At the Whiteoak Academies, the main stimulus for each writing unit is chosen with care and clear intention.  High quality children’s books, many of which have been selected from The Literacy Tree, form the core of our offering. These texts enthuse and capture the imagination of our children, often inspiring them to write about the characters, settings and events that they come to know well through their reading and discussion.   Further text extracts may also support the writing journey, offering greater understanding of content or further illustrative examples of the genre of writing under study.

In addition, each year group ensures that at least two units within their planning have a visual stimulus. Short animations selected from The Literacy Shed provide a powerful alternative to a written text. We recognise the exciting and emotive writing opportunities that these, often silent, videos offer.

Ensuring that the texts we select are reflective of our rich and diverse cultural heritage and of the wider world community in which our children live, is of great importance to us.