ABSTRACT
School leaders in England recognise the importance of pupils' progress in tested writing skills. It is a key Ofsted measure in determining their schools' effectiveness. Leaders also know that a teacher who can engage pupils with creative writing will be contributing to pupils' spiritual development. When teachers 'do something creative', or let pupils take ownership of a purposeful challenge, activity or enquiry, they are often surprised by what the children are capable of. So having genuinely 'high expectations' of pupils involves being open-minded rather than fixated on particular destinations. In 2014-2015, in order to understand how National Writing Project (NWP) writing teachers were raising standards in more than merely tested skills, Simon interviewed headteachers in both primary and secondary schools. These headteachers wanted to improve the writing environment for young writers, and both were evaluating the effects of employing teachers who wrote themselves.
