Between the ages of 9 and 12, children have to complete Standardised.Assessment.Tests (Sats). To help them practise for these tests, we have produced a new series of comprehension booklets. The Standards and Testing Agency states that the child has 1 hour to complete the test, answering the questions in the answer booklet. Read one text and answer the questions about that text, before moving onto the next text. There are three texts and three sets of questions in each booklet. The tests in this booklet are based on the KS2 Reading Assessment sample papers. It is important to try and complete them in an hour, but it is your choice. The more tests you practise the quicker you will get. 39 pages

This resource contains persuasive writing tasks, based on the theme of homelessness. For example, the student will learn how charities use different persuasive techniques and emotive language to appeal for money and support. They will learn how to write a one-sided argument. Then, they wil write their own charity appeal. Persuasive Writing & Argument Theme Work Packs save preparation time when planning writing tasks for 9-14 year olds. Easy to follow, each pack provides specimen planning sheets and essays in non fiction writing topics. The model essays contain information that will give children starting points to develop their own ideas. Children will learn fundamental skills in non fiction writing. Persuasive Writing & Argument Theme Work Packs teach children how to write from different points of view and how opinions can be used to make articles biased. Children will learn the basic principles of discursive writing, including how to set out an argument. They will learn different forms of writing - for example, articles, letters, leaflets, brochures and holiday brochures. They will become familiar with using literary or stylistic techniques, such as, repetition, similes, metaphors and groups of three, to make their writing persuasive. 12 pages

Information Writing work packs are essential for all students wanting to develop their literacy skills and improve their grades in English assignments and examinations. Information Writing work packs concentrate specifically on information writing, providing everything needed to stimulate a child to write. The child is taught to recognise the difference between facts and opinions. Each pack in this series concentrates on a different aspect of information writing including: writing to advise, writing to inform, writing to explain, writing to analyse, review and comment, giving examples. The child is taught how a newspaper article is structured, how to write formal and informal letters, diaries, police reports, e-mails, biographies, autobiographies, interviews, book reviews and many more. The work packs contain starting point for writing, helping the child to form ideas, enabling him or her to structure their work and organise it into paragraphs. Attention is given to making writing more interesting by varying sentence types, using punctuation and good grammar. Each work pack includes an exciting range of model answers and sample texts written by students and provides practice questions to test them. Common errors made by students are highlighted and corrected. They are packed with vital hints and tips to enable the student to be successful and gain good grades. The packs are a very useful resource for teachers and save hours of time when preparing lessons or homework tasks. The specimen lesson plans and examples contained within each work pack will give the student ideas to build on and provide practice to develop their writing skills. Each work pack provides children with ideas for writing, especially reluctant writers who require starting points to write. Each work pack provides a safe topic that children will be comfortable with. 15 pages

Learn about the great plague of 1665, through the eyes of the great diary writer Samuel Pepys, and practise your reading comprehension skills. This work pack includes: a reading comprehension based on extracts from Samuel Pepys diary, pages of interesting facts about the plague, creative writing and drawing activities. An excellent resource for classes studying this period in history.

3 pages Write A Play/Radio Script GCSE English Writing Work Packs save time when preparing lessons at GCSE. The specimen lesson plans and examples contained within each work pack, will give your students ideas to build on and provide practice to develop their writing skills. The examples contained in each pack, show the student the standard of work they need to reach to do well in exams like GCSE. They will learn how to tackle a question to get those higher marks. GCSE English Writing Work Packs include: Practice in writing for different purposes and to reach different audiences Practice in writing from different points of view, including articles, blogs, brochures and leaflets Practice in different ways to set out an argument (PEE or PEA). They will also examine language techniques

Prompts For Writing A Persuasive Leaflet (GCSE English Writing Work Pack) This pack includes four prompts for GCSE creative writing. The form is to produce a leaflet. The purpose is to inform and persuade. The intended audience is parents or people looking for self catering holiday accommodation. There are four examples included, plus two pages on how the student should structure their work and the use of literary techniques These work packs provide essential creative writing practice for the new GCSE English exam. They will help GCSE students prepare for their exam, whether they are students in years 9, 10 or 11. The packs provide practise in different forms of writing, for example, articles, blogs and letters. These resources help students to write in a tone appropriate to purpose and audience. They instruct the student how to write from different perspectives or viewpoints and present a balanced argument. As well as, using appropriate tone and language. For example, learning to use: formal or informal register, language devices like rhetoric and groups of three and punctuation, such as variation of sentences for effect.

