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FSCE Creative Writing: The Discovery Paper Explained
The Discovery paper: task types, marking criteria and a prompt bank
Creative Writing (the Discovery Paper)
Most FSCE schools include a creative paper — but it is only assessed for children who reach the qualifying score on the computer-marked papers. It is the tie-breaker at the top, so it deserves real preparation. (Exception: Ermysted's and Skipton Girls' have no creative writing element.)
What the task can look like
Story from a title — the official familiarisation prompt was “Into the Forest”: develop a storyline, describe the setting, use varied vocabulary and sentence structures
Sensory / descriptive poem about an everyday object
Divergent thinking — e.g. inventive alternative uses for an ordinary item
Instructional writing for an imaginary object
How it's marked
Creativity and imagination — originality is explicitly rewarded
Good structure and pace
Correct and effective spelling, punctuation and grammar
An extensive and interesting vocabulary
Varied sentence structures
Practice prompt bank (write one per week)
Story titles
– The Door in the Wall
– Lost Property
– The Night the Lights Went Out
– An Unexpected Visitor
Description & poetry
– A sensory poem about an old pair of shoes
– Describe a market using all five senses
– A poem about the sound of rain on different surfaces
– Describe the same street in summer and in winter
Divergent & instructional
– Ten surprising uses for a wooden spoon
– Instructions for operating a dream-catching machine
– A guide to caring for an invisible pet
– Redesign the school bag — explain your invention
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