Changes for 2015 entry.

[pushymother]

You have forty weeks before the exam. Even if your dc just wrote one story every week they would learn something every time. Students can make outstanding progress in creative writing in a short period of time. I think this is the right decision by CSSE, it is being able to write that prepares them for success at Secondary school, not CEM. What actually are students learning from CEM papers? HBS does not make the decision on CEM papers, it just uses them to reduce the numbers, DAO and QE do not use them at all. I doubt there is a private school in the country that does not use creative writing to select their intake. QE used Creative Writing to select from the waiting list when they had spaces for Year 8. When I hear parents talking about what their students have learned from 11 plus prep it is all about English and Maths. Nobody says, "Oh that CEM paper was amazing, they learned so much from it." I have been very underwhelmed by CEM papers and applaud CSSE's decision to ignore them and go for Creative Writing which will actually add value for Year 7. DG

Hear, hear!!!!!!!

[Hopefuldad]

DG

wise words

HD

[moved]

There are various ways to mark creative writing.

One is called a judgemental exercise and is used commonly in the States at tertiary level. A marker scans two pieces of writing and decides which is best. This can be done really quickly. You end up with two piles and start again. The papers can then be put in rank order. What makes it work is that many markers do the same thing as it is so quick. Fundamentally, it uses gut instinct.

[push-pull-mum]

You have forty weeks before the exam. Even if your dc just wrote one story every week they would learn something every time.

DS's attempts at creative writing have shown no visible signs of improvement since KS1 SATS.

[Minesatea]

We have the same problem. DS is infact the same NC grade now (year 4) as he was at the end of KS1, despite his school doing a weekly creative writting.

[moved]

Get your DC to write a story. Mark it with them and look for improvements. A semicolon in the first paragraph is always good. Choose titles that can be adapted to other circumstances. Get four stories to a really good quality with great vocab. Practice them.

Have a look through what is required for the L6 grammar extended task and then add that to a creative story.

[push-pull-mum]

Get your DC to write a story. Mark it with them and look for improvements. A semicolon in the first paragraph is always good. Choose titles that can be adapted to other circumstances. Get four stories to a really good quality with great vocab. Practice them.

Have a look through what is required for the L6 grammar extended task and then add that to a creative story.

I have absolutely no idea where a semicolon should be placed to good effect and I have a degree in English.

To complete two pieces of writing within the time allowed I doubt if either of them could be a "creative story." I got DS to write a "10 minute tale" today, just to get into the habit of writing something quickly on a set topic.

[bravado]

I have absolutely no idea where a semicolon should be placed to good effect and I have a degree in English.

One of the best things I ever did, was buy the entire series of Susan Daughtrey's books on punctuation, grammar and spelling. They're clear, concise and exactly what the doctor ordered

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/shop/s ... rch&page=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Daogroupie]

If my dd's had made no progress in a core subject like writing for two plus years I would be asking lots of questions at parents evening, in fact I would probably be expressing my concerns in writing. Creative writing is just like learning how to do certain things in Maths and VR. These things are not hard, they just need to be learnt. Like Janpp I believe that not only is Creative Writing going to prepare your dcs more effectively for secondary school but it is also going to identify the candidates to the school that have the right ingredients for success in GCSE and A level exams. If your dc's start to write stories every week they will get better at them just as they get better at Maths and VR if they do them all the time. A 3-4 paragraph story in 30 mins will probably be the format that CSSE will use but hopefully you will not have to wait much longer until they post some sample papers. I would assume the above format until you hear different. This length is plenty for a student to be able to demonstrate the range of things that they should have been taught to do in KS2. DG

[Minesatea]

Since the English exam is only 60 minutes long and apparently includes 2 pieces of creative writing along with comprehension, grammar, vocabulary and reasoning questions, each piece of writing will need to be a lot shorter than 30 mins. Possibly 30 mins for both? I wonder why they think two short pieces would be better than one longer one?