Writing sample - how old is this child?

[MrsIssissippi]

I’d be really grateful if you could say how old you think the child who wrote this is?

The task was the children were shown a photo on the whiteboard and told to write a description of what they could see.

I think the child may need some additional support, but I’d be grateful for feedback from other teachers/parents.

Thank you

[mrsquadsticles]

Year 2- ‘forgetting’ capitals/full stops but using an apostrophe correctly. Spelt ‘bigger’ with a double consonant.

[Momo18]

My DS writing got worse with this joined up nonsense, honest they should just let kids write how they choose. If it's easy to read, who flaming cares. University clearly don't give a shit about hand writing given how Doctors write.

[Bowerbird5]

I would say Yr 4 or lower level yr 5. I work in a school. Forgetting capital letters is common. Spelling is quite reasonable. Repeating sentence starters- The -!should be more interesting so yes Yr 3 or 4. Could be Yr5 though.

[Norestformrz]

I agree with you OP the child needs extra support. Ignoring the handwriting there are still issues with spelling and sentence structure that need working on.

[KayaG]

Good use of the apostrophe. I'd have guessed 8/9.

[SingingSeuss]

I would guess year 1- just starting to use joined up but hasn't quite learnt not to bunch up letters/ space words.

[emwithme]

That handwriting could be my (Aspie, very dyslexic) DH's. It looks like a spider has danced through an inkwell and across the page. Hasn't stopped him getting multiple post-graduate qualifications though...and (almost) everything is typed these days.

[Dixiestampsagain]

I would absolutely have said Year 3. My dd’s writing is not neat at all, although the content is good, and she can’t write in straight lines, even on lined paper? Looks pretty typical for y3, I’d say.

[HangingRoundInABofAlorsStance]

Fuck. I can never come back to the UK: my DD is in year 1 of German primary aged 7 and they are doing first letters and phonics, not joined up writing yet. Have forgotten how fast it goes in UK (Germany catches up quickly but even so)
I understood it to be:
The lights in house's windows are yellow. There are some pretty flowers.
There are some greener looking trees. There is a bridge next to the house. There is a vaginal stream
The house is made of bricks. The sun is setting behind the house. The river looks very strange.
I cannot see any grass. The chimney is bigger than the window. There are lots of plants.

I thought it was written by a 9 year old. What do I know? Agree with others that lines would help. Some words - are pretty of I thought might have come up in year 1/2 but I have forgotten the curriculum. (bricks chimney cannot?)
I could have a decent job of drawing it - it depends what the teacher was looking for. It has been a decade since I was in the UK but I have seen worse than that in year 7 so for someone in year 3 I thought it was okay

[Greensleeves]

I would think that had come from a brighter-than-average Y2 who needed to work on his/her handwriting

[Greensleeves]

I have taught Reception, Y1 and Y2 and done supply work with KS2

[HangingRoundInABofAlorsStance]

OP has confirmed her son is year 3. is that a 7 year old then? I am doomed to stay in Germany for at least two more years.

[OlennasWimple]

Brilliant, "age 5-7" and "no older than 7". Only on bloody Mumsnet

Indeed, Elmers!

[Norestformrz]

This is the government writing exemplification for a "brighter than average" Y2 child (a single piece of writing) for comparison.

[Sostenueto]

My dgd was taught cursive from year 1 as the school thought it a waste if time to teach printing then cursive. She's 16 now and prints! And minute writing! She is a leftie! Handwriting is not an indicator of intelligence, content is though.

[Norestformrz]

I don't think anyone has ever equated handwriting with intelligence.

[Bowerbird5]

Hanging
Two of us that work in schools are predicting about 9.


Well we don't see many of those in our school Norest.
We have had a few very bright children but I dont remember any at that level.

[Norestformrz]

Try the expected level (again a single piece of work) published exemplification for assessing Y2 writing.

[LordBuckethead]

Do you think the government expected level for a 6 or 7 year old is realistic norest?

[Sostenueto]

Nope.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

Even if the expected level isn’t realistic, that isn’t at the expected level, it’s working towards.

I’m not sure it’s at the expected level for the end of year 2 under the previous curriculum either.

[Norestformrz]

Probably not a popular opinion but I don't think the expectation is unrealistic.

[RainbowGlitterFairy]

My school teach cursive right through from EYFS so that is a red herring.

On plain paper the handwriting is similar to a lot of my year 2 children, but being neat on plain paper is hard, what is their writing like on lined paper? I would be slightly concerned by a year 3 not knowing how to spell of and are, and would expect to see a couple of slightly longer sentences, unless the lesson focus wasn't on the description and they were asked to quickly jot down what they can see in the picture?

[KatherinaMinola]

Interesting. You see, I think the example of 'higher level work' is deadly dull. I suppose it gets points by being technically correct (nothing actually 'wrong' with it) and using the 'right' range of grammatical constructions for the year group in question . But that doesn't make it a good piece of writing.

Whereas I think the piece posted in the OP has something to it - a bit of mystery. The first line is evocative with a nice rhythm - almost iambic pentameter.

[Norestformrz]

I'd ignore the handwriting although it will need addressing at some point as it makes it difficult to read. I thought the piece posted by the OP was stilted almost a disjointed list. Some sentence structures are incomplete and the use of our instead of are very odd.