ABSTRACT
In this chapter I analyse the importance of home-school links with reference to writing, and relate my findings to the broader discussion about continuity and progression at primary-secondary transition. The models of writing that children experience are not, of course, limited to school, and I wanted to investigate what writing activities (typically) went on in the homes of the four target pupils. I wanted to find out what sorts of writing the adults did, how they talked about their writing activities, and whether they were able to help their children with writing tasks. I also wanted to investigate the possible influence of the types of writing that took place in the home on the pupils’ attitudes and achievements where writing in school was concerned. I interviewed the parents and carers of the four target pupils in mid-July 1997 in their homes on the Windsor Estate in Billesley. The pupils had almost finished Year 6 at the Fairway Junior School. My intention was also to gain a clearer picture of the parents’ understanding of school writing, and their expectations of the different writing demands that their children would experience at secondary school in the following September.
