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What a Pathways to Write Session Really Looks Like
Pathways to Write is a text-based approach founded in a mastery-learning model. Key skills, called Mastery Keys, are taught and repeated; there are multiple opportunities to use and apply the skills until they can be mastered fully and applied in an extended context.
Each unit follows a process of conceptual understanding (hook and purpose for writing) which is called the Gateway. After this, is the Pathway – a series of lessons where writing skills are taught and practised and pupils are given the opportunity to apply their skills in an extended context. Components of writing are developed rigorously throughout a unit before pupils are challenged to write independently – the Writeaway.
The teaching sequence of each unit comprises 15 sessions, but each session may take longer than an actual lesson depending on the class so you may choose to teach one session over two or three lessons. The programme is designed to allow teachers to have ownership and the flexibility to make adaptations for the pupils they have in front of them, rather than feeling that it should be followed in the same way by everyone.
This is session 2 which is taken from the Pathway  from the Year 3 text ‘Seal Surfer’. This session has been split into Part A and Part B which the teacher might choose teach over two days. There are three Mastery Keys the children will be taught over the unit are:
In this session, on the left-hand column of the plan we can see the Mastery Key that this lesson focuses on.
At the bottom of the session, we can see what writing the pupils will complete. This is always in a green box. The teacher may choose these to create their success criteria with the pupils at the start of the lesson. They should also talk about the purpose and audience of the writing task they will be completing.
Every session has an accompanying PowerPoint to support with the planning.
Part A of this session starts with recapping prior knowledge on how to create main clauses with nouns and verbs:
Reviewing prior knowledge helps pupils activate what they already understand, making it easier to connect new writing skills to what they are learning. It also reduces cognitive load and ensures all learners start the lessons with the foundations they need to make progress in their writing. If any misconceptions are identified, these should be corrected before new skills are introduced to prevent gaps in learning from widening. The teacher may need to allocate additional time to secure this understanding before moving on the Mastery Key in the lesson.
Then the teacher explicitly teaches the Mastery Keys:
This approach aligns with The Writing Framework’s guidance that teachers must explicitly teach the skills, strategies and processes involved in effective writing.
‘Writing is demanding and it is important to teach pupils strategies to help them manage this. The explicit teaching of many of these writing strategies has been shown to be effective to help pupils manage, create and improve writing and is associated with highly effective teaching.’
The Writing Framework 2025, page 63.
The session then moves on to shared writing. In this session, the Gradual Release of Responsibility process has been used. More information about the Gradual Release of Responsibility can be found in The Writing Framework published in 2025 (page 63).
Pupils would then complete the writing task in the green box, practising applying the Mastery Key independently. Scaffolds or adaptations may be needed to support pupils who are not keeping up with the programme. Read our blog on adaptive teaching for ideas and strategies to support these learners.
After writing, pupils should be encouraged to re-read their work and identify application of the Mastery Keys. If they have missed them, pupils should be reminded or supported to add them to their writing. The teacher may ask pupils to reflect on their writing encouraging them to think about what helped them to achieve a successful outcome.
This is a brief summary of just one lesson from Pathways to Write but the elements from this are threaded throughout the Pathway in every unit in every year group. The Pathways to Write programme has a host of additional resources to support teachers when teaching a unit, all of which are available to download on the Pathways Platform.
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