Voice is the sense of a real person behind the words, which the handbook's criteria ask for. Children in Year 5 now sit the ASET on 6 March 2027 in Perth, Bunbury and Albany.
The events barely change between versions; what changes is how clearly we hear the person telling them. Each shows both versions and why the second works. Read both aloud with your child and ask which lines only that narrator could have said.
Worked explanation 1
‘Waiting for the rain.’
‘Waiting for the rain.’
I was waiting for the rain. It had not rained for a long time. I was bored and I wanted it to rain.
Forty-one days. That's how long our water tank has been sighing every time Dad turns on the tap. Every afternoon the clouds gather over the hills, take one look at us, and wander off. Rude.
The first version gives the facts in a flat voice that could belong to anyone. The second sounds like a particular person: the exact count of days, the sighing tank and the one-word joke 'Rude' show attitude and humour. A distinctive voice makes the reader want to keep listening.
Worked explanation 2
‘The window seat.’
‘The window seat.’
I got the window seat on the train. I looked out the window and saw lots of things. It was fun.
Window seat. Finally. Three whole trips I've spent squashed next to my brother's elbow, and today the window is all mine. Paddocks, sheep, a water tank with somebody's name painted on it. Wait, was that a camel? Nobody else is looking. Fine. My camel, then.
The first version reports what happened. The second lets us hear the traveller's thoughts as they happen, through short bursts, a question and a slightly smug 'My camel, then.' The tone, pleased and a bit cheeky, belongs to a real character. That is what markers mean by voice: writing that sounds like someone.
Worked explanation 3
‘Nobody notices me.’
‘Nobody notices me.’
I am a park bench and nobody notices me. People sit on me every day. I feel sad because nobody ever says thank you.
I have held up eleven thousand sandwiches, two marriage proposals and one very large dog who should not have been on the furniture. Not one of them said thank you. That's fine. I'm a bench. Benches are good at waiting.
Writing as an object is a good idea, but the first version names the feeling ('I feel sad'). The second gives the bench a dry, patient sense of humour, so its loneliness comes through without being named. Controlling tone, funny on top and a little sad underneath, is what makes a voice truly distinctive.
How should my child approach it?
Pick a narrator and an attitude first, then let every line come from them. It works because voice is a set of choices this writer would make and others wouldn't.
Voice and tone are in the handbook's later criteria: organisation and coherence; a distinctive voice and tone; and language that is apt, expressive and fluent. The earlier ones cover the prompt and the ideas.
Voice isn't loudness, or jokes for their own sake. The steps below are ours, built from the examples above.
Decide who is speaking
Before writing, pick the narrator: your child, a character, even an object, as in our bench example.
Choose one attitude
Pleased, cheeky, patient or worried: pick one tone and let it colour every line.
Trade general words for personal detail
An exact count of days, a family habit or a private joke shows a real person. 'A long time' could be anyone's.
Show the feeling, don't name it
Let thoughts and reactions carry the feeling, instead of writing 'I feel sad'.
Read it aloud
If any line could have been written by anyone, swap it for one only your child would write.
The slip to check for is a line anyone could have written. Read your child's piece aloud, mark those lines, then see which of these they fit.
The flat report. "I was bored and I wanted it to rain" gives the facts, but no person behind them.
Reporting instead of thinking aloud. The first window-seat version lists the trip; the second lets us hear the traveller's thoughts as they happen.
Naming the feeling. A bench that says "I feel sad" moves us less than a bench whose dry humour hides its loneliness.
How can we practise it at home?
The examples add a voice to someone else's lines. Practice test 1 shows whether your child's own voice comes through on a new prompt, with 25 minutes on the clock. It's free and includes the writing test.
By then your child has just finished Reading Comprehension. Voice comes from listening as much as writing, so try some of this out loud:
Tell the same small event twice, once as your child and once as a grumpy cat, then compare.
Read a page of a favourite book aloud and ask: how do we know who is talking?
Keep a short diary for a week in your child's own words, not school words.
Write a postcard from an object in the house: the fridge, the front door, a lost sock.
