Paragraphs that persuade
English · Key Stage 2 · The School
PEE: point, evidence, explain
A persuasive paragraph makes one POINT ("School dinners should include a salad bar"), gives EVIDENCE ("a class survey found 24 of 30 pupils would use it"), then EXPLAINS why the evidence proves the point ("so most pupils would eat more vegetables at no extra cost").
Words that push
Persuasion picks words deliberately. "Good" is weak; "essential" pushes. "Some people think" is weak; "everyone knows" pushes (careful — push honestly). Rhetorical questions pull the reader in: "Wouldn't you rather choose your own lunch?"
The reader is a person
Talk TO the reader: "you", "we", "our school". Persuasion that sounds like a speech to a friend beats persuasion that sounds like a list of rules.
One paragraph, built in front of you
Question: should the school day start later? Point first, in one sentence: "Our school day should start at 9.30." Then evidence, and it must be real — "a survey of our class found 19 of 30 pupils arrive having had no breakfast". Then the explanation, which is the part most writers skip: "Pupils who have not eaten cannot concentrate in the first lesson, so an hour of teaching is being wasted on empty stomachs." Only now add the reader: "Wouldn't you rather that hour counted?" Read it back and test each sentence — point, evidence, explanation, appeal. If you cannot say which job a sentence is doing, it is padding, and cutting it makes the paragraph stronger.