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Year 6 - English

Planning and writing the first section of an essay about the Windrush

The Empire Windrush: essay writing

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils use research of the Empire Windrush to write an essay about why the Windrush Generation immigrated and what life in Britain was like for them. Pupils write formally throughout, using facts and varied sentence structures, and they follow a clear line of argument across the essay.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use your research to plan and write the first section of an essay about the Windrush.

Key Notes

  • Writing is most successful when structure, content and vocabulary is planned.
  • Information in this section should be specific and detailed.
  • Cohesion, making use of research and a formal tone are appropriate in an essay.
  • An essay can use a bank of research, evidence, statistics and quotes to inform the reader.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • specific information: clear, exact and particular information
  • explanatory sentence: provides the reader with specific information to develop a point
  • subject-specific vocabulary: words and phrases associated with a topic
  • relative complex sentence: a sentence formed of a main clause and a relative subordinate clause
  • fronted adverbial: a sentence starter followed by a comma

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Pupils may incorrectly include information that is not relevant to section one.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.

Writing is most successful when structure, content and vocabulary is planned. Information in this section should be specific and detailed.

2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'specific information'

clear, exact and particular information.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

Mistake: Pupils may incorrectly include information that is not relevant to section one. Correction: Learning cycle 1 explicitly outlines which aspects of prior research are appropriate for this section.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 6 English guide library.