The Buckinghamshire Primary PRU is the first accredited Talk for Writing Centre pupil referral unit in the country. We would love the opportunity to welcome colleagues into one of our three sites to see how we have made Talk for Writing work for us and our pupils.

We have been working with the Talk for Writing team for 4 years and initially sought to implement a mainstream model. Due to our frequently changing cohorts and range of placements, in 2023, we adopted a SEND model which saw us embrace shorter 5 sentence texts that the children internalised before embellishing and extending to create their own innovative stories. This SEND model continues to be ambitious, pitched to ensure ongoing progress and through high quality first teaching and pupil engagement, children’s composition skills flourish.  

This continuous improvement is highly supported by ongoing professional development from the Talk for Writing team and whole school commitment ensures dedication from leaders, school staff, pupils and wider stakeholders too.

A morning visit would include opportunities to discuss the journey the PRU has been on with our leaders and visit classes to see how the Talk for Writing approach has scaffolded our pupils’ success in writing. Often our pupils arrive disillusioned with writing and fear sharing their ideas and putting pen to paper. Talk for Writing removed barriers for all, promoted inclusive practice, and turned even our most reluctant writers into authors.

However, pupil progress did not just stop with writing! Talk for writing has given our pupils greater confidence, greater self-esteem, and greater self-efficacy. So, if you are interested in Talk for Writing and want to know more about the power it holds, book one of our sessions below.

Jaime Loftus
[email protected]

Sam Haig
[email protected]