This Year 6 writing unit from our Real Writing collection will help pupils explore how formal letters inform, explain and set expectations. Published children’s author Jon Mayhew provides the model text: a letter from a headteacher announcing new school rules.
Three versions of the text (plain, illustrated and annotated) support close reading, and the accompanying PowerPoint slides help you teach the features of formal writing with clarity.
As with all Real Writing units, you follow a carefully mapped framework with two to three weeks of detailed plans that make each stage simple to deliver.
Pupils will plan and draft their own letters to parents, using the templates, planning tools and teacher notes provided.
Curriculum links
This unit covers key Year 6 English objectives that develop pupils’ control over formal language. They'll sort synonyms by register, choose precise vocabulary and experiment with how shifts in tone affect meaning.
You'll also teach the subjunctive form through practical tasks such as rewriting sentences and crafting a formal invitation. The unit provides opportunities to revisit modal verbs and to strengthen skills in using brackets, colons and semi-colons accurately.
Discussions about school, club or trip rules offer natural links to PSHE and citizenship as pupils consider responsibility and community expectations.
Resources
- Three versions of the model text
- Annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint slides
- Vocabulary cards and match activities
- School rule lists and hook materials
- Formal letter poster
- Planning grids and margin planners
- Writing skills check
- Teacher notes, teaching slides and activity sheets
- Vocabulary used in the unit
Vocabulary
Year 5/6 statutory spelling words: equipment, equip, accommodate, environment, appreciate
Tier 2 words: instil, ensure, tolerate, allegation, submit, ambassador, temporarily, forbidden, administer, request, specify, refrain, hazardous, adhere, deviation, insist
Key activities
Begin with a hook that encourages pupils to think about their own school rules and how leaders communicate them. Read the model text, identify its purpose and audience and clarify the instructions within it.
Next, pupils will explore vocabulary using word cards for Tier 2 terms and statutory Year 5/6 spelling words. Locate these words in the text, infer meanings and complete match-up tasks. Rehearse formal language aloud, identify features of formal letters and practise transforming informal statements into formal instructions.
Children will organise ideas for their own letters, plan with the margin planner and write across several sessions.
Outcomes
By the end of the unit, pupils will be able to:
- write a coherent formal letter that communicates rules or instructions clearly
- use vocabulary accurately to maintain a formal tone throughout their writing
- apply the subjunctive form correctly in formal contexts
- include modal verbs to indicate possibility, obligation or necessity
- use brackets, colons and semi-colons effectively in sentences
- identify and replicate features of formal letters, including structure and layout
- convert informal statements into formal expressions
- plan, draft, proofread and edit writing to improve grammar, punctuation and word choice
- consider audience and purpose when presenting information