Our maths tests for home and school assess the mathematical ability of children according to their age. If your child is 9, in his current school year, I suggest you work through Maths Test for 9 year olds. However, if you know your child has a higher or lower ability in maths, select a suitable test e.g. 10 years, 8 years. As a tutor and primary school teacher, I have been administrating these tests for over 25 years to determine the child’s a!ainment in maths. I usually allow 45/50 minutes for a test. I also sit beside children who need help reading questions - but I encourage them to answer all questions without help, leaving out any they do not understand for a true score. The tests contain especially chosen questions to test a wide range of mathematical concepts. taught at a particular age - number, measure, shapes, recording data. They examine your child’s ability to interpret different tasks: computational skills, reasoning skills, solving problems and recalling facts. The raw score is your child’s mark out of the total number of questions, e.g. 50. If he or she scores 38 out of 50, he or she has got 76%. if you would like a standardised score to see your child’s average, please email guineapigeducation@yahoo.co.uk with your child’s raw score and date of birth in years and months. Have fun doing the test. If your child is stressed, stop and resume the test. 36 pages

Information Writing work packs are essential for all students wanting to develop their literacy skills and improve their grades in English assignments and examinations. Information Writing work packs concentrate specifically on information writing, providing everything needed to stimulate a child to write. The child is taught to recognise the difference between facts and opinions. Each pack in this series concentrates on a different aspect of information writing including: writing to advise, writing to inform, writing to explain, writing to analyse, review and comment, giving examples. The child is taught how a newspaper article is structured, how to write formal and informal letters, diaries, police reports, e-mails, biographies, autobiographies, interviews, book reviews and many more. The work packs contain starting point for writing, helping the child to form ideas, enabling him or her to structure their work and organise it into paragraphs. Attention is given to making writing more interesting by varying sentence types, using punctuation and good grammar. Each work pack includes an exciting range of model answers and sample texts written by students and provides practice questions to test them. Common errors made by students are highlighted and corrected. They are packed with vital hints and tips to enable the student to be successful and gain good grades. The packs are a very useful resource for teachers and save hours of time when preparing lessons or homework tasks. The specimen lesson plans and examples contained within each work pack will give the student ideas to build on and provide practice to develop their writing skills. Each work pack provides children with ideas for writing, especially reluctant writers who require starting points to write. Each work pack provides a safe topic that children will be comfortable with. 19 pages

When there is a short vowel sound in a verb like run, you usually double the consonant ‘running’. Can you hear the stress in the second consonant? In this pack Zoggy takes up the challenge to teach children to double the consonant, when there is a short vowel sound, as in ‘run’. He teaches them to listen for the stress on the second consonant ‘running’. These pages provide lots of practice to help children remember the rules. With ‘Learn Spelling Rules Packs’ spelling need not be dull. These work packs can be used at school or at home, to reinforce spelling rules in a fun way. Our character, Zoggy, the friendly alien, is a genius when it comes to spelling. He encourages the children to join him in his spelling workout. In other words, they must train and learn the spelling rules. These packs consist of challenges in spelling, focusing on words formed using spelling rules. For example, dropping ‘e’ in words like ‘take’ to make ‘taking’. Each pack focuses on a different rule and the packs may be used in any order. These packs are essential to help correct common errors in spelling. They also help avoid bad habits forming in spelling. Each pack contains lots of practice to help the children remember the rules. 7 pages

