Dear Parents,
As part of our English syllabus, your child will sit an English Speaking Board Exam (Grade 3 for Form 6 and Grade 4 for Form 7) which will take place within the school but be assessed by examiners sent by the E.S.B. The exams will take place just before half term and your child will be given a time and date for his exam well in advance. In class this first half of term will be devoted to preparing for this exam and your child has received a detailed explanation of exactly what is required of him/her. Each child has been given a sheet which describes exactly what will happen in the exam and we thought it might be helpful for you to read the information about the exam and the criteria used by the judges for assessment. Therefore, (with the permission of the E.S.B. board) we are reproducing the relevant pages from the official handbook in this section of the school website...

Within school we are working very hard to ensure that each pupil performs as well as possible but we would be extremely grateful if you felt able to offer a little more support at home to your child in his preparation over the next few weeks, in order to maximise his chances of achieving a good grade. This may mean ensuring that he has gathered together and brought to school all the visual aids he requires to illustrate his talk. In addition, each child should have a set of neat cards containing the bullet points for his speech but should, eventually, be able to recite the speech making minimal use of these and, instead, making eye contact with the examiner and audience (made up of his classmates). It would be extremely helpful to your child if you would listen to his talk and poem (which must be recited from memory) to ensure that both can be spoken with confidence and without the speaker "drying up" halfway through. In addition, he should practise reading aloud regularly to an adult from the pages (6 -12 pages for Form 6 and 12 - 15 pages for Form 7) he has chosen from a novel. Most (if not all) English preps between now and half term will be tasks in which he will practise for a section of the exam and this additional practice at home really does make a difference and can boost a child's confidence!

Each child will be given a date on which he will have his "dress rehearsal" at school in advance of the actual exam and it is vital that he brings to school, on that day, all his visual aids so that he can plan how and where best to display these for maximum impact on the day! He should also remember a copy of the novel from which he intends to read aloud.

We hope that this clarifies any queries you may have about this exam but will be happy to talk to anyone who may not be absolutely sure how best to help his child to give of his best on the day!

JJE Simpson, M. Wright,

To view, save or print the E.S.B. Grades 3 and 4 information pages - Click the relevant thumbnail below...
Grade 3 (Form 6)	Grade 4 (Form 7)

Dear Parents,
I thought that it might be helpful to send home some information about your child’s work in my English set so that you can support your son or daughter ( and me! ) in our common goal of improving his/her performance in English. Your child has six lessons and two preps each week. Sometimes it may be necessary to deviate from the norm but, as a general rule, your child’s six lessons in English will be divided thus…

Two lessons on a major piece of writing. After the lesson is taught, each pupil will begin his/her major piece of writing in class and will complete it for prep.

One lesson on spelling, figures of speech /grammar. Each week a group of spelling words and a “Word of the Week” and “Scots Word of the Week” will be set for prep after this lesson and tested in the next class. In addition a lesson on figures of speech and, later in the term, grammar will be taught and consolidated by means of a worksheet to be completed for prep. This worksheet will also provide space to test that the spelling words have been memorized. Finally, your child will be asked to complete a box to tell me what personal reading has been completed this week. This box should also be signed by a parent who is able to confirm that this reading has been completed. I believe that reading should be something which is enjoyable and do my best to suggest reading material to suit individual tastes but it is of enormous help to me if parents try to encourage children to undertake some reading (perhaps three or four times a week) at home as there is, unfortunately, not enough time at school for personal reading.

One lesson on Reading Passport. Your child will be given a sheet with eight tasks to complete in the course of the term in order to achieve a gold award… which should be everyone’s aim! Many of these tasks can be completed in class during the lesson devoted to Reading Passport but pupils are asked to read and discuss newspaper articles at home with an adult and your help with this task would be greatly appreciated. Pupils will also be asked to read a novel at home and, by signing the box on the Worksheet each week, you can ensure that your child is making steady progress on this task. In Form 8 it is not always possible to set aside one lesson a week for Reading Passport as there is a great deal of work to be covered in the C.E. syllabus and, therefore, sometimes poetry will be studied instead of Passport in this lesson as it forms a considerable part of the syllabus.

Two lessons on a class novel. Each term a novel or play will be read in class. There will be follow up work on this, which will be completed in class.

