11+ Sutton Stage Two Exam Information

This paper is an extended writing task. Children will be asked to produce a piece of writing based on a prompt or a short passage. They could be asked to write in a wide variety of different fiction and non-fiction genres such as stories, letters, diary entries, articles and speeches. Children will be tested on their originality, imagination, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Writing ‘triplets’ (click here for our full guide)

In recent years, the writing task in the English exam for Nonsuch High School for Girls and Wallington High School for Girls has been based on the four National Curriculum writing ‘triplets’. 

Each triplet refers to a different style of writing. The four triplets are:

• Argue, persuade and advise
• Explore, imagine and entertain
• Inform, explain and describe
• Analyse, review and comment

The task in the exam will be based on one or more of these triplets. To score highly, children will need to address all three aspects of the triplet. For example, if a task is based on argue, persuade and advise, they will need to do all three of these, and write in an appropriate style for each, in their answer.

Children will not necessarily be told which triplet(s) the task is based on, but keeping the triplets in mind will help them come up with a well-rounded response that meets the demands of the question.

This does not mean that children need to approach the writing task in the exam for Nonsuch Wallington High Schools for Girls in a significantly different way to the writing task in the shared exam for the other three Sutton schools.

In fact, keeping these triplets in mind will help your child perform well in any 11+ creative writing task, especially in the exams for very competitive schools like these. Even though Sutton Grammar School, Wallington County Grammar School and Wilson’s School have not specifically stated that they will mark children’s answers based on these triplets, they are a very useful tool for writing a well-rounded answer, so focusing on them is an effective way for your child to give their writing a boost.