A short play script for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, based on the original book by L. Frank Baum, for you to adapt for your class or school performance. School plays are an incredible platform to introduce children to drama, to music, to theatre skills. The school play enables a group, or class of children, to interact together and to work in a team. There is a role for everyone, whether the child: is an actor, who is comfortable learning lines and being on the stage loves singing and dancing enjoys making props, costumes, or helping with technical skills backstage, in sound or lighting A positive experience in a school play boosts confidence and helps a child to feel valued. They can be performed at any time of the year and not just at Christmas. It is a good way to end a term and get parents more actively involved. They can be elaborately staged events, or just a simple assembly. If you have read our book Park Lane School Presents… The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, why not put on your very own school production, using our play script as a starting point. 35 pages

23 pages These pages practice writing for different purposes, using animal themes. In the first task, the child is asked to read an interview with a cat and a dog. They then write their own interview with a chosen animal, imagining what the animal would say if it could talk like a human. In the second task, the child reads some letters written to Raj, the local vet. They should use their imagination to complete the replies. He or she then writes their own letter to Raj about a problem that a chosen pet has. The third task highlights how instructions use imperatives like ‘use’ to start sentences. The child adds further sentences starting with ‘bossy’ verbs. In the fourth and fifth task, the child must use his or her imagination to make a persuasive advert for a yummy dog treat, using persuasive words. Then, they should write a more detailed paragraph about a ‘wacky’ invention for a pet product they have invented, explaining how to use it. A series of questions helps the child structure his or her work. This theme could be developed over several lessons. It would be excellent for homework handouts. This resource is featured in the book ‘We Love Animals: Get Going With Creative Writing’ series. This series provides prompts to encourage children to write. It provides starting points, to encourage even the most reluctant writers. Written in a lively magazine style format, each pack provides a step by step guide to teach children how to plan and write an animal themed story. The packs also provide starting points to write e-mails, letters, play scripts, diaries, reports and other non fiction texts. The child will learn writing techniques; simple, compound and complex sentences, connectives and spelling, punctuation and grammar tips. There is an emphasis on improving vocabulary - looking at lots of better word choices: harder adjectives, more powerful verbs and adverbs. This series is recommended for use with children between the ages of 7-11 and provides writing practice for those children preparing to take 11+ examinations or S.A.T.s. The packs will also benefit children with special needs, or where English is a second language.

23 pages It’s Fun To Write A Diary About My Daily Life This pack includes a real child’s diary, written by seven year old Ellie Mae. The child should read the examples and then fill in the pages. They should use the prompts to record details from their daily life, (from the school day or weekend events). The child can zoom in on anything that inspires them - giving facts and opinions and saying how they felt and why. This series of lively work packs encourages children of 6-9 years to record their personal experiences in a diary. This will enable the child to practice their writing skills independently and to express their ideas freely. It will encourage them to write in more detail. A diary is usually written in present tense. It is an informal piece of writing and may contain some colloquial English. Diaries are fun to write and to re-read later. Older children will enjoy re-reading their old ‘news’ books, years and years later. Encourage the child to write a diary everyday, once a week or just at special times, such as, Christmas or in the summer holidays, in the form of a journal.

Use the information on dinosaurs to write a newspaper report. Learn about facts and opinions, reported and direct speech. An essential series of themed prompts to help children aged 9-12 years to practise their creative writing skills for 11 plus entry exams or S.A.T.S. The packs include an outline to help the child plan his or her own story, article, letter or play script and examples to build on, using harder more challenging vocabulary to stretch more able pupils. 6 pages

