This half term the children in Team DB have continued with their class text The Hobbit. For their writing, they have focussed on writing a letter of complaint. The children have studied the language used, picking out how emotive a person can be when complaining. Throughout the process, the children have thought about how a person would feel when their home is invaded by others. They have studied letters, watched scenarios and discussed in detail, making notes to help them with their independent piece. The children have then planned their own letter to Gandalf. In addition to this, Team DB have explored the different characters and scenes from the book. As a class, they have watched short clips from the film to imagine what the scene could possibly look like in the text. This has helped the children create their own persuasive piece of writing using the language and vocabulary analysed and identified within their reading sessions.

In Writing this half term, Team NH have continued to use their text driver, The Boy in the Tower, to write some narrative pieces. They started the half term off with a short descriptive piece of an invasive plant that had taken over a city, using the Bluchers from the text as an example. The class have since used this piece to supplement their writing of a narrative. In the book, Ade chooses to rescue a cat from the outside despite this putting his own life in danger. While he is out there, he gets tangled amongst the Bluchers and must find a way to be freed. Team NH have used this part of the story as inspiration for their own narratives, creating a character who completes their own rescue mission in a desolate world. Throughout both of these pieces, Team NH have continued to look at how they can use parenthesis to add additional information to their narrative writing, as well as building on their understanding of fronted adverbials, relative clauses, subordinate  clauses and expanded noun phrases. The class have worked hard to incorporate direct speech into their latest piece of writing and using it to add action and move the story forward. 

This half term, Team LF have been working exceptionally hard to develop their writing skills. Their learning has been inspired by their whole-class text, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. In writing, they have focused on the features of newspaper reports, exploring how to write clear, factual and engaging reports. Together, the class completed a shared write reporting on the exciting event of the four Pevensie children being crowned Kings and Queens of Narnia, following the defeat of the White Witch. For their independent writing, the children used their knowledge of newspaper report features to write about the mysterious disappearance of the siblings through the wardrobe door. Throughout the unit, the children have developed their use of formal language and accurate punctuation and paragraphing, while ensuring they included key features such as headlines, eyewitness quotes and factual reporting.

In the final half-term, Team CB have been working exceptionally hard to refine their skills in writing. The class have continued to explore their text driver Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as part of their literacy work. As a class, the children have spent time creating a formal, persuasive letter to Professor Dumbledore asking to be able to do magic outside of Hogwarts or select their own house teams. The class incorporated the use of the present perfect tense, rhetorical questions, causal conjunctions and formal language to show competence in writing in this style. They also generated their own limericks as part of their poetry studies based on one of the key characters. The class generated rhyme linked to the characters and thought about line length and telling a funny narrative through their pieces. 

Team JF have shown thoughtful progress in their writing this term, developing confidence and clarity through a focused exploration of letter writing. They began by identifying and practising the key features of a letter, using this understanding to craft welcoming messages for boys and girls who may be interested in joining Park Street. In these letters, they highlighted the many wonderful opportunities our school provides and wrote with a clear sense of purpose and audience. Building on this foundation, the children then applied their skills independently by writing to their new teachers, sharing what they enjoy both in and out of school and offering a warm introduction to who they are. This sequence of learning has strengthened their ability to communicate with accuracy, confidence and a personal voice.

This half term, Team AC have continued to make fantastic progress in their writing, building on the skills they have developed throughout the year. They have been working hard to extend their sentences by using the conjunction 'and' to join ideas together, helping the children to write longer, more detailed pieces independently. The children have also been encouraged to think of their own ideas for sentences, showing increasing confidence and creativity in their writing.  As part of their grammar learning, they have focused on using capital letters correctly, particularly for the names of people and places. They have also explored how prefixes and suffixes can change the meaning of words, learning to use the prefix 'un-' and the suffixes '-ed' and '-es' accurately within their writing. Team AC's writing has been inspired by two fantastic books this half term: Supertato by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet and There's a Snake in My School! by David Walliams. The children thoroughly enjoyed these stories and used them as a springboard for their own writing.

In the final half-term, Team EO have been working incredibly hard to develop their writing skills. In Year 1, the children have explored a range of engaging texts, including Supertato and The Scarecrows' Wedding, using these as a stimulus for discussion before producing their own written work. The children have written clear sentences about the characters and settings and retold the stories through story mapping. They have also consolidated key grammar skills, with a particular focus on using capital letters for the names of people, applying the correct suffixes to change singular nouns into plurals, and revisiting the suffix -ed and the prefix un-. In Reception, the children have continued to develop their early writing skills through daily Hold a Sentence activities, with a strong focus on correct letter formation and using Fred Fingers to segment words before writing. Staff are incredibly proud of the progress the children have made and the growing confidence and independence they have shown in their writing this half-term.

This half term Team CW have focused on letter formation and writing simple sentences within their writing sessions. The class have been using “hold a sentence” from Read Write Inc to help them remember the sentence and then use their phonics skills to write it. Some of the class have been learning to add detail to their sentences by using “and” and “because.” In handwriting Team CW have been learning to form their letters correctly so that they start at the same place and use the correct sequence of movements. This will help the children join their writing as they get older and also develop fluency and automaticity when forming letters.