Writing for Different Purposes and Audiences: Space Flight (Year 8)

Lively, student-friendly project packs with over 10 worksheets and handouts to use in class or as homework. Guide your class through an engaging scenario as they work towards creating their own meaningful independent writing.

Perfect little project for Year 8. Covers all the different styles with frames and extension tasks

S Boulton, English and Media Teacher & Peer Reviewer

Assuming roles from astronaut to secret service official, students gain valuable experience in writing for a range of purposes and audiences across fiction and non-fiction. With a clear focus on the new 2014 National Curriculum, your class will be completely prepared for the writing demands of GCSE English.

There is a wide variety of tasks and stimulus materials and that this would enable you to differentiate teaching

K Chanter, English Teacher & Peer Reviewer
Example writing tasks:
  • Letters
  • Newspaper articles
  • Travel writing
  • Speeches
  • Blog articles
  • ... and many more!
Interlinking activities with a continuous theme
  • Appealing, relevant tasks based on modern media to captivate students
  • Ideal blend of independent, pair and group work
  • Heaps of extension tasks to challenge your high-fliers

Student support throughout
  • Confidence-building preparation questions to aid the all-important planning process
  • Activities to support every learner type - mind maps, presentations, role plays...
  • Packed with checklists to keep students on track - great for AFL and quick marking
  • Structured with example texts and sample activity answers for inspiration
  • Plus handy tips and essential guidance on SPaG

An excellent resource with a clear focus on the national curriculum

R Goulds, HoD & Peer Reviewer
Space Flight (for Year 8)
Take your students on a realistic journey into space with 11 creative writing tasks including pre-flight diary entries, space rocket design briefs and recipes for space food. Suitable for all abilities - helpful writing frames and planning sheets for students looking for more support and 8 end-of-pack extension tasks for those aiming higher. Includes end-of-pack self-assessment - great for identifying strengths and weaknesses.

What do teachers say about this resource? (6184)

A really useful resource, which is also really topical at the moment and has the potential to appeal to boys and girls. The activities are varied... it provides practical support for active learning, thus saving teachers lots of time and providing students with meaningful tasks... Planning engaging tasks is the time consuming part of lesson planning, so I would really value a resource like this... effective modelling and templates... I like the skills being highlighted as an introduction to each task and the tips are really helpful. They activities can be done in class or at home and this is really useful for teachers. I also really like the way students will end up with a portfolio of their writing; the students will get a great sense of achievement from this and the teachers will have a very valuable resource when assessing students. The evaluation section is thought–provoking also, and again encourages students to take an active part in their learning and development... Writing for different audiences and purposes underpins much of the study of English. This resource enhances learning successfully by giving students the opportunity to put the skills into practice... There is no better way to understand the power of language than to try to craft it themselves. Their efforts are well-supported in this resource with templates and examples ... In my experience real life texts appeal much more to this age group because they can see the point of the activities
The variety of activities and the skills targeted allow the students to consolidate their learning done in class... well structured and attractive, with accessible chunks of information, logical progression and templates... very useful in providing teachers with a detailed and quite innovative way to track their students’ progress in writing. The focus on skills as well as topic is very useful in relation to the new requirements of the National Curriculum... I really enjoyed this resource

J Colby, Private Tutor & Peer Reviewer

Perfect little project for Year 8. Covers all the different styles with frames and extension tasks... Teaches children the layout and format of the various writing styles. It also allows for discussion and analysis of unfamiliar language techniques like rhetorical questions... Pupil-friendly and looks fun which makes it more accessible to reluctant learners.

S Boulton, English and Media Teacher & Peer Reviewer

A refreshingly fun scheme of learning for KS3. I would add it into my curriculum... An excellent resource with a clear focus on the national curriculum... a range of tasks has been developed to encourage independent thinking, discussion, examples and extension... The strength of the pack lies within the 'things to consider' elements of each task. It makes it a scheme of work that teachers can pick up and use. The language used throughout makes it seem a fun and exciting project - exactly what is needed for the new KS3 curriculum; whilst also keeping the functional skills side of it in... I like the symbols to navigate the teacher/student through the pack... handouts are excellent, lively and engaging. A range of tasks to interest the reader.

R Goulds, HoD & Peer Reviewer

It’s a strong resource, focusing very specifically on writing skills, specifically non-fiction writing types. The resource clearly states at the start of each task which skill is being developed, so that both pupils and teachers know what they are working on. The whole scheme hangs together effectively, providing convincing reasons for producing each type of writing (eg. Your selection on the Space Flight is a secret, so write about it in your diary instead). The choice of topic is great, particularly as a way of encouraging boys to participate in the lessons.

I like the variety of plans and writing frames used to support pupils. The resource uses mind maps, planning grids, sentence starters, word banks, top tips, opening paragraphs – so many that there will be a way of preparing a task to suit all learning styles.

The resource encourages pupils in a range of ways – there are several “Think, pair, share” tasks – opportunities to self and peer-assess – most tasks have success criteria bullet points. All of these really allow pupils to move on with their written work. Several tasks have differentiation built in – challenge tasks for the more able, and scaffolding to support those who need help.

S Owen, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

An interesting topic and one which I feel Year 8 students of both genders would be interested in... The writing frames are very useful and there is a diverse range of writing activities. I also like the idea of the book suggestions at the end... The structured writing frames are a very useful way to aid students as they approach each task. Students have many opportunities to focus on writing in a variety of styles. The evaluation is also a good idea - having a folder of work for students to 'see' their achievements works well... I really like the little icons within the project which highlight the different sorts of tasks... The use of graphics throughout is aesthetically pleasing... The essential skills are all practised and students would have the chance to develop their writing for different purposes and audiences.

P Upton, HoD & Peer Reviewer

A very good resource... The theme is very conducive to creative writing in it's various guises... there is a wide variety of tasks and stimulus materials and that this would enable you to differentiate teaching... I liked the many opportunities for functional English, as with the lower-ability students, these are the activities which will give them a wider range of transferable skills... gives a teacher the means to teach by stealth! It's a topic which students would engage with and enjoy, and therefore would be less resistant to complete the written work... a really good resource with a lot of inspiring and creative opportunities to get writing out of students.

K Chanter, English Teacher & Peer Reviewer