Teaching Writing in the Early Years

Enhance your knowledge and understanding in how to teach writing to children in Nursery and Reception, guiding them through their first steps as a beginner writer by using literacy strategies specific to Early Years provision in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and Development Matters 

This one-day course is designed by experts in Early Years writing provision and develops subject knowledge in how to ensure progress in writing through the development of knowledge, skills, attitudes and experience necessary in becoming a writer. Particular attention will be given to choosing and using high-quality children’s literature to support the needs and interests of children, inspire a range of meaningful writing opportunities and foster a community of  confident, competent young writers. 

This course is one of four Teaching Writing courses tailored to the needs of children in Nursery to Year 6, meaning teachers can undertake one course on its own or attend all four courses to embed consistency of practice throughout their school.

What you will learn:

• Understand how writing develops from the beginning and how to support progress and achievement in the Early Years;
• The writing practices that shape a community of writers in which young children are curious, engaged and motivated to write collaboratively, individually and independently;
• How to choose and use quality texts to exemplify authentic writing voices, provide language models, enrich vocabulary and inspire opportunities for writing; 
• The teaching approaches that best support language and vocabulary acquisition and composition of imaginative ideas for writing;
• How to support children at the early stages of markmaking and writing to explore a range of purposeful writing opportunities across the provision and across genres;
• How to enable children to use and apply growing phonic knowledge to segment and spell words in real contexts;
• A range of strategies and approaches that develop gross and fine motor skills and encourage fluency and stamina;
• Understand how to develop competency and confidence in writing from Early Years into Year 1. 

What participants will receive:

As well as a full day training and lunch, all participants will receive a high-quality children's book and planning notes to help put the strategies from the course into practice in the classroom.

Participants will receive joining instructions for the course one week before the training date. If you have any queries, please email courses@clpe.org.uk.

Why choose CLPE for your literacy training?

CLPE is a respected, trusted and innovative centre of excellence, its reputation established over its fifty-year history of training teachers in best practice that is rooted in ground-breaking research. Our responsiveness to trends and patterns in education means we are able to guide you in interpreting policy with integrity.

Our face-to-face courses are all held at our Literacy Library a unique 25,000 volume resource, which enables us to place high-quality children’s literature at the heart of our ethos and practice. Each course is delivered by one of CLPE’s expert advisory teachers, who can draw on decades of experience and expertise in leadership and literacy, supporting you to effect sustainable change that is built on a solid foundation of evidence.