Achieving Greater Depth in Writing at KS2

Somewhere in your Year 6 class there are probably a few writers who could reach greater depth. But the criteria leave a lot to interpretation, and a tight writing frame can stop a child showing what they're capable of.

You'll look at the four greater depth criteria for the end of KS2 alongside a senior moderator, using a real piece of pupil writing about a hunting barn owl. You'll see what "drawing independently on reading" looks like on the page, why maturity of expression matters more than a list of ambitious words, and how punctuation shoehorned in can work against a child.

The teaching changes are small. Model the choices a writer makes rather than a text to copy, give pupils a say in perspective and form, and build in time for them to reread their work after a day's gap. That habit often separates expected from greater depth.