Mythbusting Early Childhood: Writing – Conference with Jan Dubiel and Helen Battelley

Stronger Practice Hub Event

This dynamic and thought-provoking training day will be led by Jan Dubiel and Helen Battelley—two leading voices in early childhood education and development. Together, they bring a unique blend of expertise, which you can read more about below.

This conference is for early years educators in maintained nursery schools and nursery classes in schools, as well as Reception educators. It is for those interested in curriculum design, assessment and movement-based approaches to early writing.

This training day is designed to challenge assumptions and interrogate widespread practices around early writing, particularly in light of the recent DfE Writing Framework. Drawing on the latest evidence from wider ECEC experts and grounded in the latest research, we’ll explore what truly supports children’s writing readiness, not just at the table, but from the ground up and with an awareness of how the transcriptional and the compositional effectively combine.

Expect to leave with practical strategies, greater clarity on developmental expectations, and the confidence to advocate for approaches that honour how children grow, move, and learn.

The Bristol & Beyond Stronger Practice Hub and the South West Stronger Practice Hub bring you this conference for the whole of the south west region.

If you are based in Bristol & Beyond’s SPH local authority areas, then you should register below.

If you are based in the South West SPH’s local authority areas, then you should apply on their webpage.

About the Trainers

Jan Dubiel

Internationally recognised specialist in Early Years assessment and curriculum, brings a deep understanding of policy, pedagogy, and how to translate developmental research into meaningful practice.
Learn more here.

Helen Battelley

Renowned movement and physical development consultant, offers specialist insight into how early movement, sensory integration, and gross motor development lay the foundation for confident, capable writers.
Learn more here.

More about the Course Aims & Learning Outcomes

By the end of the day, participants will be able to:

• Critically interrogate the phrase “ready to write” as used in policy and classroom practice, identifying assumed versus explicit developmental prerequisites.
• Explain the role of gross motor foundations (posture, core stability, shoulder girdle control) in enabling fine motor skill and sustainable mark-making.
• Evaluate common early-years approaches (e.g. worksheets) against developmental evidence and re-design tasks to support embodied learning.
• Apply a motor-hierarchy (proximal → distal) framework to sequence teaching for transcriptional and compositional development.
• Understand the importance of the purpose and context of writing in terms of the compositional dimension
• Establish the concept of a child’s ‘writer’s voice’ and how this needs to be facilitated in conjunction with the transcriptional dimension.
• Produce, with guidance a step-by-step, curriculum-aligned action plan
• Draw from a suite of strategies and approaches to support early writing in the EYFS

Timetable and Session Structure

09:30 – 9.45: SPH Welcome and Introduction
09.45 – 10:05: Mapping current practices against the DfE Writing Framework and motor-skill indicators.
10:05 – 10:30: Framing the problem: “Ready to Write” — what does it mean? A focused, evidence-informed unpacking of the DfE Writing Framework language.
10:30 – 11:30: Session 1 — Gross Motor Development: Proximal Before Distal: Understanding Motor Hierarchies
11:30 – 11:45: Break
11.45 – 12:45: Session 2 — Curriculum Planning: Compositional & Transcriptional Steps — a step-by-step guide
12:45 – 13:30: Lunch
13:30 – 14:00: Session 3 — Fact or Fiction: Do worksheets accelerate writing?
14:00 – 14:40: Session 4 — Designing Developmentally Appropriate Writing Environments
14:40 – 14:50: Break
14:50 – 15:30: Reflection, evaluation & next steps
15:30 – 16:15: SPH Closing session & Raffle

If you have any access requirements or dietary requirements, please email us at: sph@beyth.co.uk