If you’re a teacher - how old do you think the writer of these sentences is?

[Pompleandprim]

This isnt meant to be any form of humble brag, my reason for posting is that my child attends a SEN school so I don’t know if the teachers expectations are different because of this.

Without any emphasis on handwriting or spelling, if a child was coming up with these sentences in their creative writing, how old would you assume they are?

”His eyes were as black as the night’s sky”

”His hat was as blue as the ocean as it reaches off to the shore”

“Nose the shape of a plumbers plunger”

I would probably say children in Year 2 would be able create sentences like these.

Anywhere from 7 upwards.

Teacher, mostly secondary but also worked in primary.

(You really can't tell from a few phrases. A really strong 7 year old could write those.)

Yr 3 on average.

Similes, so Y2/Y3.

Although plenty of posters will turn up and say their 3 yr old does the same.

Year 3/age 7 upwards I’d say

I see quite a lot of this sort of writing from yr 4 / yr 5 children, so would say it's not unusual from aged 8+

Although this is a shameless placemark to see how many replies you get saying 4 years or nursery aged. 😄

Age 6/7.

Waiting for someone to say their baby did this at 3 weeks old 🤣

I would say around 7, but depending on their reading age between 6 and 8.

This is Mumsnet. Their children can do this by age 2 in preparation for their 4+ tests.

Year 1 or 2 onwards, they start doing descriptive sentences in year 1.

Speaking as a writer, I'm guessing 8-11

I'm a primary teacher, and I'd expect that level of writing at Y3 and above.

The first two anything from 7+ as fairly cliche similes that may have been used by the teacher as an example. The last one is more interesting as a concept so maybe a little older.

I would agree with those saying year 3 onwards. Yes some children could do it earlier in class but that's not the same in my opinion as doing it independently away from the classroom.

I would say Year 3 as a start being told to use similes in an English lesson. Year 4 more naturally.

age 7.

They are actually taught to write with similes (comparisons).

Thanks all! DC is 7 and this is about where I’d expect him to be - I’m obviously extremely proud of him, but his teachers were so impressed and I can never tell if it’s because expectations are generally lower because it’s a special school :)

They might start to use adjectives in Year 1. They do not get taught similes.

@Pompleandprim that's amazing, especially as your DC has SEN! There's definitely a flair for writing and creativity there. 🥰

Year 1 or 2 onwards, they start doing descriptive sentences in year 1.

they do not learn about similes then though 🙄

Aw thank you! He struggles so much with actual handwriting and spelling but his teacher happily scribes for him because she doesn’t want his learning to be held back - she’s clearly doing a smashing job!

That's still brilliant. He is clearly an excellent writer. ❤️

@MaybeItsJustTimeToStop my 5 year old DD is in Y1 and can use adjectives, but hasn't been taught similes. She's an able writer, and definitely couldn't produce something the same level as the OP's DC!