Coddington — A KS1 English handwriting book built around dashed-baseline pages and a Check / Cheer / Challenge feedback strip

The brief

Coddington came to us for a KS1 English book that would do the dual job of supporting handwriting formation and growing into a proper literacy exercise book — without the children needing to switch between two different books. The school wanted ruled pages that suit Year 1 and Year 2 handwriting, an unmistakable book-care charter and marking key on the inside front (so children can read their teacher's symbols themselves), and a repeating feedback strip on every writing spread that supports self, peer, group and teacher marking. The book also needed to carry the school's values, the Shining the Light of Learning strapline, and a back-of-book literacy reference that pushes children towards homophones, connectives and paragraphing as they progress through KS1.

What we designed

Working with Coddington, we built a KS1 English book organised around five repeating components.

An Exercise Book Expectations for Success and marking-guide inside front, written in language KS1 children can read: keep the book neat with your best writing, date and title underlined, mistakes neatly crossed out, ruler for underlining, no graffiti, no scribbling out, no tearing out pages, diagrams in pencil — paired with a child-facing marking-symbol key (finger spaces, CL for capital letters, full stops, "read your sentence aloud to check for sense", key words spelled correctly, connectives, joined-up handwriting, exciting/interesting word choices) and a Top Spelling Tips strip: accuracy matters, find a root word, break into syllables, look for a spelling rule, check a dictionary, write it out three times, create a mnemonic, highlight the hard part.
A KS1 Common Exception Words reference and a "My Misspelt Words" log facing it — so the words children are expected to read and spell sit alongside the personal spelling log they fill in.
A repeating dashed-baseline writing spread used for every piece of work: KS1-appropriate handwriting lines (with dashed midlines for letter formation) filling the page, topped with a header marking who's giving the feedback — Self / Peer / Group / Teacher — and footed with a Check / Cheer / Challenge strip: Check (CH ✓) — check the work, edit with a green pen; Cheer (CH+) — what's really good about the work; Challenge — what are the next steps, what needs fixing. The same feedback strip sits on every writing page, so the routine is identical from the first piece of work to the last.
A homophones reference at the back of the book, with the most common KS1/early KS2 confusions explained with a sentence each: were / where / we're / wear; their / they're / there; of / off; too / two / to; new / knew / no / know.
A literacy progression reference for children ready to push beyond handwriting: connective banks grouped by purpose — Adding, Comparing, Qualifying, Cause & Effect, Emphasising, Contrasting, Sequencing — plus a Paragraphing "Top Tip" introducing children to when to start a new paragraph.

The finished book

Printed on a warm yellow cover with the school's stained-glass-window crest, the Coddington C of E wordmark and the "Shining the Light of Learning" strapline along the foot, with the school's seven values — Respect, Happiness, Responsibility, Friendship, Honesty, Cooperation, Love — running up the cover. Inside, every writing page repeats the same dashed-baseline layout and Check / Cheer / Challenge feedback strip, so a child opening the book on the first day of Year 1 uses the same structure as a child finishing Year 2.