Structure is the order and links that hold a piece together, which the handbook calls organisation and coherence. For children in Year 5 now, the ASET is on 6 March 2027 in Perth, Bunbury and Albany.
Each pair keeps much the same ideas; only the order and the links change. Each shows the "before", the "after" and why the new order works. Read them together and talk about what the "after" moves and links.
Worked explanation 1
‘The first day of the holidays.’
‘The first day of the holidays.’
We went to the pool. It was the first day of the holidays. At the end I was tired. First I woke up late. Then we had ice cream and the pool was really cold.
On the first day of the holidays, I woke up at ten o'clock and nobody told me off. By lunchtime we were at the pool, which was colder than the inside of a fridge. We finished with ice cream on the walk home, and by dinner I was so tired I nearly fell asleep in my spaghetti.
The first version has the right events in a jumbled order, so the reader has to sort them out. The second puts them in time order and uses linking phrases such as 'by lunchtime' and 'by dinner' to carry the reader through the day. Clear order is the first step towards the organisation and coherence that markers look for.
Worked explanation 2
‘The best ideas come at strange times.’
‘The best ideas come at strange times.’
I get ideas in the shower. My sister gets ideas when she is walking the dog. Inventors also got ideas at strange times. Some people get ideas in their sleep. My best idea was a machine that folds washing. In the end, ideas can come at any time.
The best idea I ever had arrived while I was hanging upside down on the monkey bars.
It was a machine that folds washing, and it came to me all at once, sleeves and all. My sister says her ideas come while she is walking the dog. Maybe brains like to work when we stop asking them to.
So now, when I'm stuck on my homework, I don't stare at it harder. I go and hang upside down.
The first version is a list of separate facts, one sentence each, with an ending that repeats the prompt. The second opens with one vivid moment, groups the examples in a middle that explains them, and ends by circling back to the monkey bars. A beginning, middle and end that connect is what markers mean by coherence.
Worked explanation 3
‘Two sides of the same street.’
‘Two sides of the same street.’
On one side of the street there is a café and on the other side there is a park. In the morning the café is busy. The park has a lot of birds. At night the café is closed. The park is dark. People go to both.
Morning. On the left, the café clatters awake: milk hissing, chairs scraping, Mr Costa calling out names. On the right, the park is still asleep, except for the magpies.
Evening. The café yawns and pulls down its shutters. Across the road, the park is suddenly busy with joggers, dogs and a boy practising his kicks against the fence.
The first version jumps between the café and the park with no pattern, so the two sides blur together. The second uses a mirror structure: each paragraph is one time of day, with the café first and the park second. Choosing a structure that matches the prompt, here two sides, is a sophisticated move that markers notice.
How should my child approach it?
Choose a shape first, then fill it in. A shape picked before writing is easier to keep than one invented mid-sentence. Organisation comes after the prompt and the ideas in the handbook's criteria: organisation and coherence; a distinctive voice and tone; and language that is apt, expressive and fluent.
The shape can live in your child's head. A written plan is optional: make one only if it helps, because markers never see the planning space. The steps below are our suggestions.
Choose the shape first
Decide the shape before writing: time order for a day, a strong moment first for a story, or a pattern that matches the prompt, like two sides of a street.
Open close to what matters
Start with the moment or the point, not with waking up. The monkey-bars opening in our second example does this.
Give each paragraph one job
Group related ideas together, and start a new paragraph when the time, place or point changes.
Link as you go
Phrases such as 'by lunchtime' or 'across the road' carry the reader from one part to the next.
Circle back at the end
A last line that returns to the opening makes the piece feel whole.
If time runs out, don't panic. An unfinished piece is fine, as long as the idea is clear and centred on the prompt, and a title is optional.
The slip to check for is an order the reader has to fix for themselves. After a practice piece, ask your child what each paragraph is for; a paragraph with no clear job may point to one of these.
Events in a jumble. The holiday example has the right events, but the reader has to sort them into order.
A string of separate facts. One-line examples about ideas, with an ending that repeats the prompt, never join up into a piece.
No pattern for a two-part prompt. Jumping between the café and the park blurs the two sides; a mirror structure keeps them clear.
How can we practise it at home?
The examples rearrange sentences that are already written. Practice test 1 shows whether your child can shape a whole piece from nothing in 25 minutes. It's free and includes the writing test.
That piece starts as soon as Reading Comprehension ends. Your child's old writing makes good practice material:
Cut a short piece into its paragraphs, shuffle them, and ask your child to put them back in order.
Retell a story your child knows as a beginning, a middle and an end, in one sentence each.
Take an old piece and ask where the important moment starts. Then try opening there.
Now and then, write a full piece: the handbook says to write the full piece with the timer set to the real time and no extra time.
