11 Plus continuation mark scheme for self marking ✅
Have you ever found it frustrating using 11 Plus creative writing mark schemes to mark your child’s work?
Even I’ve found it challenging to interpret some of the mark schemes that I’ve found online, and I’m a GCSE examiner.
That’s why I’ll be sharing mark schemes you can use at home without the help of a tutor.
I’ve kept the breakdown of marks similar to those published by EPP and Examberry, splitting the marks across four main categories:
Content
Structure
Language
SPaG (although I’ve broken down the SPaG section into further categories)
However, whereas the mark schemes published by the sites above are levelled, this one is presented in a tick-box format, with all but a few criteria worth just one mark.
This format has a couple of benefits. The mark schemes all fit onto one page, and there’s more objective, measurable criteria.
Below, you’ll find the mark scheme, followed by a model continuation from a City of London entrance paper.
I’ve explained in italics where the continuation meets the success criteria, although I’ve grouped some of the criteria for the sake of brevity.
You can read the passage and task brief here, and you can read this article for insight into how I planned and approached this task.
All Summer in a Day continuation
You might have thought that the children rushed out to feel the sun’s warmth and leap for joy, but instead they stood tentatively at the threshold. It was as if after long confinement, of false imprisonment, they were stepping out into a world that was not the world they once knew.
Follows exactly where the story leaves off and the opening creates suspense without rushing the story forward.
Well chosen nouns and noun phrases such as ‘threshold’ and ‘false imprisonment’.
And then Margot appeared, like a ghost from a tomb. The children were stunned silent. Fortunately, she had been able to grope in the dark and find the door to the connecting classroom had been left unlocked to her great, great relief. So although the boys felt annoyed and stupid since Margot had been able to escape so easily, they tried not to let it show while praying she didn’t tell and get them in trouble.
Range of sentence types are used to good effect such as creating tension.
Writing techniques (simile and alliteration) effectively capture the children’s emotions.
And she didn’t, because she had been waiting for this moment with such painful longing. It was in fact she who took the first step, raising her forearm above her head to shield her eyes from the sun’s dazzling white light. The boys just stood gawping, watching her step forward. The other children followed slowly, taking her lead, shuffling out while stooping below their forearms so the sun did not blind them. They remembered that their teacher had told them that they could go blind if they tried to look directly at it, because their eyes had never adjusted to looking out at the sun unfiltered by rain soaked clouds. So bright was the light from the sun they had been told that it would be like looking at a million bulbs all at once.
A good balance between narrative and description.
Logical breaks for paragraphs.
Sensing the children’s caution, their teacher reminded them that they would be safe so long as they didn’t stare directly at it. And so the children blinked and began to adjust their eyes to the light which lit the whole world, a world of rainforest which had forever been shrouded in darkness. Standing in the playground, arms down, they stared dumbstruck at the tall trees which marked its perimeter, at the rain slowly dripping from the spindly leaves designed to filter the ever falling rain, not marvelling at its falling, which was a constant, but at how slow it dripped. It was like watching the last few drops of a tap which had been turned off.
Range of fronted adverbials and discourse markers to guide the reader through the narrative. Vocabulary complements the language used in the passage.
The plot makes sense and is easy to follow.
But even more wonderful than this, the sound of the rain no longer drumming or dribbling, but falling in slow splats on the asphalt of their playground, and the way that the birds began to chirp, was the way the sun felt against their skin. It was like the embrace of a very good friend one hasn’t seen for years. It was lovely beyond words.
Descriptions create a distinct atmosphere.
Subtly shows the children’s emotion.
Range of sense: describes sound of the rain and the warmth of the sun.
Accurate spelling for difficult words such as ‘asphalt’.
Emotive verbs such as ‘embrace’.
Of course, Margot did remember, and she had stepped out further than the other children to give herself some space. Space to close her eyes and feel the sun on her eyelids, her cheeks blossom again with colour. She stood there feeling the sun and remembering her home on earth, in Ohio. She remembered swinging on the car tire attached to the red maple in her garden, the feeling of weightlessness in the pendulum swing of the tire. And the way the light peeped through the leaves and how it looked like you were watching a slow moving film reel from an old projector. But as she remembered her legs swinging out before her, she quite literally felt her feet rise off the ground and the spell was broken, for she also felt someone’s tight grip around her ribs. And right away she knew who was picking her up and her heart sank.
Secure control of tense and grammar.
Punctuation is used creatively to create a smooth, easy rhythm.
Portrayal of characters consistent with the details provided in the passage.
A good balance of narrative and description.
If you would like some free creative writing feedback, you can send me a short narrative written for an 11 Plus exam.
I’ll then use a similar mark scheme to the one above, tailored for narrative writing and show you how to use it. I’ll even provide additional written feedback, explaining how your child can improve their continuation. All I ask in return is that you allow me to publish their writing anonymously in the next newsletter along with my feedback.
*Offer valid this week only (7.1.2026)
Best wishes,
Morgan