At Hartcliffe Nursery School, the aim is for every child to see themselves as a mark-maker, writer, author and illustrator, using the marks they make to share their ideas, thoughts and feelings.
Writing starts long before children hold a pencil properly. Children first need to talk, listen and understand language, so staff talk and read with them, respond to what they communicate and introduce new words. They also need strong hands: each hand has 27 bones, 34 muscles and 100 ligaments, and children build that strength through digging, climbing, big brushes and rollers, as well as tweezers, threading, playdough, clay and woodwork. Writing also asks a lot of young minds, from remembering what they want to say to staying focused and trying again when something is tricky.
Children at Hartcliffe make marks all over the nursery: in sand, mud, paint, playdough and runny glue, and with hand and foot prints. Staff sit alongside them and make marks too, copying their zig-zags and dots, talking about the lines and shapes they are making, and showing interest in what each mark means. When a child wants to, an adult will write down the story behind their drawing. Drawings and early writing are displayed and shared with families.
Role play gives children real reasons to write. They take orders in the café, write prescriptions at the vet’s, make tickets for the bus and post letters at the post office. As they grow in confidence, children learn to recognise and write their own name, make their own books, explore scripts from their home languages and begin to link letters to the sounds they hear in words.
Hartcliffe also values the simple enjoyment of drawing, inspired by the educator Loris Malaguzzi, who wrote about the pleasure children take in the feel, rhythm and look of the marks they make.