The English syllabus for Common Entrance is demanding and requires pupils to be familiar with a wide variety of genres. The combination of Passport and tackling a major piece of writing each week will prepare them for the papers they will eventually tackle but it is essential that each pupil focus fully in class and demand the highest standard of himself / herself in written tasks, so that he/she will be satisfied with his performance in this crucial subject.

Should you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to speak to me.

M. Wright

Dear Parents,
I thought that it might be helpful to send home some information about your child’s work in my English set so that you can support your son or daughter ( and me! ) in our common goal of improving his/her performance in English. Your child has six lessons and two preps each week.
As a general rule, your child’s six lessons in English will be divided thus...

Two lessons on a major piece of writing. After the lesson is taught, each pupil will begin his/her major piece of writing in class and will complete it for prep.

One lesson on spelling. Each week a group of spelling words will be set for prep after this lesson and tested in the next class. In addition a lesson on spelling rules will be taught and consolidated by means of a worksheet to be completed for prep. This worksheet will also provide space to test that the spelling words have been memorized. Finally, your child will be asked to complete a box to tell me what personal reading has been completed this week. This box should also be signed by a parent who is able to confirm that this reading has been completed. I believe that reading should be something which is enjoyable and do my best to suggest reading material to suit individual tastes but it is of enormous help to me if parents try to encourage children to undertake some reading (perhaps three or four times a week) at home as there is, unfortunately, not enough time at school for personal reading.

One lesson on Reading Passport. Your child will be given a sheet with eight tasks to complete in the course of the term in order to achieve a gold award… which should be everyone’s aim! Many of these tasks can be completed in class during the lesson devoted to Reading Passport but pupils are asked to read and discuss newspaper articles at home with an adult and your help with this task would be greatly appreciated. Pupils will also be asked to read a novel at home and, by signing the box on the Worksheet each week, you can ensure that your child is making steady progress on this task.

Two lessons on a class novel. Each term a novel or play will be read in class. There will be follow up work on this, which will be completed in class.

Later this term (after exams) as we did last year, your child will write the speech he/she will give on a subject of personal interest for the English Speaking Board exam which will be undertaken in May. It is good for each pupil to think hard about the topic he/she wishes to choose as visual aids are required and sometimes it is necessary to visit a place or write to an organization to acquire these sometime in advance. I will talk to the children about the kind of topics which might be worth considering for this exam.

Should you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to speak to me.

M.Wright

Dear Parents,
I thought that it might be helpful to send home some information about your child’s work in my English set so that you can support your son or daughter ( and me! ) in our common goal of improving his/her performance in English. Your child has six lessons and two preps each week. As a general rule, your child’s six lessons in English will be divided thus…

Two lessons on a major piece of writing. After the lesson is taught, each pupil will begin his/her major piece of writing in class and will complete it for prep.

One lesson on spelling and punctuation. Each week a group of spelling words will be set for prep after this lesson and tested in the next class. In addition a lesson on punctuation will be taught and consolidated by means of a worksheet to be completed for prep. This worksheet will also provide space to test that the spelling words have been memorized. Finally, your child will be asked to complete a box to tell me what personal reading has been completed this week. This box should also be signed by a parent who is able to confirm that this reading has been completed. I believe that reading should be something which is enjoyable and do my best to suggest reading material to suit individual tastes but it is of enormous help to me if parents try to encourage children to undertake some reading (perhaps three or four times a week) at home as there is, unfortunately, not enough time at school for personal reading.

One lesson on Reading Passport. Your child will be given a sheet with eight tasks to complete in the course of the term in order to achieve a gold award… which should be everyone’s aim! Many of these tasks can be completed in class during the lesson devoted to Reading Passport but pupils are asked to read and discuss newspaper articles at home with an adult and your help with this task would be greatly appreciated. Pupils will also be asked to read a novel at home and, by signing the box on the Worksheet each week, you can ensure that your child is making steady progress on this task.

Two lessons on a class novel. Each term a novel or play will be read in class. There will be follow up work on this, which will be completed in class.

Later this term (after exams) your child will write the speech he/she will give on a subject of personal interest for the English Speaking Board exam which will be undertaken in May. It is good for each pupil to think hard about the topic he/she wishes to choose as visual aids are required and sometimes it is necessary to visit a place or write to an organization to acquire these sometime in advance. I will talk to the children about the kind of topics which might be worth considering for this exam.

Should you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to speak to me.

M Wright