Enliven the process of teaching newspaper reports for KS2 by imagining you are journalists reporting on a magical story within the world of Harry Potter.

This engaging lesson allows children to be part of the world of Harry Potter books by becoming journalists for the day.

In the books, the Daily Prophet is a wizarding newspaper read by wizards and witches. In this lesson children will write a report for their own magical newspaper.

It’s helpful if pupils are familiar with the story and characters, so take time to read or listen to the first four chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone before beginning.

First activity

To set the scene, read aloud from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, chapter 5, from “‘Three up… two across’ he muttered” (p55) to “Harry and Hagrid made for the counter” (p57).

Explain to pupils that they are now journalists for a magical newspaper like the Daily Prophet. Have fun coming up with names for your publications, such as ‘The Magical Mail’.

Next, discuss the role of a journalist and tell the children that they will have a choice of two articles to work on. They can either report on Harry Potter visiting Diagon Alley or about a successful robbery at Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

Allow children to sit with others who are working on the same article so they can work together in the planning stage. Give those who have chosen to write about Harry Potter’s visit to Diagon Alley access to chapter 5 of the book to refer to when writing their reports.

Children who choose to write about a robbery at Gringotts can use their imaginations to make up a story. What was stolen? How did the thieves break in? Were any of them caught? If not, did they leave any clues?

What they’ll learn

• Write with a target audience in mind
• Explore different styles of writing
• Plan writing by discussing and recording ideas
• Identify and use the features of a newspaper report

This newspaper reports for KS2 download contains:

• Full PDF lesson plan
• Newspaper front page template

Julianne Britton is a qualified teacher with eight years’ experience, author of educational resources and a private tutor. Follow her on Twitter at @juliannebritton. Visit her website. Browse more ideas for teaching with Harry Potter.

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