ELG: Writing
Criteria for the Writing ELG
As set out in the early years foundation stage statutory framework, children at the expected level of development for the writing ELG will:
- write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed
- spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters
- write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others
Key messages
When you make judgements on the Writing ELG, remember:
- children do not need to compose independently to meet the Writing ELG
- focus on correct letter formation, phonetic spelling, and readability
- dictation and guided writing are valid assessment tools
- children do not need to write multiple sentences in longer compositions
This video illustrates examples of assessment practice. While it features real children in real school settings, their actual developmental levels may differ from what is shown, and some scenes include acting for demonstration purposes.
Case studies
For illustrative purposes, the following writing case studies show one example per child. Remember, overall assessment should be based on a best-fit judgement rather than isolated examples.
Taylor is working at the expected level
‘My best dog I had when I was a baby.’
Taylor is at the expected level for writing. In this example, they wrote about a favourite toy. Taylor has demonstrated they can write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed. They have not formed their letter ‘s’ correctly in the word ‘best’. They then realised and wrote the letter ‘s’ again. Although not all spellings are correct, they have demonstrated they can spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters. The words they have written are phonetically plausible and legible. They have used finger spaces between most words. Although a capital letter has been used at the start of the sentence, it does not have a full stop at the end.
Harper is working at the expected level
‘It is mad. It is bad.’
Harper is at the expected level for writing. In this example, they created a ‘Watch Out’ poster for a wolf as part of their play. They have written very simple sentences (of at least 3 words) and phrases (of at least 2 words). The writing is phonetically plausible and most letters are correctly formed. The letter ‘t’ in the first word was not formed correctly. However, this was formed correctly the second time they wrote the word ‘it’. Harper has attempted to amend this. Capital letters and full stops are not used. Although finger spaces are not used consistently, the writing is legible and makes sense.
Amani is working at an emerging level
‘Lost. Stick man is missing.’
Amani is working at an emerging level for writing. For example, Amani is not yet forming most letters correctly. There is an awareness in how sounds are represented by letters and some letters are recognisable. The sentence reads ‘Lost. Stick man is missing’. Amani clearly has an awareness of grapheme-phoneme correspondence and has recognised the initial sounds and some other elements of the words, but not all. There isn’t clear spacing between words, making it difficult for others to decipher what has been written. Amani is beginning to work on the objectives in the Writing ELG, however, still requires support and further development in all three areas.