This Year 6 writing unit from our Real Writing collection uses an original model text by published children’s author Jo Franklin. Pupils will explore the life and achievements of British Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid and develop the skills to write their own biographical recounts.
All units in this collection follow a carefully mapped framework, ensuring progression and curriculum coverage, with each unit providing two to three weeks of detailed lesson planning.
Curriculum links
This unit directly supports key Year 6 English objectives. Pupils will explore abstract and concrete nouns, strengthen their understanding of cohesion across paragraphs and apply these skills in structured writing tasks.
It also revisits essential writing skills, including paragraphing, prepositional phrases, subordinate and relative clauses, fronted adverbials and using brackets, dashes and commas for parenthesis.
The unit further develops pupils’ command of the perfect tense and extends their use of punctuation, including colons and semi-colons. Cross-curricular links with art and design enable pupils to study architecture and famous architects while practising their writing skills.
Vocabulary
Spelling words: ancient, competition, environment, government, profession, marvellous
Tier 2 words: confluence, contribution, industrialist, interference, prestigious, radical, reputation, turbulence, urban
Tier 3 words: architect, architecture, commission
Resources
The unit includes:
- Model text PDF (plain, illustrated, annotated)
- Annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint presentations
- Image sheets of Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster and Frank Gehry buildings
- Vocabulary and research activity sheets
- How to write a biography poster
- Biography margin planner
- Lesson planning and teaching notes
Key activities
Pupils will begin by exploring images of Zaha Hadid’s buildings, noting distinctive features. They'll read the model text, discuss its formal style and create a timeline of Hadid’s achievements.
Vocabulary activities focus on Tier 2 and Tier 3 words. Comprehension tasks explore language and descriptive choices. Pupils will investigate the features of biographies and practise cohesion and clause structures.
They'll research another modern architect, plan their writing using the margin planner and compose a full biography, applying all skills taught.
Outcomes
By the end of the unit, pupils should be able to:
- identify and use abstract and concrete nouns effectively
- apply a wide range of cohesive devices across paragraphs
- write a structured, formal biographical recount
- use punctuation and sentence structures accurately
- demonstrate understanding of an architect’s achievements through researched writing
This unit ensures engaging, practical teaching while supporting curriculum objectives and fostering confident, creative writers.