VNET EDUCATION CIC

Writing Essentials: Securing the Fundamentals 26/27

The DfE’s Writing Framework is clear: pupils who haven’t secured the fundamentals of transcription and sentence construction cannot compose with confidence. When handwriting and spelling aren’t automatic, working memory is consumed by mechanics rather than meaning. When sentence structures aren’t secure, composition collapses before it begins.

This three-session series, delivered live on Zoom, supports primary teachers, English leaders and SLT to evaluate and refine practice in the three foundations the Framework prioritises: handwriting, spelling and sentences. Each session is grounded in evidence, anchored in the Framework’s guidance, and built around practical strategies you can take back to classrooms the next day.

Audience: Teachers, English Leads and Senior Leaders

Programme Overview

Session 1

Handwriting Mastery: Teaching for Automaticity and Fluency

Learning outcomes

  • Implement systematic handwriting instruction across KS1 and KS2, including explicit
    teaching sequences, letter families, classroom setups and consistent routines that
    build automaticity for all learners
  • Teach the physical foundations of handwriting — posture, paper position, pencil grip
    and precise letter formation — with consistency across year groups
  • Plan progression and assessment for handwriting fluency, using intervention strategies that identify and address difficulties before they become barriers to composition.

Session 2

Spelling Mastery: Beyond the Weekly List

Learning outcomes

  • Apply morphology practically in spelling teaching, using morpheme matrices, word families and etymology to help pupils understand word construction and improve spelling accuracy
  • Implement systematic spelling instruction across KS1 and KS2 that connects phonics to spelling, teaches common exception words effectively and uses dictation, retrieval and proofreading to build durable knowledge
  • Use assessment that secures spelling automaticity, ensuring pupils retain and apply learning across their writing rather than only in weekly tests.

Session 3

From Single to Multi-clause: Mastering Sentence Construction

Learning outcomes

  • Teach single-clause sentence fundamentals including subject and verb identification, correct punctuation with capital letters and full stops, and systematic approaches to building pupils’ understanding of what makes a complete sentence
  • Implement sentence construction activities such as sentence combining, fragment correction and extending techniques that develop pupils’ ability to move from simple to multi-clause sentences using conjunctions and grammatical structures
  • Plan progression from oral to written sentence composition with practical strategies for sentence stems, visual prompts and scaffolding that supports pupils to master sentence patterns before moving to paragraph and text-level writing.

Writing Essentials: Securing the Fundamentals Project

  • Three virtual sessions
  • We recommend that two delegates attend the project
  • Access to the project includes access to an area on VNETCIC.com with all resources
  • VNET members can access one project as part of their membership package, additional projects cost £350+VAT
  • Non-member price £500+VAT
Book now!

Dates

  • Session 1: Tuesday 23 February 2027, 1.30pm-4.30pm
  • Session 2: Thursday 15 April 2027, 1.30pm-4.30pm
  • Session 3: Tuesday 8 June 2027, 1.30pm-4.30pm

Emma Adcock

VNET Principal Consultant

Emma has just under twenty years of experience in the education sector, ten years of which she has spent working as an English Consultant for Norfolk Schools.

Emma is a former Headteacher, system leader and advanced skills teacher. She regularly provides additional leadership capacity for schools. This additional leadership has previously included: acting head positions, part-time assistant head roles and she has worked across schools as a teaching and learning coach to support Quality First Teaching.
Emma is also an experienced trainer who regularly provides training for VNET schools on the following: curriculum design, subject leadership, Reading, Writing, Spelling and the explicit teaching of vocabulary.

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