In Year 6 the classes have used Stombreaker by their class author Anthony Horowitz as inspiration for the development of some of their writing. The class explored points for and against Alex Rider taking the MI6 mission and developed their own letters of advice. They explored formal and informal language – applying their formal writing in a letter to Mrs Oliver our chair of governors. They also looked at a range of devices to develop character descriptions: such as interaction, show don’t tell, dialogue, description, use of verbs and adverbs and internal monologue to develop rich character descriptions based on their favourite characters from children’s fiction. They have been working hard on their handwriting and weekly spellings. The children have also revised the identification and development of complex expanded noun phrases. Year 6 have also explored different devices to build cohesion.

This half term, Team DB have been working really hard to develop their skills in writing. They have spent time completing work linked to their “Acclaimed Author”, Michael Morpurgo. They based our work on The Butterfly Lion as their text driver and the class wrote a persuasive argument aimed at persuading the character from the text to return to school, ensuring that this was a positive outcome for his future. The children also wrote a narrative flashback, writing as the character Millie and her time as a nurse during the First World War. The class thought carefully about using expanded noun phrases, applying adjectives, and using nouns and pronouns to avoid repetition in their writing. The children presented their learning to Team LF and to Team LL, where in Team LL, individual children sat with the Y6s to present their work and discuss their successes as well as providing constructive feedback.

This half term, Team JD have been diving into the magical world of The Ickabog. The class have thoroughly enjoyed exploring the story and uncovering its rich themes. Using the text as their driver for writing, the class focused on crafting detailed scene descriptions that bring the setting and characters to life. The students paid close attention to using descriptive language and powerful vocabulary to create vivid imagery. They also worked on incorporating a variety of conjunctions, expanded noun phrases and adverbs of time to help sequence their ideas and move the narrative forward smoothly.

This half term, Team LF have been working exceptionally hard to develop their writing skills. Their learning has been inspired by their “Acclaimed Author” focus, David Walliams, with Gangsta Granny as our main text driver. Using the story as inspiration, the children planned and wrote their own recounts based on an imaginative heist which they proudly presented to Team JD. Throughout their writing, the class focused on using a variety of sentence types (simple, compound, and complex) as well as expanded noun phrases, while ensuring their work was written consistently in the past tense.

This half term, Team CB have been working really hard to develop their skills in writing. We have spent time completing work linked to our “Acclaimed Author” Roald Dahl. We based our work on Fantastic Mr Fox as our text driver and turned some scenes into a comic strip to appeal to our younger children. The class thought carefully about using adverbs of chronology to move the story on and also different sentence types including exclamations, questions and statements. Later in the half term, we explored different settings that Roald Dahl had created in the book and used grammatical devices such as expanded noun phrases to describe Boggis or Bean’s storehouse in more detail. We worked on our use of senses to capture a full profile of what was happening in the setting.

Over the past few weeks, Team CH have loved exploring The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright. They began by getting to know Kevin the Koala, discussing his personality, feelings, and how he changes throughout the story. Using Kevin’s adventures for inspiration, the children learned how to use a range of sentence types — statements, questions, commands, and exclamations — to make their writing more engaging and exciting to read. We explored how different sentences can be used to show emotion and move the story forward, before planning and creating our very own comic strips about Kevin and his friends. Children worked hard to include accurate punctuation, clear sequencing, and interesting vocabulary to bring their stories to life. Alongside this, children have been learning how to write detailed setting descriptions. They revisited The Koala Who Could to explore how the author describes the Australian outback, using their senses to imagine what they might see, hear and feel in Kevin’s world. The children practised using expanded noun phrases and subordinating conjunctions to add detail and extend their ideas. Their final pieces painted a clear picture of Kevin’s journey down his tree, across the forest floor and towards the warm glow of the campfire. To celebrate all their hard work, Team CH proudly shared their finished comic strips with their chosen audience — Team AC — reading aloud with confidence, enthusiasm and expression. This showcased fantastic oracy skills and a real pride in their writing. 

This half term, Team JF have been working incredibly hard to develop their writing skills through engaging and imaginative activities. Their journey began with a focus on their “Acclaimed Author” Oliver Jeffers. Using The Day the Crayons Quit as their text driver, they explored the personalities of different coloured crayons and created vibrant shape poems inspired by their favourites. The children carefully selected adjectives to describe their chosen colours and concentrated on key writing fundamentals such as letter formation, finger spaces, and keeping their writing neatly on the line. Later in the term, they delved into Gorilla by Anthony Browne. This powerful story inspired the class to write detailed character descriptions of the gorilla, with a particular focus on using expanded noun phrases. The class also explored how to incorporate the five senses to build a rich and vivid profile of the character’s appearance and behaviour.

In Team AC, this half term the class have enjoyed reading the book Tiddler as their class author is Julia Donaldson. As a class the children have worked towards writing sentences independently about Tiddler and the story with a clear focus on letter formation and writing using the correct pencil grip, seating at tables and orientation of letters.