Learn to read the task, choose the right form and write for the intended reader. The 25 lessons cover twelve text types, focused work on content and expression, mixed-purpose tasks, three practice mocks and a final review. The course teaches flexible decisions rather than a memorised answer.
Your route through this course
For Years 5โ6 students preparing to write a complete typed response and adapt it to different purposes, readers and forms.
Start with Lessons 1โ2. Work through the twelve forms in Lessons 3โ14, then strengthen the shared skills in Lessons 15โ20. Use Lesson 21 to combine purposes. Attempt the mocks after learning the forms, and finish with Lesson 25.
How to use a lesson
- Know the goal. Read the lesson card. Use its time guide and split a long lesson into shorter sessions before starting a timed task.
- Understand the example. Read the explanation and worked examples. Point to the words that create the effect.
- Make your own attempt. Try the marker task or drill before opening its explanation. Compare the reason as well as the answer; more than one response may work.
- Apply and revise. Complete the writing task, use the feedback to choose one change, then try the skill in a fresh sentence or passage. Keep your original separately.
Use Next and Back to move through the lesson, or the Steps menu to revisit a section. Core and optional tasks are identified in the lesson. A completed activity records practice; it is not a guarantee of mastery.
Your checkpoints and finishing task
- Lesson 2: Read before writing โ Identify the reader, purpose, required form and every instruction. Turn these into a short coverage plan.
- Lesson 14: Choose a form deliberately โ Explain how an advice sheet, report, review and story help their readers in different ways.
- Lesson 21: Combine purposes โ Meet both parts of a mixed task without losing the reader or switching voice accidentally.
- Lesson 25: Review your next step โ Compare your work with the task, select a useful revision and return to the lesson that teaches it.
A technique to try now
Match the readerโs need
Before: Clubs are wonderful and students enjoy them.
After: New to the school? Choose one lunchtime club and check its meeting day. Ask your class teacher where the group meets.
The second opening gives a new student an action and a way to take it. That makes it useful advice; the same opening would need changing for a news report.
Try it: Write your own two-sentence example. Explain one choice you made, then revise that choice if it does not fit your meaning.
Finish a piece, then choose the next practice
Read your work with a purpose
- List the instructions and tick them against the response.
- Check that the opening helps the intended reader.
- Keep related information together.
- Choose details that add useful information.
- Use the final check for meaning, sentence boundaries and spelling.
Keep a small writing portfolio
Keep the prompt, date, original response, any help you used and your next revision. After revising, explain what changed and why. A useful next step is a skill you can practise, not simply โget a higher scoreโ.
Choose a form lesson when you missed the purpose. Choose Lessons 15โ20 when the form is right but the detail, organisation or expression needs work. Bootcamp and Vocabulary Upgrade provide extra practice in those areas.
For parents: support independent practice
Ask the child to explain one example and one choice in their own work. If they get stuck, reread the instruction together or return to the worked example. Let the child supply the wording. Record any help used in a timed task so later comparisons remain meaningful.
Feedback on open writing is guidance to check against the actual text. Keep a well-supported alternative when it serves the task; do not change a correct sentence only to match a model.
The NSW Selective writing component currently sets one task in 30 minutes. Practise the taskโs purpose, audience and form; the courseโs twelve forms are preparation, not a prediction of the form you will receive. NSW test information
Block A โ How the marking works
- Lesson 1: The examiners' two score sheets
Use six checks to discuss your writing.
- Lesson 2: The 60-second read: PAFT and the task-line audit
Identify purpose, audience, form and task requirements.
Block B โ The twelve text types
- Lesson 3: Advice sheet
Give practical advice with a helpful reason.
- Lesson 4: Newspaper report
Organise news around clear, relevant facts.
- Lesson 5: Diary entry
Connect events and feelings in a personal voice.
- Lesson 6: Email
Match an email to its reader and purpose.
- Lesson 7: Formal letter
Make a courteous, clear request in a formal letter.
- Lesson 8: Speech
Write for a listener with a purposeful structure.
- Lesson 9: Persuasive / opinion piece
Support an opinion with reasons and examples.
- Lesson 10: Discussion
Explore different views and reach a considered position.
- Lesson 11: Review
Give a judgement supported by specific detail.
- Lesson 12: Narrative
Shape a focused narrative with a meaningful change.
- Lesson 13: Blog post
Inform a reader in an engaging personal voice.
- Lesson 14: Advertisement
Combine useful information with a persuasive invitation.
Block C โ The six objectives, one at a time
- Lesson 15: Content: the invented specific detail
Add details that help the reader understand.
- Lesson 16: Organisation: the returning theme and one job per paragraph
Group related ideas and make connections clear.
- Lesson 17: Style: the register dial and "assured shifts"
Choose a tone that fits the audience.
- Lesson 18: Vocabulary: ambitious words you can spell
Choose precise words while keeping the intended meaning.
- Lesson 19: Sentences and punctuation: the Set B pass
Control sentence relationships and punctuation.
- Lesson 20: Editing and typing: the last three minutes
Check and edit a typed draft efficiently.
- Lesson 21: Hybrid tasks: two purposes, one piece
Connect multiple purposes in one response.
Block D โ Full mocks and graduation
- Lesson 22: Full mock 1: an unknown form
Apply the routine to an unfamiliar form.
- Lesson 23: Full mock 2: the hybrid task at full speed
Balance task coverage with time choices.
- Lesson 24: Four forms, one situation: a timed formal letter
Compare four forms in one situation, then complete the assigned timed formal letter.
- Lesson 25: Retest and graduation
Review the retest and completed course activities.
Lesson preview
Choose a lesson from the course directory to begin learning.