Writing is a fundamental skill, and in common with most skills, becoming a proficient writer begins in the early years. Knowing that 29 per cent of children in England do not achieve the Early Learning Goal for writing (DfE, 2024), researchers are coming up with innovative programmes to address this.
‘Write from the beginning’ is a project funded by a UCL East Community Engagement Seed Fund and collaborated on between the International Literacy Centre at UCL Institute of Education and East London Research School. It celebrates the diversity of languages in the local community and prioritises the knowledge that the child's home experiences of literacy impact their writing. Collaboration with families is, thus, fundamental to this early writing project.
The initial framework for the programme was developed between Dr Sinéad Harmey, associate professor at UCL Institute of Education, and Fliss James, project lead at the EL Research Centre (at Sheringham Nursery School and Children's Centre). They developed it further during the project.
Write from the beginning ran for five days in summer 2024 at Sheringham.
GETTING STARTED
Sinéad says, ‘The best start in writing is one that involves both the child's home and school.’ She and her colleagues worked with 12 families. ‘The school suggested the families that might like to be involved. It was interesting to see how quickly the adults became a social group, enjoying each other's company. I think this seemed to make it easier for them to come to the sessions. This is important to consider for further home-school projects.’
The course leaders encouraged the diversity of languages among the participants. Often children and parents would interact about their drawings in their home language. This enabled them to elaborate on their ideas and bring them to life. The parent would then scribe their story in English.
Sinéad says, ‘It was wonderful to be witness and be part of this dynamic use of language, both spoken and written – it truly was a community experience.’
THE SESSIONS
Write from the beginning has two main aims: developing strong hands for writing; and sharing stories through writing and drawing.
Each day started in the morning just after drop-off. They began with a sociable time for the adults to discuss the planned session and offer feedback from the previous session. For the rest of the day, adults and children participated in all activities.
During the first half of each session the focus was on:
Developing strong hands for writing
- Core strength: this is when we have a stable base that will enable and support fine movements. It can be developed by building strength in the back, abdomen and pelvic area (Mackenzie and Scull 2018). The children, along with the adults, did playful activities such as using their arms and legs to support their bodies in shapes like a plank; balancing on all fours; jumping, hopping, rolling and crawling.
- Developing shoulder control: when we stabilise our shoulders so our arms can work freely (Mackenzie and Scull 2018). To support this, the adults and children tried walking like bears, cats, cows; crawling; writing on a vertical surface – this also encouraged the children to use their whole body to write.
- Bilateral co-ordination: when we use both hands to complete a task. To support this, everyone did some drawing and writing on a vertical surface (at eye level) and made different shapes and objects using playdough.
- Hand strength and fine motor control: this is when we develop hand strength that enables us to do small hand actions. Everyone supported this by playing finger games; making shapes with playdough using small hand actions, such as pinching, flattening, squishing and rolling; using tempera paint pens.
The physical aspect of writing is clearly given a lot of emphasis in this programme. As Jennifer Chung, one of the UCL researchers working on the project, comments, ‘Children's physical strength and gross motor skills are essential for developing their fine motor skills.’
During the second half of each session, the focus was on:
Sharing stories: creating, drawing, writing and telling them
This part of the day was all about recognising the value of drawing and writing, especially the earliest stages of mark-making. These early marks have meaning, and when children share this with others it highlights the connection between the written and the spoken: making explicit that writing is language in print.
The children's stories often came out of the earlier part of the session, such as the animal walks and the playdough activities. The adults encouraged the children both with their writing and speaking about it. The children also talked with each other about their stories. As well as having conversations with children about their work, the adults were co-authors with them, scribing their ideas.
Sinéad comments, ‘Sharing our writing was a perfect context for having high-quality interactions to support the children's language development. It provided a focus for talking – the children could get their message down on paper and then share it with others. The children were clearly seeing themselves as communicators and writers.’
Jennifer adds, ‘Using tempera paint sticks on vertical surfaces encourages the shoulder strength and control needed for writing. The vibrant colours of the paint sticks seemed to inspire the children to make marks and narrate stories.’
Write from the beginning is a project that draws on the expertise of parents, educators and researchers. It is a truly collaborative and creative project.
Most of us are familiar with the Nigerian proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ It could be time to create another: ‘It takes a community to get a child to write.’
CASE STUDY: the ShREC approach
The staff at Sheringham use the four strategies of the ShREC approach: Share-Respond-Expand-Conversation (EEF, 2022). Write from the beginning did this too, so the work was consistent with the staff's usual approach.
Aaliyah, three, was keen to write on the large pieces of paper. Sinéad watched and took an interest. She waited to see if Aaliyah showed any signs of inviting her to join in.
This is the Sh of ShREC: sharing attention. Sinéad showed that Aaliyah's work was of value and, by waiting, made it clear that Aaliyah was taking the lead.
Aaliyah looked towards Sinéad, and said, ‘Look!’
Sinéad said, ‘You're writing a story.’
This is the R of ShREC: respond. Sinéad recognised that Aaliyah was communicating with her and responded.
Aaliyah carried on writing and said, ‘Bear’.
Sinéad said, ‘Oh yes, a bear.’ Sinéad then wrote, ‘This is a bear.’ She read it as she wrote.
Aaliyah watched and said, ‘A bear’, pointing at the words
This is the E of ShREC: expand. Sinéad expanded Aaliyah's language by putting it into a simple sentence.
Sinéad asked, ‘What is the bear doing?’
Aaliyah laughed and then jumped, drawing on the animal movements from earlier in the session.
Sinéad replied, ‘The bear is jumping.’ She wrote this, saying it as she wrote.
Aaliyah looked at the words and said, ‘Bear is jumping.’
Sinéad said, ‘Is the bear jumping high?’ (demonstrating this)
Aaliyah jumped high too, saying, ‘Bear is jumping high.’
This is the C of ShREC: conversation.
