At Hollin Primary School we believe that English skills are vital to the development of our pupils, so that they are well prepared for their future life. Our aim is to deliver a rich and inspiring English curriculum, in order for our pupils to develop the knowledge and skills that they need in order to become confident and effective communicators in the outside world.
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Each term, we set our pupils a writing challenge. The theme for the challenge differs each time and there is a constraint of using no more than 100, in which to complete the challenge. Many of our pupils engage well with this challenge. Winners of the challenge are celebrated and shared in an assembly, and on our school website and X. Please see below for more about our challenges, over the last twelve months.
Writing challenge - Summer 2026
COMING SOON
Writing challenge - Spring 2026
A place that is special to you
Pupils from Year 1 to Year 6 were invited to take part in the writing challenge. We received 67 entries. A huge well done to everybody that got involved with the challenge and to the winners of our
Writing challenge - Autumn 2025
Who is your favourite person, and why?
Pupils from Year 1 to Year 6 were invited to take part in the writing challenge. We received 77 entries. A huge well done to everybody that joined in with the challenge and a well done to the pupils who had one of the twelve winning entries.
Special thanks to Purple Mash, who saw our writing challenge on Twitter and reached out to offer six additional prizes.
At Hollin, we proudly showcase a range of writing from across year groups from Nursery to Year 6. Our display is in a prominent area of school and is updated each term.
At Hollin, pupils in Year 1-6 take part in a weekly spelling challenge. Spellings are shared with pupils and sent home with them to learn, ready for the following week. Each half term, we award a 'Spelling Superstar' award to two recipients in each class, from Year 1 to Year 6. They are presented with our special certificate and their names added to our dedicated display. There are many reasons that pupils could receive this award. Pupils may receive this award for consistently learning their spellings, or for improving their spelling scores week on week.
On Monday 30th March 2026 we were joined by author Richard O'Neil. We welcomed Richard into school to work with our Early Years and Key Stage One pupils. Richard focused on oral storytelling with our pupils and a great time was had by all!
On Tuesday 31st March 2026, we welcomed author and actor Adam Perrott, to work with our Key Stage Two pupils.
Adam focused on oracy and bringing Shakespeare to life, in the classroom. Our pupils in Year 3 to Year 6 had a great time taking part in the workshops.
On Friday 17th October 2025, Year 5 visited Middleton Library ro work with Rochdale's Poet laureate, Sammy Weaver. Sammy Weaver is inspiring creativity across the borough, leading poetry workshops in schools and community spaces inviting all ages to explore language, imagination and self-expression. Year 5 pupils conjured amazing magical spells for happiness. They thought about everything that makes them happy, from dancing and singing to sunny days in the park and visiting their local library! 😊The children then combined these happiness ingredients into new poems of resilience and joy, reading them aloud to the class and even adding their own magical gestures to make their spells come true!
On Friday 17th October 2025, pupils in Key Stage One took part in a virtual author visit where children’s presenter Katy Ashworth and award-winning illustrator Colleen Lamour presented a special event to introduce 'This That What' their picture book all about busy brains and celebrating what makes us different!
Pupils in Year 4 to Year 6 took part in a virtual author visit on Friday 7th November 2025.
They joined award-winning, bestselling author Sathnam Sanghera as he spoke about Journeys of Empire, his expert, engaging and essential look at Britain’s imperial past.
On 10th March 2026, Hollin Primary took part in the PiraMidd Spelling Bee, against other schools in our collaborative schools. The event took place at St Anne's Academy.
Well done to the two pupils who represented Hollin at the Spelling Bee. The standard was incredibly high. One of our pupils was the overall winner.
Well done.