EYFS is to develop children to become better communicators. “Oral language skills are fundamental to children’s learning, thinking and emotional wellbeing” (EEF, 2018). In line with this, Pathways to Write places a priority on developing communication and language through focused provision activities and embedding the characteristics of effective learning into daily practice.

When pupils move into Y1, there is a focus on pupils developing key foundational knowledge. This includes developing transcription skills and knowledge of language (vocabulary, grammar and syntax) as stated in Telling the Story: the English subject report (Ofsted, 2024). The process within Pathways to Write allows for the repeated practice of these skills through the mastery approach alongside opportunities for oral composition leading to fluent application. Once pupils are fluent and secure with these skills, they are ready to produce extended pieces of writing independently. This will continue to build throughout Y2 as new skills are introduced. 

Pathways to write progression of skills overview objective are below: