How Primary School Students Can Improve Their Writing Skills

High school is a big transition for most students, and involves a serious levelling up of skills. How do you prepare your child for Year 7 English? This blog will give you some methods to help your child improve their English writing skills—starting now.

The Year 7 and 8 English writing skills expectations

In NSW, the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) outlines clear outcomes for students in Years 7 and 8 (Stage 4). These guide what your child should be learning in English, including how to read, write, and think critically.

Here’s a simplified breakdown.

Stage 4 English outcomes explanation

What does this mean for your child?

This table shows that both reading and writing skills are essential in Year 7 and 8.

In fact, a child’s reading and writing skills are interrelated.

So, if you want to improve your child’s written English, you need to improve their reading too!

To help you do this, here are five simple tips to help improve your primary school child’s writing skills.

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5 tips to improve your child’s writing skills

1. Read with your child

In Australia today, children are reading less as they grow older. Yet reading is a fundamental part of learning and building writing skills.

To help your child develop a passion for reading, get more involved. Just because they’ve outgrown bedtime stories doesn’t mean you can’t still share the reading experience.

Try this:

1. Ask what they’re reading and discuss the story or characters.

2. Find time to read the same book to show you’re interested in their learning.

3. Ask questions that get them thinking: Why did the character do that? What do you think will happen next? What do you like and not like about the book?

This will help them respond to their texts more deeply. Sometimes children skim when they read, or don’t take the time to digest the ideas in their texts.

By showing genuine interest, you encourage thoughtful reading—without adding pressure.

If you’re looking for some ideas for a reading list, read our Year 7 & 8 (Stage 4) Recommended Reading List!

Matrix teachers help your child build strong reading and writing skills in a supportive classroom environment.

2. Encourage reading outside of school texts

Students need to read more than the books that are set for school. Stage Four (Year 7-8) requires students to have a wide understanding of a variety of texts and text types. This can only happen through consistent reading practice.

It’s great if they’re hooked on a series like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, or The Mortal Instruments—but it’s also important to explore other types of writing.

We learn through imitation, so one of the best ways to improve your child’s vocabular and grammar is by reading non-fiction.

Encourage them to read:

• Biographies
• History books
• Popular science
• Age-appropriate news articles

This will introduce your child to different writing styles and forms. The more they read, the more they learn to recognise what good writing looks like and how to apply it in their own work.

3. Review their writing together

Does your child proofread and edit their work? They should! If you want your child to develop healthy study habits, they need to learn to reread their work and spot and correct errors.

To help them develop this practice:

1. Read over their written work with them.
2. Look for any awkward expressions, grammatical errors, or spelling errors.
3. Rather than correcting the mistakes, draw your child’s attention to the sentence and have them read it out aloud. This will help them to spot their errors and correct them themselves.

This builds independence and helps them own their learning.

Matrix students are taught comprehensive editing and proofing skills. It is very important that young high school students know how to check over their work. This will be essential for them in later years.

4. Make writing a regular activity, not just homework

Writing shouldn’t stop at homework. The more your child writes, the more confident and capable they’ll become.

Encourage them to write for fun or personal reflection. This could be:

• Creative writing like short stories or poems
• Personal reflections in a journal or diary
• Emails or letters to family and friends
• Non-fiction writing such as school or neighbourhood news articles
• Blogging about a hobby or interest

These activities help your child reflect on their experiences, develop their voice, and practise clear, structured communication. These are skills they’ll use in school and later in life.

You can even brainstorm story ideas together or review their work.

Better yet, write alongside them! Start a shared blog or review books together. This boosts their skills and shows you value their thoughts and creativity.

At Matrix, students learn to write in many styles and formats, building strong foundations for success in both academic and professional settings.

5. Play word games

Stronger vocabulary = stronger writing skills.

Does your child struggle with their vocabulary? You can help them with that!

Try playing word games like:

• Scrabble
• Pictionary
• Crosswords

When playing, ask your child what each word means or how it could be used in a sentence. Ask them to test you, too!

If you don’t know the definition, look up the meaning of the words together. This will teach your child to research things they don’t know rather than pretending that they do.

Working through crosswords together will improve their critical thinking skills. Crosswords require a wide vocabulary and an understanding of different definitions and puns.

An activity-based approach to English will introduce your child to the fun aspects of English while improving their writing skills.

Want your child to take their writing skills to the next level?

Years 7 and 8 are the best time to build strong foundations in English. If your child is struggling with writing now, it’s important to support them before the workload ramps up in later years.