Writing in Focus

Our expert tutors assist students to develop, consolidate and extend their writing skills.

The 2019 NAPLAN results have revealed that more than 17 per cent of Australian Year 9 students have failed to meet national minimum writing achievement standards. Approximately 10 per cent of year 7 students, 7 per cent of year 5 students and 3 per cent of year 3 students are also not achieving the writing minimum standard in NAPLAN, which experts claim is setting these students up for a “massive handicap in life”.

Peter Goss, school education expert from the Grattan Institute acknowledges that once students fall behind in writing, it is very difficult for them to catch up unless they put in a lot of effort themselves and get the right support. Students achieving results on the cusp in year 7 for example are at greater risk of falling behind, and not meeting minimum standards in year 9.

Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly common for today’s students to dislike or avoid the writing process. Many students feel writing takes too long and consider writing to be a boring and laborious task. Some teachers wonder if this attitude has developed in response to students spending more time interacting with faster-paced visual modality on computers, and other devices.

Recent research has revealed that there are many reasons students avoid writing including:

Many parents have shared their concerns with us in regard to their child’s negative attitude towards writing, and their lack of interest in writing. Parents have also asked if we could help. In response to our parent’s requests we have developed a specialised writing program that is designed to explicitly teach students from Year 3 onwards strategies to improve their writing. Our ‘Writing In Focus’ workshop program immerses students in the writing process, whilst explicitly focussing on the features of different text types as well the skills of punctuation, grammar, proofreading and editing. Our ‘Writing In Focus’ workshop program also helps students to feel successful, which assists their confidence and motivation levels to increase.

Up to 5 students from similar year levels can participate in each ‘Writing In Focus’ workshop program, which is live, and facilitated by a qualified and experienced tutor. Optional homework tasks are provided following each workshop, enabling students to revise, practise and consolidate the skills that were focused on.

Our ‘Writing In Focus’ workshop programs are scheduled regularly throughout the year.