by Ruza Modra

Created on: May 11, 2009   Last Updated: May 16, 2009

The computer screen may have replaced the notebooks, but writing skills are still crucial to a child's success in an increasingly technological world. The earlier a child masters the ability to write, the greater their chances for succeeding in school and on the job. In the United Kingdom, writing is taught at the primary school level with an emphasis on successive development of skills so that children understand writing as communication. Even great keyboarding skills require writing abilities. The United Kingdom's National Curriculum ensures that primary school children are given the tools they will need for a better future.

Primary school children are split into two levels. Key Stage One children are from ages five to seven years and in their first and second years of school. Key Stage Two children are between ages seven to eleven and in their third to sixth years. Both levels gradually build a pupil's confidence and ability in a series of goals.

In Key Stage One, pupils are taught that writing is enjoyable and valuable, to communicate meaning found in narrative texts, and an introduction to proper spelling and punctuation. Entering their first year, children should know the difference between writing and pictures, and recognize very simple words and their patterns (cat, hat, mat) to thrive at Key Stage One. The following areas briefly describe the goals in each of several important areas for strong writing skills.

1. Composition: By building a solid vocabulary, students learn to sequence events in appropriate order and transfer ideas into sentences that are organized in a clear structure.

2. Planning and drafting: Students write using familiar words and begin to incorporate new ones, develop and assemble ideas, plan and review writing.

3. Punctuation: Students understand punctuation's purpose is to help readers understand material by using sentence structure, full stops, capital letters, question marks and commas.

4. Spelling: Recognizing strategies using advanced sounds, patterns such as consonant clusters, common suffixes and prefixes, and learn to check spelling by using dictionaries and recognizing reasons for misspellings.

5. Handwriting and presentation: First time writers learn how to hold a pencil or pen, to write from left to write and top to bottom of page. They learn letter shapes and uniformity, size and spacing, upper and lower case letters and how to write clearly and neatly.

6. Language structure and Standard English: Students

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