Topic outline

  • HIAS Secondary Writing Units

    These creative writing units were created through the Writing Development Group and have been trialled successfully in schools for live teaching. However, during the pandemic, the resources in their current form were adapted to be suitable for sharing with pupils either through remote teaching or for independent work. Each one should provide one-two weeks' worth of English lessons.

    Teachers should consider what adaptations they will make before using these resources with students depending on the context. For example, when used in lessons with live teaching, some elements of these units lend themselves well to structured collaborative talk and others lend themselves to live modelling by the teacher.

    The key principles of these units are that students should be provided with both a stimulus for writing and a model of what excellence should look like, and that students should work on a precise element of written structure and/or grammar, making them better writers, one step at a time.

    Resources are included in the packs and these can also be adapted to the students' needs. Be aware if printing resources that they are colourful and that they have not been designed with space for students to use for written responses. They can, therefore, be costly for printing if printed as a whole pack, and printing the whole resource is usually unnecessary.

    Feedback would be welcomed and we would love to see any examples of students' work - email joanna.kenyon@hants.gov.uk.

  • Danger!

    This writing unit is intended for students in Years 8 and above; it was initially planned for KS4 students and has subsequently been used successfully by members of the KS4 Writing Development Group with KS3 classes. The film clips linked in this unit are from films rated 12A and therefore it is not intended for students in Year 7.

    The powerpoint resources can be adapted and used for live lessons.

    The final written outcome of this unit is a piece of narrative writing that retells the moment of impact of the 2004 tsunami, inspired by the film 'The Impossible'. 

    Key writing learning:

    • Whole text structure - alternating perspectives
    • Paragraph cohesion
    • Complex sentence structures


    Links to films and texts referenced in this unit:

    Film clip: The Impossible - wave scene

    Film clip: Jaws - shark attack

    Text extract: Jaws by Peter Benchley

    Text extract: More Than This by Patrick Ness

  • Rhythm and Poetry

    This poetry and creative writing unit is intended for Year 7 students. It is inspired by the work of CLiPPA winning performance poet, Karl Nova. After exploring some of Nova's poems, students are given a choice of creative writing tasks, including writing their own hip-hop style poetry and writing about the poet himself. All of the hip-hop references and extracts in this unit are appropriate for Year 7 students. 

    This unit could also be used by younger students and would be accessible to younger siblings from around Year 4-5 upwards, providing an opportunity for siblings to work together on a shared task.

    Links to Karl Nova's poems can be found here.

  • Travelling Through Time

    This unit is based on Ray Bradbury's short story, A Sound of Thunder and leads to two possible writing outcomes - pupils could write narratives around the idea of time travel or could write a persuasive argument setting out the case for or against the legal continuation of time travel for leisure purposes. Pupils are also encouraged to explore beyond the story into chaos theory and the butterfly effect for interest's sake. This unit is particularly suitable for students in Years 7 and 8. 

    Short story: A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury

    Further reading: if students enjoy A Sound of Thunder and are keen to read more of Bradbury's stories, many are available to read online. A scheme of learning around Bradbury's stories is available in the curriculum planning section of Moodle+.

    Short story: The Veldt

    Short story: There Will Come Soft Rains

    Short story: All Summer in a Day

    Short story: Marionettes, Inc.

  • Night-time

    This unit explores the layers of symbolic meaning that we place upon darkness and the ways that writers can make use of night time as a wild space where anything could happen. The opening chapter of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus is used to inspire narratives where students use the space from dusk till dawn to explore the unusual. This unit is particularly appropriate for Years 9-10 but can be used with any year group if the teacher feels it is appropriate. 

    One useful adaptation for older students would be to shape the final written outcome around one of the texts studied for GCSE English Literature, recreating a scene taking place at night that is referred to but not fully realised, perhaps from an alternative point of view, eg:

    • Macbeth: the murder of King Duncan or the discovery of the murder from the point of view of Macduff
    • Romeo and Juliet: the anticipation of the Capulet ball from the point of view of one of the guests
    • The Merchant of Venice: Jessica's escape from Shylock's house from either Jessica's or Lorenzo's point of view
    • Much Ado About Nothing: the night of the fake funeral from Hero's point of view
    • Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: one of Mr Hyde's nights out
    • A Christmas Carol: the night before Christmas from Tiny Tim's or Mrs Cratchit's point of view
    • The Sign of Four: the burglary from Tonga's point of view
    • Lord of the Flies: night on the island from one of the littleuns' point of view
    • An Inspector Calls: a night at the Palace Theatre from Eva Smith's point of view
    • Blood Brothers: the night before Mickey's release from prison from Linda's point of view

    Key writing learning:
    • Use of motif to create cohesion
    • Complex sentence structures
    • Expanded vocabulary
    • Symbolic meanings

    Text extract:     The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern