Persuasive writing for the Selective test

Your child learns to take one side of a question and prove it, the way a lawyer puts a case to a jury. The clip covers explain, example and link. The full lesson adds the case structure, five tools, three traps and the closing statement.

TEEL is a four-part shape for one body paragraph. In the lesson, the marker is the jury to convince.

1. T · Topic sentence

   One sharp sentence that says what the paragraph will prove.

2. E · Explain

   Why the point matters. The lesson says: connect the dots for the jury.

3. E · Example

   The proof, or your exhibit A: a fact or a real case that backs the point.

4. L · Link

   One sentence that ties the paragraph back to the opinion, with no loose ends.

We wrote this body paragraph for a practice prompt: should every primary school have a vegetable garden?

1. T · Topic sentence

   Firstly, a school garden teaches science in a way students can see and touch.

2. E · Explain

   When children plant a seed and check on it each week, ideas like life cycles and soil stop being words in a textbook. They become something real, so the learning lasts.

3. E · Example

   At my school, our Year 4 class grew snow peas in old milk crates. Students who were usually quiet in science were the first to spot the new shoots.

4. L · Link

   A garden turns science from something students read about into something they do, which is why every school needs one.

The point comes first, the example is real and the link returns to the opinion.

The Department says the Writing test assesses ideas, purpose and audience, language for effect^{1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published}. It also counts structure, grammar, punctuation, style and vocabulary^{1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published}. The right-hand columns are our reading of them.

The Department's report has no six-band writing scale. It places the Writing result, like every section, in one of four bands: Top 10% · next 15% · next 25% · lowest 50%^{6NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published}.

Set a timer for 30^{1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published} minutes and try the letter below from our practice set. Then use the checklist and read the model.

Practice question · SEL-WR-TST-03

Garden or Car Park?

An empty block next to your school could become either a car park or a community garden. Your local council has asked residents, including children, to share their views before it decides.

Write a persuasive letter to the council saying which choice would be better for your neighbourhood and why.

Read the model response

Dear Councillors,

My name is Eleni and I am in Year 6 at the school next to the empty block on Banksia Road. I walk past that block every morning. Right now it is full of weeds, broken glass and one very lonely shopping trolley. I am writing to ask you to turn it into a community garden, not a car park, because a garden would give our neighbourhood something a car park never could.

Firstly, a garden would bring people together. At the moment, most people in our street only say hello when they are putting their bins out. Imagine if neighbours met every weekend to plant tomatoes, swap herbs and share advice. Older residents who live alone could teach children how to grow things, and children could carry the heavy watering cans for them. A car park cannot make a single friendship.

Secondly, a garden would be a classroom outside the classroom. Our class could study insects, measure how fast sunflowers grow and learn where food really comes from. Some students at my school have never pulled a carrot out of the ground. A garden would change that.

Thirdly, a garden is better for the environment. Concrete soaks up heat and makes summer days even hotter. Plants give shade, clean the air and give bees and birds somewhere to live. Our suburb has lost a lot of trees in the past few years, so every green space matters.

Some people might argue that parents need more parking at pick-up time. I understand this, because the traffic outside our gate can be chaotic. However, a car park would only be full for about twenty minutes in the morning and twenty minutes in the afternoon. For the rest of the day it would sit there, empty and baking in the sun. A garden would be used all day, every day, by everyone. A drop-off zone further down the road could fix the traffic problem without covering the land in bitumen.

In conclusion, a community garden would connect neighbours, teach children and cool our suburb. A car park would just store cars. Please choose the option that helps people grow, in more ways than one.

Thank you for reading my letter.

Yours sincerely,

Eleni Christodoulou Year 6 student

• ✓

  My first sentence says which side I'm on.

• ✓

  Each body paragraph starts with a topic sentence.

• ✓

  Each example is specific, not a made-up number.

• ✓

  Each paragraph links back to my opinion.

• ✓

  I answered the other side, then showed why my view holds.

• ✓

  My tone is formal, not chatty.

Your child watches lessons, writes on a timed screen like the test, and gets feedback.