This resource shows the student how to plan and write a story effectively. Learn how to structure and organise your ideas into three paragraphs; and think about character, setting and plot. It also contains some words skill practice, showing you how to make your writing more interesting, by using well-chosen adjectives and adverbs. Complete the exercises and read the word lists to help you create believable characters and settings. Creative Story Writing work packs cut down preparation time when planning creative writing tasks. Easy to follow, each pack includes an example of how you can build on a title, to first plan a story for 9-12 year olds and then write it. How To Use Your Work Pack: Make sure the child/children know that stories must be planned Read the model story in the pack Ask the child/children to write down the names of the characters in the story Ask the child/children to write down where the setting takes place Ask the child/children to write down what the plot is Identify the most exciting part of the story (the climax of the story or suspense) Ask the child/children to plan a similar story - with a beginning, a middle and an end Ask the child/children to rewrite their own version of the story Ask the child/children to read their version of the story aloud Creative Story Writing work packs are essential for all students wanting to develop their literacy skills and improve their grades in English assignments and examinations. The work packs will guide students through the story writing process, as if they had a tutor by their side. Each pack is designed to help the child with thinking up ideas, providing starting points for writing, structuring and organizing their writing into paragraphs. It features writing a good introduction with characters, setting and plot, building up suspense and winding up the plot with a suitable resolution. Attention is given to making writing more interesting by varying sentence types, using punctuation and good grammar. The student will investigate different narrative structures for writing stories, exploring various viewpoints so they can decide if they write in first or third person. They will learn to evoke mood and atmosphere by using good vocabulary. Each pack includes an exciting range of model answers and sample texts written by children and provides practice questions to test them. Common errors made by students are highlighted and corrected. Each pack contains vital hints and tips on gaining those top grades. 25 pages

‘Writing A Balanced Argument’ work packs are essential for all students wanting to develop their literacy skills and improve their grades in English assignments and examinations. Includes: How To Write A Discursive Argument Hints And Tips For Writing A Discursive Essay Writing skeletons, model answers and points for and against the following essays: Fox Hunting Is Cruel. Discuss In Favour Of Zoos, Or Not. Discuss. Should Animals Perform In The Circus? This series of work packs set out how to write a well-balanced argument. The student will learn how to structure their writing, putting forward a point of view, backing it up with convincing evidence, building up a relevant counter argument and knocking it down, as well as, putting forward their own comments and opinions. These work packs focus on discursive writing, enabling the pupil to examine points for and against in a variety of subjects suitable for older children and teenage readers - healthy eating, fashion, social issues and many more. The student will learn vital essay writing skills, that will assist their studies in other areas of the curriculum. In addition to this, the work packs teach organisational and literary devices in persuasive writing, including, figurative language, emotive words, repetition, connectives and use of good vocabulary. The student will learn how to consider writing for the appropriate audience, how to vary sentence types in order to make writing more interesting, and the importance of using good spelling, punctuation and grammar. Each work pack includes an exciting range of model answers and sample texts written by students and provides practice questions to test them. Common errors made by students are highlighted and corrected. They are packed with vital hints and tips to enable the pupil to be successful and gain good grades. The work packs are ideal for home study and will reinforce the work done in school. They may be purchased in any order. There are a number of titles to choose from. By working through the packs, the student will grow in confidence and will learn to enjoy writing. The packs are also a useful resource for teachers and save hours of time when preparing lessons or homework tasks. This series is specifically targeted at Key Stage 2 and 3 (ages 9-14 years), but will also be a valuable resource for those taking GCSE up to grades C and above. They contain material suitable for UK National Curriculum SATS, for those taking 11+ entrance examinations, for GCSE exams and for students learning English as a foreign language. 29 pages

This resource shows children how to structure and develop a story. First, the child reads the story about ‘Monster‘. Then, they are shown an outline of how the story was planned – the characters, setting and plot. Secondly, they are shown the content of each paragraph: the beginning paragraph (setting the scene), the middle paragraph (recounting a series of events that build up suspense) and the ending, in this case a happy ending and the situation is resolved. An outline allows the child to write their ‘Monster’ story themselves, by completing the sentences. Next, they can use what they have learnt to write a story called ‘looking after a naughty pet’. This series provides prompts to encourage children to write. It provides starting points, to encourage even the most reluctant writers. Written in a lively magazine style format, each pack provides a step by step guide to teach children how to plan and write an animal themed story. The packs also provide starting points to write e-mails, letters, play scripts, diaries, reports and other non fiction texts. The child will learn writing techniques; simple, compound and complex sentences, connectives and spelling, punctuation and grammar tips. There is an emphasis on improving vocabulary - looking at lots of better word choices: harder adjectives, more powerful verbs and adverbs. This series is recommended for use with children between the ages of 7-11 and provides writing practice for those children preparing to take 11+ examinations or S.A.T.s. The packs will also benefit children with special needs, or where English is a second language. 9 pages

