About the Read in to Writing Tom's Midnight Garden unit: 

Suggested year group: Year 6 

​Length of unit: 7 weeks/35 sessions

Themes covered: Time, friendship, aging and loss, magic, adventures, nature, boys and girls, the 1950s and the Victorian period, religion

Writing outcomes: An internal monologue, a letter, a description, writing in role as a character, a leaflet, an advice sheet, instructions, and the next part of the story in the style of the author

About Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce:

When Tom is sent to stay at his aunt and uncle’s house for the summer, he resigns himself to
endless weeks of boredom. As he lies awake in his bed, he hears the grandfather clock downstairs strike...eleven...twelve...thirteen! Tom races down the stairs and out the back door, into a garden everyone told him wasn’t there. In this enchanted thirteenth hour, the garden comes alive – but Tom is never sure whether the children he meets there are real or ghosts.