Genre has long been at the heart of how writing is taught in primary schools. From recounts to reports, learning is usually guided by a calendar of text types.

But for Year 1, this approach doesn’t always work.

In writing terms, Year 1 can feel like the “forgotten” year. Reception is guided by the early learning goals, which have clear expectations for children’s development. By Year 2, the national curriculum is firmly in place with greater demands around composition and genre.

Year 1 has often been treated as Year 2 “lite”, with the same genre-heavy writing units squeezed into the timetable. But this ignores the crucial role Year 1 plays as a bridge year. Children are moving from mark-making, captions and early attempts at sentences to something more structured and sustained.

A genre-driven approach risks rushing this process. Instead, Year 1 should be seen as a year for consolidating fundamentals, such as sentence structure, punctuation, spelling patterns and handwriting.

This isn’t to say that different genres can’t or shouldn’t be used in Year 1, but that the focus should be on the objective that you want the children to meet.

For example, if you are looking at writing a set of instructions to make pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, your objective might be to introduce the idea of “verbs” to the children. Keep this in mind when planning your lessons, and don’t get too bogged down with the other elements of instruction writing.

Here are two more approaches to try:

I can, we can, you can

One practical strategy that has worked well in our school is the “I can, we can, you can” approach. It’s simple, adaptable and has been successful for us in significantly boosting children’s writing ability.

1. I can

The teacher models a sentence on the board, thinking aloud as they go. For example: “I need a capital letter… finger space… full stop.” Early in the year, the focus is on basics, but over time, this extends to new objectives such as using suffixes or question marks.

Children may copy the sentence, but the repetition and dictation elements are key. It’s about securing the objective and over-learning the basics for writing a good sentence.

2. We can

Next, the class works together in groups. The teacher scribes, with children suggesting and dictating sentences.

Here, outcomes can be differentiated, although the objective being taught would usually stay the same for most groups. For example, if introducing verbs for the first time, all groups would ensure they have a verb in the sentence.

However, some groups might extend their sentences with conjunctions, while others practise short captions like: “The cat jumps.”

Everyone works on the same objective at a level that suits their current ability.

3. You can

Finally, children write independently. This is where they put the new objective into practice on their own. It doesn’t need to be long or elaborate; one strong sentence that uses the objective correctly is better than half a page of writing with no punctuation.

This structure allows children to see, share and then try. It breaks writing into manageable steps and reinforces the idea that practice - not perfection - is what builds confidence.

Using books as the focus

A big part of making writing meaningful in Year 1 is giving children something engaging to write about. With writing enjoyment having halved in the past 15 years, finding books that children want to write about is so important.

For example, with Ten Little Dinosaurs by Mike Brownlow as a focus text and verbs as the objective, each lesson for a week might explore verbs through the characters’ actions. Children are motivated because they are engaged with the book, and this is then used as a stimulus to guide the objective.

Books also help to prevent writing lessons from feeling too “samey”. Even if the lesson structure is repetitive, variety comes from the text. There are a plethora of amazing picture books out there, making it achievable to not only choose a text that reinforces the objective but also engages children in the writing process.

Ultimately, Year 1 writing shouldn’t be about squeezing children into the mould of older year groups. It should be about building a rock-solid foundation.

By slowing down, focusing on objectives and giving children meaningful contexts to write about, we give them the tools and confidence they need for the years ahead.

Secure the basics, build confidence and let the genres come later.

Katie Jenkins is a key stage 1 lead and teacher

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