Talk 4 Writing

Everyone deserves the taste of success.

We believe that every child that comes to school deserves to flourish. This leads our drive to empower children as readers and writers through Talk for Writing.

Norwich Road Academy took on the Talk for Writing approach in January 2021. Talk for Writing, developed by Pie Corbett and Julia Strong, is based on the principles of how children learn. It enables children to imitate the language they need orally before reading, analysing and then using the language to develop and write their own independent version. Further information about Talk for Writing can be accessed through the main site here.

At Norwich Road Academy, we recognise the role that ‘talk’ plays in our understanding of the written word and so, through Talk for Writing, children are regularly given opportunities to listen to and retell stories and non-fiction texts. Through retelling texts (using actions or drama to help internalise patterns), children are able to first imitate, then innovate and invent their own version of a text. These stages of writing form the basis upon which all of our writing units are taught. Children are supported in their ability to innovate upon a known text through shared and guided writing, whilst the invention stage teaches children the subtleties of an author’s craft. Targets are set from each unit and children are encouraged to reflect on their own learning, and the learning of their peers, and to edit and improve their writing as a direct result.

We believe that all children should take pride in their learning, and so we ensure that children have opportunities to show what they can really do, providing them with the opportunity to create a piece of learning which they can be proud of. A totally independent ‘Hot Task’ at the end of a unit of writing allows children to demonstrate all that they have learned with regard to their targets and beyond, whilst ‘short burst’ writing offers children the opportunity to revisit previous text-types.