In this article, we argue that a new conceptual, pedagogical and didactic design is needed to foster the writing skills of Dutch high school students and to enhance their education in the Dutch language and culture. We present the first draft of such a new design, based on the needs of the various stakeholders (teachers, high school students, didactic experts) as well as the opportunities the teaching of writing skills holds out. Needs were inventoried through interviews with stakeholders and through a literature review of reports on the current state of the teaching of writing skills. Potential opportunities were identified by studying literature on the conceptual modelling of the writing process and by investigating pedagogic and didactic practices aimed at professional as well as creative writing teaching (both in international and historical contexts). Taken together, these new insights in current needs and potential opportunities resulted in a new design for teaching writing skills, as well a first proposal for a digital learning environment (http://SchrijfLab.nl) that will allow for testing of this design.