5.5 Writing Prompts & the Headteacher Assessment Route

Writing Prompts & the Headteacher Assessment Route

Section 5.1 covered how to write well in the 40 minutes allowed. This section covers the two questions that decide how that writing is used: what kind of prompt to expect, and who reads the result.

---

Why the Prompt Cannot Be Predicted

Kent County Council does not publish the writing prompts in advance, and the official Kent Test familiarisation booklet — which does show worked examples for verbal reasoning, spatial reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and maths — contains no writing example at all. Any source claiming to know this year's title is guessing.

That has a direct consequence for preparation. Rehearsing a single memorised story is the worst possible strategy, because a memorised piece bent to fit an unrelated title reads exactly like what it is. What transfers instead is a method: a way of turning any prompt into a plan in ten minutes, and any plan into a controlled piece in twenty-five.

Prepare across the genres that 11+ writing tasks commonly draw on, so that no prompt type is a surprise:

The five-stage arc from section 5.1 covers narrative and recount directly. For description, replace the plot stages with a movement in space or time — far to near, dawn to dusk, outside to inside — so the piece still has a shape rather than becoming a list of adjectives.

---

The Universal Ten-Minute Plan

Whatever the genre, the planning time is spent the same way:

1. Decide the genre from the wording (30 seconds). "Write about a time when" is recount, not fiction. "Describe the scene" is description, not plot.
2. Choose one idea and commit (1 minute). The commonest failure is spending five minutes choosing between three ideas. The second idea is rarely better than the first; it is just newer.
3. Fix the shape (3 minutes). Five stages for narrative and recount; four or five viewpoint shifts for description; position plus three reasons for discursive.
4. Bank the good language (4 minutes). Write down six to eight phrases you intend to use: two sensory images, one simile, two precise verbs, one strong noun phrase. Having these on paper before you start is what stops the middle of the piece flattening out.
5. Write the first sentence in the plan (1.5 minutes). Starting the real piece with a sentence you have already drafted removes the blank-page pause.

---

What the Headteacher Assessment Stage Actually Is

Kent County Council states on its Kent Test pages that the writing exercise will not be marked, but may be used by a local headteacher panel as part of the headteacher assessment stage of the process. That stage exists for children whose scores did not reach the published threshold but whose schools believe the result understates them.

What a panel typically considers:

• The child's three standardised scores and aggregate, showing how far short they fell and where.
• School work and reports — the child's own books and the school's assessment record.
• The Kent Test writing exercise completed on test day.
• The headteacher's comments, setting out why grammar school is judged suitable.

Two features of this list matter for preparation. First, the writing exercise is the only piece of the child's own extended work produced under test conditions on the day, which makes it uniquely persuasive evidence next to classroom books produced with support and time. Second, the panel is reading for evidence of grammar-level literacy — control of structure, punctuation and vocabulary — not for a marked score. A well-shaped, carefully punctuated 400 words is stronger evidence than 700 rushed ones.

The same principle applies to a child with a severe visual impairment who cannot access the test papers at all: Kent County Council states such a child can be assessed by a headteacher panel looking at classwork and academic achievement instead.

---

Headteacher Assessment Versus Appeal

These are different processes at different points in the year, and confusing them wastes time.

If a child is not assessed as suitable, a family can still name a grammar school on the application. The application will be refused when places are offered on 1 March 2027, and the family then has the right to appeal to an independent panel to explain why they believe the school is suitable. Families may also be able to join the school's waiting list.

---

What This Means on Test Day

Two practical instructions follow from all of the above, and they are worth telling a child directly.

• Do the writing exercise properly even though it "does not count". For most children it will never be read. For the children it is read for, it is the single most important page they produce that day.
• Finish. An unfinished piece with a strong opening reads as a child who cannot manage time. A complete, slightly shorter piece with a proper ending reads as a child who can. Structure is the quality a panel can see at a glance.