This year 5/6 SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural development) Refugee themed unit of work is based on The Day War Came by Nicola Davies, and also requires Leaf by Sandra Dieckmann.

The Day War Came is a powerful and necessary picture book and tells the story of a child forced to become a refugee when war destroys everything she has ever known. She journeys to a safer place but on arrival at a school, she is turned away. A group of determined and caring children change the girl’s future. Leaf tells the story of a polar bear who arrives in the woods and is feared and avoided by the other animals, until they realise that he isn’t so different after all.

Our mixed age planning was written to support a variety of school settings.  From one mixed age class to a school with several mixed age classes, the planning can be flexibly adapted using a range of cycles to suit. Cycles of mixed age planning are available for years 1/2, 3 /4, 4/5 and 5/6. They have been carefully thought out to ensure progression and coverage of skills for each of the year groups whilst retaining high quality texts suitable for the age range. We are always happy to advise on different configurations of classes and how Pathways to Write can be adapted to suit any circumstance.

The unit comprises 15 sessions of English planning and focuses on mastering key writing skills (grammar, vocabulary and punctuation) from the national curriculum. Opportunities to develop reading comprehension, writing composition and spoken language skills are also woven throughout the unit.

Mastery skills:

Year 5:

• Link ideas across paragraphs using adverbials and tense choices
• Variety of verb forms used correctly and consistently including modal verbs and the present perfect form
• Use brackets, dashes or commas to indicate

Year 6:

• Use passive verbs
• Variety of verb forms used correctly and consistently including the progressive and the present perfect forms
• Use a wider range of devices to build cohesion
• Use organisational and presentational devices to structure text
• Use colons to mark boundaries between independent clauses

Short writing opportunities:

• Description
• Letter
• Diary
• Writing in role as a character

Resources: PowerPoints, lesson planning and abridged methodology.

This unit can be used individually or as part of a whole-school themed project with our other units on this theme.

The supporting texts for the units of work can be purchased at Peters Ltd at 30% off the RRP price of the books*:
Please contact Oonagh Towse oonagh.towse@peters.co.uk 07815 557646
Or, place your order online using discount code ‘LITCO30’ Click here for details
*You will receive 30% discount off the RRP on the vast majority of books ordered for the Pathways to Read and Pathways to Write programmes. Items excluded from this offer: book packs, plus short discount items (a small number of academic titles, big books, and audio titles). This offer may not be used in conjunction with any other promotion.

If you are an existing Pathways to Write school and wish to order any additional units, please complete the order form to access your Pathways Literacy discounted prices.