Most schools want to improve writing. They know they must, for many reasons. And yet, outcomes remain fragile; consistency is patchy; stubborn gaps remain.
This isn’t a failure of effort. It’s a failure of conditions.
Many of the schools we work with aren’t lacking commitment. They’re facing something harder: limited capacity and resources. They don’t need another ‘initiative.’ They need a system that works with their reality – not against it.
System gaps, not strategy gaps
Even strong writing strategies fail when the infrastructure isn’t there. If you don't have shared understanding, consistent modelling and aligned planning and assessment, things won’t stick, even if you have leaders with clear goals, teachers with drive and curriculum content with potential.
Ofsted’s new framework made it clear: impact = foundational knowledge, secured and revisited over time. Not just taught or attempted, but secured.
The Writing Framework reinforces this: sentence fluency, vocabulary depth, grammar for meaning. Not features lists or genre for genre’s sake.
So what does this mean for leaders trying to make writing work?
Three leadership levers for high-impact writing
1. Anchor progress in the everyday
Too often, schools design big writing plans that look impressive but are impossible to deliver consistently. A better question to ask is: What could every pupil do, every day, to build writing fluency?
That answer is almost always sentence-based. We secure foundational writing skills not through extended tasks, but through short, high-frequency practice.
Sentence-level routines – modelled, rehearsed and revisited – are the most powerful lever we have. They're simple to implement, reduce planning demand and yield the kind of visible, revisitable knowledge Ofsted now expects to see.
A sentence-level approach doesn’t mean dumbing down. It means building up from the right place. Pupils get repeated exposure to essential structures, vocabulary choices and grammar in context. They internalise how writing works.
For leaders, this means designing for real-time practice, not just long-term outcomes. Think sentence stacking, oral rehearsal, expand/reorder activities – strategies that can be embedded in minutes and scaled across classrooms.
Writing is no longer “one big piece a week.” It’s a daily routine, part of the fabric of the classroom. That’s where fluency and equity begin.
2. Make learning objectives work harder
One of the biggest missed opportunities in writing instruction is the simple learning objective. If your LO is “write a persuasive leaflet” you’ve described the task, not the learning.
This opens the door to performative writing: genre overreach, overloaded scaffolds and a focus on finishing rather than understanding.
A sharper LO would be: “Use repetition to build urgency.” “Sequence ideas with cohesion.” “Apply modal verbs to show degree of certainty.”
These are transferrable writing skills. They anchor modelling, guide success criteria, sharpen feedback and, crucially, make assessment meaningful.
For teachers, this shift simplifies planning. Instead of asking “How do I teach a newspaper report?”, they ask, “How do I model this sentence skill?” That’s lighter on workload and heavier on impact.
For leaders, this is an easy win with huge ripple effects. Audit your current learning objectives. Are they skills-based or genre-based? Do they point to what pupils will know and use next term, or just what they’ll produce by Friday?
Better LOs mean better focus, feedback and retention. It’s one of the fastest ways to sharpen writing instruction at scale.
3. Lead through clarity, not complexity
If leaders can’t articulate what good modelling is, what effective feedback sounds like or what foundational writing looks like in books, how can they coach, support or drive improvement?
Clarity starts with a shared language. What are the core sentence types we want all pupils to master? What vocabulary strategies will we model consistently? How do we scaffold without stifling?
This is where many well-intentioned strategies fall down. We write units and share plans, but progress stalls and practice diverges if we don’t have an aligned understanding.
Why foundational writing isn’t optional
Foundational writing knowledge is the most effective equity strategy a school can invest in. It doesn’t just improve writing – it improves access, confidence and independence across the curriculum.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: when writing foundations are weak, it’s not the confident, articulate, well-supported pupils who suffer. It’s the pupils who need clarity most.
What Leading English actually does
At Leading English, we support leaders to define and embed this clarity. We help teams build shared expectations around modelling, oral rehearsal, fluency checks and sentence progression. That’s the infrastructure. That’s what sustains change.
It isn’t about adding more. It’s about making what you already do work harder – and ensuring everyone is pulling in the same direction. We partner with schools to embed real, long-term change in writing – not just shiny plans or one-off CPD.
We know you’re juggling a thousand things. Writing doesn’t need to be one more initiative. It can be a core strength if the system is built right.
