2017 KS1 standardisation exercise

For the purpose of this standardisation exercise, you should assume that discussion with the teacher during the moderation visit has satisfied you that the writing is independent, including the use of any source material, and that any edits are the pupil’s own.

Where handwriting seems inconsistent, you should base your judgement on the strongest piece, and assume that this is validated by further evidence in the pupil’s books. For the purpose of ensuring legibility and clarity, all the pupil scripts in these collections have been overwritten in pen.

You should not assume that each standard (working towards the expected standard, working at the expected standard, working at greater depth within the expected standard) is necessarily represented in this set of collections.

Since this standardisation exercise must be completed without recourse to a professional discussion, during which moderators have the opportunity to seek any necessary clarification, minor edits have been made to some pieces of writing to avoid any ambiguity where the pupil’s intention was unclear.

Pupil 1

This collection includes the following pieces:

Piece A. The Great Storm Cat - re-telling of a story Having read the early part of Antonia Barber’s The Mousehole Cat, the pupils used images from the remainder of the text to create a story map to plan and write their own version of the story.

Piece B. Mowzer - a character description Pupils explored the characters of Tom and Mowzer from The Mousehole Cat through hot seating and text annotation before writing a character description of their chosen character.

Piece C. A letter to Tom - a letter As part of their work on The Mousehole Cat, pupils used hot seating to explore the feelings of Tom and the villagers at different parts of the story. They drew on their earlier study of the features of letters to write a thank you letter to Tom in role as one of the villagers.

Piece D. How to Make Tom's hot Choclate - a set of instructions After discussing the scene in The Mousehole Cat where Tom returns to the village and reading and discussing examples of instruction writing, pupils wrote instructions for making Tom some hot chocolate. They were given appropriate ingredients and a set of photographs; their task was first to sequence the images and then write their instructions before, finally, making the hot chocolate.

Piece E. Jeremiah's Adventure - a story As part of their work on traditional stories, completed a little earlier in the year, the class listened to the early part of the Ahlbergs' Jeremiah in the Dark Woods. They then wrote a description of Jeremiah's character and the setting, drawing on their exploration of local woods. Later, pupils were given a fictitious extract from Jeremiah’s diary, containing clues about his search for the robber, as a stimulus for planning their own story map of the search and for writing their own version of the story.

Pupil 2

This collection includes the following pieces:

Piece A. Amethyst and Lily – a story This adventure story was written over a series of lessons after a class reading of The Tunnel by Anthony Browne. The task was to write a story in which their chosen character would go through a tunnel into a setting of their choice – real or fantasy.

Piece B. Dear Rose – a letter Inspired by the class reading of The Tunnel, pupils wrote a letter in role as Jack to his younger sister, Rose, including his description of the forest and his growing fears about the place; his remorse for his unkind behaviour towards Rose; and his plea for her help and forgiveness.

Piece C. Super Summer Fruit Kebab – a set of instructions Following prior learning about writing instructions, the class read Eileen Browne’s Handa’s Surprise, and then, as part of their science topic on healthy eating, wrote their own instructions for making fruit kebabs. Finally, pupils used the instructions they had planned and written to prepare (and eat) their own summer fruit kebabs.

Piece D. The Locket – a story opening Following a class reading of The Matchbox Diary by Paul Fleischman, pupils were asked to pick an object of their choice and tell the story of how that object came to be somehow memorable or significant in the life of one of their relatives.

Pupil 3

This collection includes the following pieces:

Piece A. Rosie’s Diary - a diary entry After reading The Tunnel as part of an author focus on Anthony Browne, pupils investigated the illustrator’s portrayal of Rose’s emotions and considered her feelings at different points in the story; they then planned and wrote a diary entry in role as Rose.

Piece B. A letter to the Queen - a letter As part of a whole school celebration of the Queen's ninetieth birthday, the class shared their knowledge about the Queen’s life and then devised a list of additional information that they would like to find out about her. Drawing on this, pupils then planned and wrote their own letters to the Queen.

Piece C. How to make rocky road cake - a set of instructions Having previously followed instructions for making fruit animals and discussed the features of instruction writing, the class made some Rocky Road cake. The pupils then wrote their own instructions to help their families make Rocky Road cake at home.Piece D. Owls - information writing Having learnt about food chains, habitats and adaptation as part of a science topic and drawing on previous learning about the features of information writing, pupils engaged in group research on a nocturnal animal of their choice and then individually planned and wrote their own information text about their chosen animal.

Piece E. My Magical Adventure Story - a story Following attendance at a performance of Alice in Wonderland, the pupils worked with a partner to describe Alice’s behaviour, personality and appearance. The pupils then used the structure of Alice in Wonderland to plan their own ‘Wonderland Story’.

Extracts from 2016 KS1 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test These five questions were taken from the pupil’s 2016 KS1 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test which was used to inform the teacher assessment judgement.