Sutton Stage 2 English: boys’ test and girls’ NWSSEE
The second stages are written English and maths. The girls' NWSSEE English paper is composition, with no comprehension paper. The boys' paper mixes written answers, so prepare for your child's route.
Which second stage?
| Schools | Route | Papers |
|---|---|---|
| Sutton Grammar, Wilson’s, Wallington County | Shared boys’ second stage | Written English and maths, 45 to 60 minutes each |
| Nonsuch and Wallington Girls | Joint NWSSEE | English composition and maths, 40 to 50 minutes each. Pass both. |
A composition task
Write about a time a character has to change a plan. Before writing, decide what they want, what interrupts the plan and what they do next.
Worked example Make the change visible
A first draft says: “We were going to the park but it rained so we stayed in. It was fun.” How could the writer develop the turning point?
Answer: Show one decision: “Mum put the picnic basket by the door. I pulled the blanket into the living room and spread it beneath the table.”
The trap: Adding “very, very fun” repeats an opinion. An action gives the reader something to picture.
- Answer the exact prompt.
- Give the scene a clear order and ending.
- Start a new paragraph when the focus changes.
- Check sentences and tense last.
Final answers count
NWSSEE maths marks only the final answer. Write it clearly, and keep enough working to check.
Choosing help
If writing is the gap, ask any tutor to show feedback on one paragraph: what is unclear and how to fix it.
Which sitting is still ahead?
Boys and girls sit different second stages on different days.
- Girls' NWSSEE (Nonsuch, Wallington Girls)Saturday 26 September 2026.Practise this route's task, timed, then mark it with the checklist.
- Boys' shared second stage (Sutton Grammar, Wilson's, Wallington County)Saturday 3 October 2026.Practise this route's task, timed, then mark it with the checklist.
Boys' shared second stage: practice task
Written answers, 45 minutes to an hour. This task practises reading and writing.
Boys' second-stage English task
Boys' second stage: a short reading and a story
Read the passage, answer the two questions in full sentences, then write the story. The schools say each written paper lasts around 45 minutes to an hour, so try the whole task against one of those clocks.
The spare key
[1]Every Saturday, Mr Okafor left the spare key to the allotment shed under a flat grey stone. Jonah had watched him do it for three summers without once being trusted to use it himself.
[2]This Saturday the stone was bare. Jonah lifted it twice, as if the key might be hiding underneath the underneath. Through the shed window he could see the watering cans lined up on their shelf, exactly where he had left them. The beans along the fence had begun to droop.
[3]He could climb the fence and fill the cans from the trough on the other side. It would take ten minutes. It would also mean walking across Mrs Patel's plot, and Mrs Patel had once shouted at a pigeon for landing on her cabbages.
[4]Jonah knocked on her gate instead. She listened without smiling, then disappeared into her own shed and came back with a battered green hose. "It reaches," she said. "It has always reached. Nobody ever asks."
[5]By the time Mr Okafor arrived, the beans were standing straight again and the hose was coiled neatly by the fence. He looked at it for a long moment. On the following Saturday there were two keys under the stone.
Why does Jonah decide not to climb the fence? Use evidence from paragraph 3.
What does the last sentence suggest about how Mr Okafor now sees Jonah? Explain how the writer shows this without saying it directly.
Write a story in which a character has to ask someone for help they would rather not ask for. Show why asking is hard, and what changes afterwards.
Plan for a few minutes first.
0 words
Girls' NWSSEE: practice composition
A 40 to 50 minute composition in a set form.
NWSSEE composition task
Girls' NWSSEE: a composition in a set form
The NWSSEE English paper is a composition, with no comprehension. Write in the form the task asks for. The FAQ warns that pieces learned by heart which do not address the form or task score no marks.
Write a diary entry by someone who has just spent their first day helping at a busy place: a café, a library, a farm, or a place of your choice. Include one moment that did not go to plan, and what they learned from it.
Plan for a few minutes first.
0 words
Questions parents ask
What is in the Sutton boys' second stage English paper?
A written English paper of 45 minutes to an hour, based on Key Stage 2.
Can my daughter learn an NWSSEE composition by heart?
No. Prepared pieces that ignore the set task score nothing.
Is working marked in the NWSSEE maths paper?
No. Only the final answer is marked.
Try the free Sutton SET lesson
After a timed piece, improve one sentence.
Sutton SET Pro
Get a SET school offer, or money back
£459 once
Price rises to £599 on 1 January. Save £140 by joining before then.
No VAT is charged. Conditions