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 - 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 Wednesday 17th May 2023 we were lucky enough to be joined by two fantastic authors, Richard O'Neil and Michelle Russell. Richard and Michelle have worked together to co-write 'Rag n Bone Bear' and Michelle has illustrated it. We welcomed Richard into school and Michelle via Zoom. You can read more about our day by clicking here. You can read more about our day by clicking here.
On Wednesday 24th May 2023, we welcomed author, Cath Howe, into school to speak to our Year 5 and Year 6 classes. Cath Howe has written a number of best selling books, her most recent is called 'My Life on Fire'.
A special thanks to the staff at Madeleine Lindley book shop for offering this fantastic opportunity to our pupils.
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 are very much looking forward to a virtual author visit on Friday 7th November 2025.
They will join award-winning, bestselling author Sathnam Sanghera as he speaks about Journeys of Empire, his expert, engaging and essential look at Britain’s imperial past.
On Tuesday 8th July 2025, we took part in the PiraMidd Spelling Bee, against other collaborative schools, at St Anne's Academy.
Well done to our two Year 5 boys who brought home trophies for their performance at the PiraMidd Spelling Bee. The standard was incredibly high. Well done to all finalists.
Our next PiraMidd Spelling Bee will be in the Summer term 2026.