Creative Writing Competition
The first ever Inspired by Nature creative writing competition took place in the summer term of 2021. The competition was run by the Natural Curriculum and the Educational Recording Agency, with the support of NAPE. Pupils in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 were asked to produce a piece of creative writing in response to a short video clip from the award-winning Natural Curriculum website (naturalcurriculum.co.uk). The competition received over 1,700 pieces of written work. The entries were incredibly inventive and creative – one pupil even wrote a short story from the perspective of a rhino sanctuary fence! We are delighted to present a small selection of pupils’ work here. The winning classes, who each won £500 for their school to spend on information technology, were: Ocklynge Junior School, Eastbourne – The Swamp Class (Year 3); St. Peter’s C.E. Primary School, Ardingly – Robin Class (Year 4); William Ransom Primary School, Hitchin – Chestnut Class (Year 5); and St. John’s CoE Primary School in Lacey Green – NM/TT Class (Year 6). Congratulations to the winning classes and very well done to everyone who took part! If you would like to read all the winning work for each year group, you can do so at https://www. naturalcurriculum.co.uk/about/news/updates/.
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The Natural Curriculum is home to almost two hundred inspiring grammar lessons for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6. This year, the resource has won two awards at the Education Resources Awards (for ‘Primary Resource or Equipment – ICT’ and ‘Free Educational Resources’) and the 4* Teach Primary award for free resources. The grammar lessons, all based on captivating natural history clips from the BBC, contain word challenges, clear explanations of the grammar that is being learned, whiteboard challenges, writing ideas and a downloadable worksheet. The website also has Home Learning resources for Years 1-6, and has also just launched climate change playlists and a pilot of new maths resources. Here are the entries from St Peter’s C. E. Primary School, Ardingly.
