In my role as an English education advisor and key stage 2 writing moderator, I often meet teachers who have been given a performance management target to increase the percentage of pupils who manage to attain the Greater Depth Standard (or school equivalent) in writing by the end of the year.
This is, of course, totally understandable. As an experienced senior leader myself, I recognise the importance of challenging and ambitious targets – for pupils, teachers and for the school as a whole.
However, does this and can this approach convert into a child becoming a better writer? Or does it simply attempt to reduce the complexity of learning to write into a bland and overly simplistic numerical form?
So what is GDS?
If we are going to answer this question, we need to first understand what is meant by the Greater Depth Standard in writing by the end of key stage 2, as this is the only statutory national benchmark of this standard, prior to GCSEs.
Let’s first address a common misconception – a GDS writer is not necessarily your highest achieving child. GDS in writing is a national standard, and it is hard to attain!
It is outlined in the Standards and Testing Agency’s Teacher Assessment Frameworks at the end of key stage 2 (STA, 2022) which includes four “pupil can” statements:
- “The pupil can write effectively for a range of purposes and audiences, selecting the appropriate form and drawing independently on what they have read as models for their own writing (e.g. literary language, characterisation, structure).”
- “The pupil can distinguish between the language of speech and writing and choose the appropriate register.”
- “The pupil can exercise an assured and conscious control over levels of formality, particularly through manipulating grammar and vocabulary to achieve this.”
- “The pupil can use the range of punctuation taught at key stage 2 correctly (e.g. semi-colons, dashes, colons, hyphens) and, when necessary, use such punctuation precisely to enhance meaning and avoid ambiguity.”
In its moderator training in 2023, the STA stated that: “Achieving this higher standard is difficult, and it is typically only awarded to a small percentage of pupils ... and it is not unusual for a cohort to have no GDS writers.”
We can therefore not presume that our high achieving children will naturally convert to being greater depth writers.
The ‘pupil can’ statements
When looking at the “pupil can” statements, some key words jump out at us – “selecting”, “assured”, “conscious control”, “manipulating” and “use precisely”.
When looking at this language together, we can clearly see the importance of the autonomy of the child. The identification of the child as seeing themselves as a “writer” is paramount here.
The child must have the space, confidence, independence and skills to be able to make good authorial choices – whether this is with regards to their word choice, their punctuation, their style, or the genre which they choose to present their writing in.
Ultimately, a GDS writer must be able to write in an engaging and skilful way, adapting the language and style chosen, to the form and purpose of the writing effectively, while also incorporating the various elements of their writing learning journey. And this needs to be applied in all subject areas. This is far easier said than done.
How can this be achieved?
The simple observation of the language used within the GDS statements identified earlier has a range of potential challenges for any teacher: How much choice do I give them? How much direction should I provide? Will their standard drop immediately as soon as I loosen up my “control’?
The answer to this last question is quite likely to be – “probably”! This is especially true if the pupils are not used to this independence.
Our pupils therefore need to be trained throughout school in how to think like a writer and how to take ownership over their own writing.
Every school leader’s challenge in any subject area is consistency. With regards to writing, which is a highly complex skill and is needed in various subject areas, the consistent pedagogical approach to writing across the school is a priority.
A collaborative, workshop environment (the process approach) within the classroom when teaching writing, balanced with the direct progressive teaching of new learning and with the space provided for a child’s independent “authorial” choices, are key.
Editing as a skill also needs to be understood by all teachers as a critical element of learning to write, and must therefore be explicitly modelled, taught and expected from our earliest writers, right up to our oldest.
There is a common misapprehension from many teachers and school leaders that to be a GDS writer, you must have some natural flair or that those from more affluent families are more likely to be GDS writers.
Of course, natural talent is an element of success in any area, but this should not be linked to financial circumstances. Having a wide range of experiences for example can, and will, feed into pupils’ writing compositions, but this is not the sole responsibility of the child’s family.
It is our duty to ensure that all pupils have equal opportunities by incorporating various experiences throughout their school career – anything to support their understanding of the wider world and how they and others interact with it, for it is that which forms the basis of all good quality writing and should therefore be considered in any good quality writing curriculum.
Similarly, we must be aware of those children who come from families who may not prioritise language, reading and word-play as much as others.
These individuals need to be able to access a “world of words” when they come to school. A language-rich culture is a necessity for all children, but this is even more of a priority when trying to close that word gap which some pupils join our school with.
Spoken language and reading provision
We must also consider how the rest of our curriculum feeds into the development of our young writers. There are two particularly important aspects of this: the spoken language curriculum and our reading provision – both of which span across all subjects.
Spoken language is a fundamental necessity for any writing success. Oral composition, drama, debates, presentations, performances, discussions and role-play are key elements of the national curriculum and form the underbelly of any writing teaching.
However, one of Ofsted’s main conclusions in its recent Telling The Story report was that: “Schools (often) do not consider spoken language well in their English curriculum, although they understand that spoken language underpins pupils’ reading and writing development.” (Ofsted, 2024)
If school leaders are serious about wanting to improve pupils’ writing attainment, then they must take a serious look at their current spoken language curriculum and review the opportunities provided for children.
This well considered approach needs to also be mirrored in the school’s reading provision. Many of the words which we hear are simple and basic, however the language in text differs significantly. Through exposure to a wide range of texts, pupils will develop an understanding of various linguistic conventions which simply cannot be gained any other way.
The texts need to encompass a wide range of genres, authors and styles. They need to be engaging and challenging, historical and modern, a reflection of self and a way of providing a window into other people’s lives.
Without a well thought out text map, pupils will not have the exposure required to enable them to diversify in their own writing.
Final thoughts
Ultimately, pupils (and teachers!) need to understand the complexity of writing, and the range of skills needed to be able to produce GDS writing in fiction and non-fiction, across a range of styles and for various purposes and audiences.
In order to achieve this, school leaders and class teachers need to work together to prioritise a love of writing in their school, to develop a culture of language acquisition and word-play through a well-considered spoken language curriculum, to maintain consistency across year groups and subjects, and to ensure that pupils gain exposure to a range of experiences, texts and purposes for writing.
This cannot and will not be achieved by any one teacher alone. As such, simply demanding an increased percentage on a teacher’s performance management target will only scratch the surface of the writing iceberg.
- Emma Mudge is an advisor at Services For Education, a Birmingham-based charity which delivers training and development to teaching and school support staff in schools in the West Midlands and across England. Emma has more than 20 years' experience in primary education and has worked in a variety of roles including assistant headteacher, deputy headteacher, and acting headteacher.
Further information & resources
- Headteacher Update: Best Practice Focus: How to teach writing (free pdf download), October 2023: www.headteacher-update.com/content/downloads/best-practice-focus-how-to-teach-writing
- Ofsted: Research and analysis: Telling the story: the English education subject report, 2024: www.gov.uk/government/publications/subject-report-series-english/telling-the-story-the-english-education-subject-report
- Standards and Testing Agency (STA): Teacher Assessment Frameworks at the end of key stage 2, last updated October 2022: www.gov.uk/government/collections/key-stage-2-teacher-assessment