Literacy

Dear Families,

The Quick Write: Building Confident and Capable Writers at Holy Family

At Holy Family, we are continually looking for ways to strengthen our students’ writing skills and help every child become a confident, capable and enthusiastic writer.

One of the approaches we have implemented throughout the school is The Quick Write, a simple yet powerful strategy that gives students regular opportunities to practise putting their thoughts into words.

Why The Quick Write?

Writing is a skill that develops through practice. Just as regular reading helps children become more fluent readers, frequent opportunities to write help children become more fluent and confident writers. The Quick Write allows students to focus on getting their ideas onto paper without worrying too much about spelling, punctuation or making every sentence perfect.

This approach helps students develop writing fluency, strengthen their ability to generate ideas and retrieve vocabulary, and become more comfortable expressing their thoughts. It also encourages students to draw on their growing knowledge of sentence structure, grammar and vocabulary. Over time, these short, regular bursts of writing help build the foundations for more detailed, organised and sophisticated pieces of writing.

How does it work at Holy Family?

Across the school, students participate in short, focused writing sessions in which they respond to a prompt, question, image or topic. The aim is to keep their pencils moving and their ideas flowing!

The approach is adapted to suit students’ ages and stages of learning. Our younger students might write about a familiar experience, describe a picture or respond to a simple question. As students progress through the school, they are challenged to develop more detailed responses, incorporate precise vocabulary, expand their sentences and explain their thinking.

Teachers provide clear instructions and an achievable focus for each session. Students are encouraged to write independently, draw on what they already know and apply the writing skills they have been explicitly taught. Depending on the lesson, teachers may also invite students to share their writing, celebrate effective word choices or reflect on how they could improve a sentence.

Importantly, The Quick Write is about building fluency through regular practice, not producing a perfect piece of writing every time. By separating the process of generating ideas from the process of editing and refining, students have more opportunities to develop confidence and automaticity as writers.

At Holy Family, The Quick Write complements our explicit teaching of writing, vocabulary and sentence construction. Together, these practices help students develop the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to communicate their ideas clearly and effectively.

We look forward to seeing our students continue to grow as writers, one quick write at a time!

Happy Writing!

Julianne Kelly

Literacy Leader   &  Learning & Teaching Leader

Julianne Kelly