11+ writing: help your child sound like themselves

First find out whether there is a writing task at all

“The 11+ writing paper” sounds like one known exam. It is not. Independent schools choose their own assessments, join a group assessment or combine both. Even the word creative can mean a handwritten story at one school and analysis of several sources on a computer at another.

For September 2027 entry, City of London School asks for a separate 30-minute prompted story. Latymer Upper publishes 45 minutes for descriptive writing. St Paul’s Girls’ has no separate creative section, but its final English question gives children room to write imaginatively. The London 11+ Consortium says its English test requires no extended writing.

Those are not small variations. A child preparing only complete stories could be neglecting close reading, concise explanation or description. Begin with the current admissions page and any sample linked from it—not a tutor’s generic list or a paper that has lost its cover date.

Read the live details from City of London School, Latymer Upper, SPGS and the London Consortium. Timings and formats can change. Recheck them in the application cycle rather than treating this table as a permanent syllabus.

Good writing is not a bag of impressive words

A reader needs to understand what is happening, where attention should go and why the chosen details matter. Ambitious vocabulary helps only when the child understands it and it fits. A precise ordinary word is better than a thesaurus word that bends the sentence out of shape.

The schools themselves give useful clues without creating a universal rubric. City says it looks at creativity, vocabulary and accuracy, and warns that pre-prepared phrases and imagery are often apparent. SPGS gives more weight to grammar, punctuation and sentence control than spelling, while saying obscure vocabulary is unnecessary. These comments apply to those schools, not every paper.

Our practical test is simpler. Can another person follow the piece? Does it answer this prompt rather than a story the child hoped would appear? Is there a specific detail the child has chosen? For a story, has the ending been earned rather than attached because time ran out?

Give the child a process they can bend, not a formula

Planning, drafting, revising and proofreading are useful jobs, but they do not have to happen in a straight line. The Department for Education’s writing framework describes a flexible process in which a writer can move back and forth. It is teaching guidance, not an admissions marking scheme.

1. Decode the job. Who will read this? What form is needed? What must change, be described or argued?
2. Choose one workable idea. Choose a focus your child can develop within the available time.
3. Make a tiny map. A few beats, boxes or bullets may help. A child who thinks visually can sketch a scene; an argument might need a list of reasons. Let the task shape the plan.
4. Draft with the reader in mind. If the idea changes, adjust the plan. The plan serves the writing.
5. Revise, then proofread. First fix meaning and order. Then check sentence endings, capitals, tense, names and recurring spelling slips.

Do not impose a universal percentage for planning or checking. On an occasional timed attempt, note when your child naturally starts, gets stuck and rereads. Agree one adjustment for next time. That observation is more useful than telling every child to spend exactly five minutes on the same stage.

Sentence work can be small. Start with: “The path was icy. Mina walked slowly.” Say two ways of joining the ideas before writing them. Which version makes the connection clearest? “Because the path was icy, Mina walked slowly” explains cause; “The path was icy, so Mina tested each step” adds a more revealing action. Longer is not automatically better.

A descriptive response needs a point of view

The following task and excerpts are entirely fictional. They were written for this guide, not taken from a school paper. Try: Describe a public place in the last ten minutes before it closes.

A first attempt

The library was quiet and enormous. There were countless ancient books on towering shelves. The tired librarian walked around. Outside, the gloomy sky became dark and the rain was very loud.

Nothing is technically wrong, but most details could belong to any library. Adjectives carry work that observation could do. Ask: what changes because closing is near, and who notices it?

A more specific version

At five minutes to six, the printer woke up by itself and pushed out a forgotten receipt. Mrs Khan turned off the lamps one row at a time. Pools of yellow disappeared between the shelves, leaving Milo at the only bright table, his finger holding the place in a book he could not borrow.

This version chooses one observer and a small problem. The changing light makes time visible. It is not a “winning” answer and should not be memorised. A child who notices sounds, people or systems might solve the task completely differently.

For a fresh attempt, change both place and observer: a swimming pool seen by the last lifeguard, or a market stall seen by a dropped apple. Keep the underlying decision—one viewpoint and details that show time passing—without copying the sentences.

For a short story, make the problem small enough to finish

A child has little time to invent characters, a world, a crisis and a satisfying resolution. The safer move is not a boring idea; it is a contained one. One room, one immediate want and one change can carry a complete story.

Here is another original fictional task: Write a story that begins with a message sent to the wrong person.

BEN, PLEASE BRING THE KEY, read the message. Arun checked the unknown number above it. He was not Ben, and he did not have a key. Before he could show Mum, who was driving beside him, three dots appeared. Then: HE KNOWS WE ARE HERE.

That opening raises a question, but the rest needs discipline. A workable plan might be: Arun replies; the sender thinks he is an accomplice; he realises they are planning a surprise party; his attempt to help nearly ruins it; he recovers by distracting the guest. The apparent danger becomes an ordinary comic problem that can end.

A child who prefers realism could receive a message about a lost sports bag or a rehearsal. Suspense does not require a crime, disaster or waking from a dream. Ask the child to say the ending aloud before drafting. If they cannot, the idea may still be too large.

The best feedback leaves the next decision with the child

Correcting every line can make a page look improved while the writer learns very little. The Education Endowment Foundation’s feedback guidance emphasises feedback that moves learning forward and time for pupils to use it. It does not prescribe one perfect home method.

Try one noticed strength and one reader question: “The printer receipt made the empty library feel real. I lost track of why Milo needed that particular book—what does he know that I do not?” Then hand the decision back. The child may add a clue, move a sentence or decide the question should remain open.

Separate revision from proofreading. On one read, discuss meaning, order and missing links. On another, let the child circle uncertain sentence endings or check a recurring spelling pattern. If the adult rewrites the sentences, the finished page no longer shows what the child can do alone.

Use models as things to investigate, not templates to disguise. Ask what a paragraph makes the reader notice and how. Then close it and give a different task. The child should borrow a principle—perhaps delaying an explanation—not a string of phrases.

A six-week routine can stay small enough for family life

This is our practice suggestion, not a school programme. Adapt it to the child, the actual paper and everything else in Year 6. Two short sessions may be a manageable starting point; adapt them to your child’s energy.

1. Week one: map every school’s exact format and try one untimed baseline without adult rewriting.
2. Week two: practise decoding prompts and making three different tiny plans; write only the best paragraph.
3. Week three: work on beginnings, transitions and endings through small drafts, not three complete stories.
4. Week four: alternate the forms the shortlist actually needs: description, story, continuation or opinion.
5. Week five: use the stated writing time for a standalone task. Where writing shares an English paper, practise the whole paper occasionally so reading and writing compete for time. Do not give one creative response the full English-paper allowance.
6. Week six: repeat independently with a fresh prompt, make one process adjustment and taper before the test.

Between writing sessions, read. Talk about a surprising character choice, an image that changed the mood or an argument that anticipated a reader’s objection. Wide reading gives children more patterns to recognise; it should remain reading, not a hunt for sentences to transplant.

Give them a recovery plan for the moment they get stuck

A blank mind is not proof that preparation has failed. Teach a small reset: reread the command word; circle the fixed details; choose the simplest plausible event; write one concrete action. Movement often produces the next idea.

If the story grows too large, return to the immediate problem. If the ending is far away, resolve the scene rather than the character’s entire life. If a word will not come, use an accurate simpler one and continue. If time is short, finish the current thought, add a brief ending and check sentence stops.

After the assessment, do not conduct a forensic interview in the car. Offer food, quiet and a change of subject. A child’s first report of a question is incomplete evidence, and one awkward piece does not tell you how the school will combine tests, interview and reference.