At Literacy Counts, we know how critical accurate writing assessment is for improving outcomes in reading and writing. While the DfE provides exemplification documents for Year 2 and Year 6, there has long been a gap for the other year groups. That’s why we’re proud to launch Moderation Counts Exemplification Materials, a set of carefully designed documents for Years 1-6, providing schools with the resources they need to support accurate teacher assessments across all year groups.

Moderation Counts is a versatile, high-quality tool designed to assist any primary school—regardless of the writing scheme in use—in ensuring consistency, confidence, and clarity in writing judgements.

Why Moderation Counts?

Assessing writing can be a challenging process, and gaps in exemplification resources leave teachers without clear guidance for many year groups. Moderation Counts bridges this gap, providing a valuable resource for teachers and school clusters.

As Hannah Gaynor, one of our Senior Consultants leading this project and previous Headteacher explains:

"These moderation documents provide teachers with clear, authentic examples of what writing looks like at each standard. They not only support accurate assessment but also create opportunities for professional dialogue among educators, ensuring consistency and a standard approach in writing judgements across schools."

Karen Pickles, one of our Consultants and LA Lead Moderator adds:

"Moderation Counts equips schools with practical, user-friendly materials to streamline and support writing assessment. These resources offer not only clarity and guidance for teachers but also an opportunity to build consistency and confidence across the whole school."

With Moderation Counts, you can:

Enhance Teacher Confidence: Empower staff with a reliable tool to assess writing judgements accurately.

Foster Collaboration: Use these documents as a moderation tool within and between schools, encouraging professional dialogue and shared understanding.

Support Learning Progression: Ensure every child’s writing is accurately assessed to help inform them of the next steps in their learning.

What’s Included?

Moderation Counts provides examples of writing (working towards, working at, and working at greater depth within the expected standard) across the following year groups:

Year 1 & Year 2 - View more and purchase here.

Year 3 & Year 4 - View more and purchase here.

Year 5 & Year 6 - View more and purchase here.

Each sample features detailed annotations and commentaries, helping teachers identify key features of writing that meet specific standards. These documents use the same qualifiers (‘some,’ ‘many,’ and ‘most’) as the DfE exemplifications, ensuring alignment with the KS1 and KS2 Teacher Assessment Frameworks. Where qualifiers are used, they have consistent meaning: ‘most’ indicates that the statement is generally met with only occasional errors; ‘many’ indicates that the statement is met frequently but not yet consistently; and ‘some’ indicates that the knowledge or skill is starting to be acquired and is demonstrated correctly on occasion, but is not yet consistent or frequent.

What Makes Moderation Counts Unique?

Moderation Counts is not just a resource—it’s a solution for schools aiming to improve assessment accuracy and foster professional development. Key benefits include:

Authentic Writing Samples: Quality examples that reflect real-world classroom scenarios.

Consistency Across Year Groups: Clear progression and alignment with national standards.

Versatility: Ideal for use with any writing scheme, including our award-winning Ready Steady Write.

Collaboration Ready: Perfect for whole school and cluster moderation. Supports a more seamless transition across key stages and between year groups to ensure greater consistency in teacher judgements.

Who Are These Documents For?

Moderation Counts is designed for all primary schools, whether they follow Ready Steady Write or another writing curriculum. Perfect for English subject leads, SLT, headteachers and Cluster/MAT Leads, these documents are ideal for schools looking to:

Enhance teacher confidence in assessing writing.

Improve consistency across year groups.

Streamline assessment processes with a clear, structured resource.

Real Impact, Real Value: Leadership Voice from Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School

“The writing moderation materials were invaluable to both ECTs and experienced teachers in supporting validation of teacher judgements. The materials supported professionals in making accurate judgements and added rigor in unpicking what the child had evidenced. This toolkit proved invaluable during our writing moderation twilight and supported staff in making secure accurate judgements about children’s writing. ”

— M O'Neill Assistant Headteacher

“The new writing moderation handbooks have been incredibly useful in streamlining our moderation process. They provide clear, concise guidelines that help moderators make consistent and fair decisions. The practical examples and easy-to-follow structure make it simple to address a wide range of scenarios, ensuring a positive environment for both writers and readers. These handbooks have truly been an invaluable resource for our team. ”

— G Cummings, Year 2 Class Teacher

“The new materials really helped confirm my assessment judgements. The addition of the exemplification which links into the topics we have taught is of wonderful assistance. Not only do these materials help assess but they also inform planning which is an invaluable resource.”

— M Hughes, Assistant Headteacher

“I found the document to be really helpful. It’s great how it has examples from each style of writing expected throughout the year. It also has a really helpful section to say why the child has not been awarded a higher standard.”

— E Smalley, Year 1 Class Teacher

These documents also work seamlessly with our rigorous Writing Assessment Counts tool for Ready Steady Write members, offering schools a complete solution for writing assessment and moderation.

Pricing and Special Offer

Moderation Counts is available at £60 per document. Schools wishing to purchase all three can take advantage of our bundle offer for £160 (a £20 saving). Simply request this by contacting Mari, our Customer Engagement Executive, to secure this discounted price. Email: mari@literacycounts.co.uk or fill out the contact form here.