The Writing Journey at Hiba Academy Nantong

As adults we rarely put pen to paper in this technology filled age. We type emails, type messages, use our fingers to press buttons to make words, but we don’t often take the lid off a pen, push the nib to the paper and let the ink flow into letters and words. 

As a result, you might wonder why children are still taught to write, why not jump straight to typing skills? There are banks of research that shows the impact of physical writing on supporting the developing brains of children to store and retrieve information. The multi-sensory process of writing shows links to broader educational development across the areas of the curriculum, not just Literacy.

Research links the physical act of writing with deeper creativity and idea generation, so our Hiba authors can mine the depths of their imagination with just a pen and piece of paper. In addition, a study from psychologists from the University of California report that university students who take notes by hand rather than on a device are better placed to process a lecture’s contents and reframe what they have been taught to better understand the subject matter and encode it more deeply into memory. 

In our Nursery children are on a wonderfully exciting journey to becoming writers. Have a look at the journey of a writer at HNN below: 

•In EY1, at two years old, children are given explorative opportunities to develop the gross motor skills and mark make. This is ‘pre-writing’ an incredibly important first step in becoming a writer. To adults it might look like scribbles, but attaching meaning to these lines on the page gives them meaning and to a two-year-old, that’s writing. 

•In EY2, at three years old, children often start to make recognisable marks using a variety of tools and equipment. Their drawings might become more detailed, they may begin to copy letters in their name, and this is all because of the strengthened fine motor skills (stronger hands, fingers, and arms). Children at this development point might use symbols and random letters to ‘write’ what they want to say.  

•In EY3, at four years old, children might start copying print from around the environment. They often use letters to write words by segmenting them into the sounds they know. They could write labels using a mixture of letters and drawings – for example a ‘don’t touch’ sign on their construction project. 

•In EY4, at five years old, the children are using writing for a purpose. They use their Phonic knowledge to write words and sentences about a range of topics. For example, creating a menu for the Hiba Restaurant, making invitations to our Thanks Giving celebrations or asking questions about the snacks for our upcoming Adventures in Nature. Students are developing stamina for writing longer pieces of work based on their own interests and ideas.

At Hiba Academy Nantong we are proud of supporting students on their journey to becoming writers. If you would like to find out more about how Literacy, and all areas of the curriculum, are taught at Hiba Academy Nantong, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our Admissions team who will be happy to help. Interested families are invited to join the Hiba Nursery Day Pass where your child can spend the day learning at Hiba Nursery alongside current pupils and teachers.