Mighty Writer

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Intent - Our aims for using Mighty Writer in English?

At Horn’s Mill, we want all children to see themselves as writers and storytellers. Mighty Writer is a visual, hands-on literacy tool that helps young learners build confidence, structure sentences, and develop their story-telling skills. Using colourful mats, word tiles, and visual prompts, it transforms writing into an engaging and collaborative experience, making the process accessible to all learners.

Through Mighty Writer, our intent is to:

  • Inspire children to enjoy writing by breaking it down into simple, manageable steps.
  • Develop storytelling and sentence structure using sentence mats, visual images, word tiles, and punctuation cues.
  • Support diverse learning styles, including visual, kinaesthetic, and collaborative learners.
  • Provide inclusive opportunities for all children, including those with English as an Additional Language (EAL) and Special Educational Needs (SEN).
  • Foster oracy skills through verbal story planning and rehearsal.
  • Build the foundations of writing so that every child can progress confidently through our English curriculum.
  • Encourage creativity and imagination, while helping children develop clarity, structure, and independence in their writing.

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Implementation - How we deliver Mighty Writer

Mighty Writer is embedded progressively across our school, providing a consistent approach that grows with the children and supports their writing journey.

  • Reception and Year 1: Mighty Writer is used daily to introduce children to the building blocks of writing. Pupils learn to create sentences, add punctuation, expand ideas with vocabulary choices, and structure whole stories with confidence. It forms a core part of English lessons at this stage, giving children a secure foundation for their future writing.
  • Year 2 and Lower KS2: Mighty Writer continues to be used where appropriate to reinforce sentence structure, support learners who need more practice, and provide visual, hands-on strategies to develop writing fluency.
  • Upper KS2: While pupils are increasingly independent writers, Mighty Writer remains available as a supportive tool when needed, particularly for scaffolding ideas, strengthening sentence construction, and supporting children with additional learning needs.

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Mighty Writer in Reception

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Mighty Writer embedded into Pathways units

 

Mighty Writer is embedded into Pathways units from Reception through to Year 2 and used where appropriate in KS2. It enhances storytelling, sentence construction and vocabulary development, complementing existing literacy objectives. The resource provides a visual scaffold that helps children to plan, rehearse and structure their writing, supporting oral rehearsal, sequencing and grammar practice. In this way, Mighty Writer strengthens pupils’ confidence, independence and creativity as writers.

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Impact - How do we know Mighty Writer is effective?

Writing progress in Reception

By the end of Reception, Mighty Writer has a clear impact on children’s independence as writers. It enables them to construct, hold and write sentences without adult support, and gives them the confidence to create their own stories. As a result, more children reach the expected writing standard at the end of EYFS, well prepared for a successful transition into Year 1.     

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Writing progress across KS1
By the end of Reception, Mighty Writer has a clear impact on children’s independence as writers. It enables them to construct, hold and write sentences without adult support, and gives them the confidence to create their own stories. As a result, more children reach the expected writing standard at the end of EYFS, well prepared for a successful transition into Year 1. In Year 1, Mighty Writer continues to be used daily, helping pupils to build sentences, apply punctuation and expand ideas with growing independence.

Year 2
In Year 2, Mighty Writer continues to provide a strong visual and interactive scaffold for storytelling, sentence construction and vocabulary development. It helps children to:

  • Organise and sequence ideas.
  • Rehearse sentences orally before writing.
  • Apply grammar, punctuation and new vocabulary.

This approach builds confidence, fluency and independence while keeping writing enjoyable and creative. By the end of Year 2, most children no longer need Mighty Writer every day, but can transfer these skills confidently into independent writing, ready for KS2.

Throughout KS2
In Upper KS2, Mighty Writer is used flexibly as a supportive tool or intervention where needed. It helps pupils strengthen sentence structure, cohesion and editing skills, and supports those who benefit from continued oral rehearsal before writing. Teachers adapt the resource to meet individual needs, gradually reducing the scaffold as confidence grows. This ensures that all pupils, including those who need additional support, make progress in writing quality, fluency and independence, helping them achieve age-related expectations.

If you have any further enquiries relating to the use of Mighty Writer as part of our Writing Curriculum, please email Mrs Davies on adavies@hornsmill.cheshire.sch.uk or Mrs Jobber on deputy@hornsmill.cheshire.sch.uk