Ask the child to read the travel information from The Rushford Gazette’s special holiday feature. They will learn about using good adjectives, verbs, adverbs and rhetorical and other persuasive devices. The child is then asked to write their own travel information on the Norfolk Broads. After this, they are asked to make a holiday brochure for a holiday in Europe. Lots of prompts are given to choose from, as well as lists of suitable words and phrases to use. Next, George and Christabelle of Guinea Pig Radio ask their listeners what they would do if they could take off and go anywhere in the world. In this pack, the child is asked to write about their dream holiday destination. Then, they are asked to read the listeners texts and emails and to imagine these dreams came true and to write the listeners stories. Lastly, ask the child to use the question prompts to write about a holiday that they have enjoyed. This series provides prompts to encourage children to write. It provides starting points, to encourage even the most reluctant writers. In fact, the writer regularly dips into these packs for her own tutorial classes. With their lively ‘magazine style’ format, they are an ideal study aid to consolidate work on planning and writing stories and non fiction articles, expanding vocabulary and include many examples of children’s work. As well as this, the packs contain some very useful tips on writing techniques (as in writing simple, compound and complex sentences). The work in these packs will inspire children, who are practicing for exams, to write, and provide starting points for even the most reluctant writer, including those children with special educational needs and where English is a second language. 19 pages

Use the prompts and illustrations to produce an information leaflet about the Amazon Rainforest. The child should arrange their leaflet under the headings: Where is the Amazon rainforest? What is the climate like? What is life in the canopy like? What is the shrub layer like? What is it like on the forest floor? Next, the child can fill in the rainforest chart This series provides prompts to encourage children to write. It provides starting points, to encourage even the most reluctant writers. Written in a lively magazine style format, each pack provides a step by step guide to teach children how to plan and write an animal themed story. The packs also provide starting points to write e-mails, letters, play scripts, diaries, reports and other non fiction texts. The child will learn writing techniques; simple, compound and complex sentences, connectives and spelling, punctuation and grammar tips. There is an emphasis on improving vocabulary - looking at lots of better word choices: harder adjectives, more powerful verbs and adverbs. This series is recommended for use with children between the ages of 7-11 and provides writing practice for those children preparing to take 11+ examinations or S.A.T.s. The packs will also benefit children with special needs, or where English is a second language. 9 pages

Persuasive Writing work packs are essential for all students, of 9-14 years, wanting to develop their literacy skills and improve their grades in English assignments and examinations. Persuasive Writing work packs teach children how to write from different points of view and how opinions can be used to make articles biased. This series of work packs will enable the student to write convincingly in letters, leaflets, brochures and newspaper articles for example. The packs include a lively collection of writings, poems and a play to inspire the pupils. These are designed as starting points, ideal for the student who finds it difficult to think up ideas for writing, challenging them to recreate their own persuasive pieces. In addition to this, the packs teach organisational and literary devices in persuasive writing, including, figurative language, emotive words, repetition, connectives and use of good vocabulary. The student will learn how to consider writing for the appropriate audience, how to vary sentence types in order to make writing more interesting, and the importance of using good spelling, punctuation and grammar. Each work pack includes an exciting range of model answers and sample texts written by students and provides practice questions to test them. Common errors made by students are highlighted and corrected. They are packed with vital hints and tips to enable the pupil to be successful and gain good grades. The work packs are ideal for home study and will reinforce the work done in school. They may be purchased in any order. There are a number of titles to choose from. By working through the packs, the student will grow in confidence and will learn to enjoy writing. The packs are also a useful resource for teachers and save hours of time when preparing lessons or homework tasks. 17 pages

Send this free ‘Welcome Back To School’ e-card to wish your students the best of luck as they head back to school. Download the jpeg and insert the image directly into the body of your email, or alternatively, print and send.