Intent
At Kidmore End CE Primary School, we chose to move our reading and writing lessons over to Literacy Tree because we wanted a high-quality, book-led approach that would inspire a love of reading while also strengthening writing outcomes across all year groups. The carefully selected texts, rich vocabulary opportunities and clear progression in writing outcomes aligned closely with our vision to close the gap between reading and writing attainment, while also stretching the number of greater depth writers we had by the end of Key Stage 2. We were particularly attracted to the way Literacy Tree immerses pupils in high quality, short burst pieces of writing and that these help to give children a true sense of realistic writing for a range of audiences and purposes.
Implementation
Our Literacy coordinator created the reading and writing spines to ensure that the texts chosen not only provided the children with a progressive and varied writing experience, but also opened their eyes to a range of text types (poetry, non-fiction, fiction) by a range of authors, both local and international. We particularly love the strong themes interwoven through the texts drawing on history, environmental concerns, LGBTQ+ and British values.
Impact
The impact has been significant. Teachers and support staff report increased confidence in teaching writing through high-quality texts and greater clarity around progression. Pupils are demonstrating higher levels of engagement and enthusiasm for English lessons, often making connections between texts and their own experiences; this has been noted in recent pupil voice with our curriculum governors and some very proud book looks. We have seen improvements in the quality and stamina of writing, with children producing longer, more purposeful pieces and drawing on a richer vocabulary and more advanced grammatical structures. Reading for pleasure has also become more visible across the school, with pupils actively discussing authors, recommending books and showing increased interest in independent reading. Literacy Tree has helped us create a coherent and inspiring literacy curriculum that is already having a positive impact on both teaching and learning.
Staff Testimonials
Year 1 in Kidmore End Primary School have loved Literacy Tree this year. From the Terrible Beast coming through our class, to an alien spaceship crash landing in our outdoor area, children have been inspired to write and have developed a real love of books and literacy. They often ask when it is going to be Literacy and will say 'I love writing'. It has made writing such a fun, relaxed activity that every child in the class has grown in confidence and enthusiasm. We saw incredible imagination when thinking about uses of a stick, and much laughter over Pig the Pug. Grammar is naturally woven and repeated making it easier for children to practise different rules in a low stakes way. As you see, I love Literacy Tree as do the Year 1 children!
Vanessa Smith, Year 1 Teacher
Implementing Literacy Tree has strengthened our whole-school approach to literacy. The shared framework has improved consistency across year groups while providing staff with high-quality plans and differentiated approaches for our mixed age classes. Through monitoring and pupil voice activities, we have seen children become more invested in reading and writing, and teachers have developed greater confidence in delivering ambitious English lessons. Literacy Tree has also supported me by providing a clear progression model and a rich literary spine that underpins our curriculum vision. The impact on pupil engagement and staff subject knowledge has been extremely positive.
Alexandra Machin, English Subject Leader