This week you'll write an informative article introducing the platypus to Year 7 readers. Your job is to explain what makes it so unusual and why scientists find it fascinating. Read the sample below, then answer the questions. Notice how the student makes complex ideas clear without losing the reader's interest.
Markers look for informative writing that makes a topic clear, organised, and genuinely interesting. Check each strand below to see what strong work looks like.
Structure & Cohesion
A logical order — general to specific, or aspect by aspect.
A flow like: what it is, where it lives, how it hunts, how it reproduces.
Clear topic sentences that show each new idea.
Transitions that connect each section to the next.
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Organisation: logical and easy for a new reader to follow.
Audience & Purpose
Writing aimed at Year 7 readers, not experts.
Unfamiliar terms explained, not assumed.
Fascination shared, not knowledge shown off.
No background knowledge taken for granted.
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Clarity: explaining ideas so a Year 7 reader can understand.
Conventions
Correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar throughout.
Clean writing that keeps the information feeling reliable.
Care that shows you want the reader to follow.
A finished article that reads smoothly start to finish.
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Clarity: in spelling and punctuation so the article is easy to read.
Ideas & Content
Strong writing this week opens with a striking fact — like scientists thinking the specimen was a fake — and builds from there. The sample student names the platypus as a monotreme, explains the term, and shows how it hunts by electroreception. Each fact earns its place.
What markers scan for
- An opening fact or question that grabs attention.
- Accurate information picked for what matters.
- A logical move from general to specific.
- A reader who finishes knowing why the topic is fascinating.
Score Bands
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Basic
Facts are present but not clearly organised; the reader may miss why the platypus is unusual.
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Strong
Information is accurate and well chosen; clearly organised; reader understands key unusual features.
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Excellent
Strong opening hook; accurate, interesting content; clear build; reader fully understands why the topic matters.
Student sample for assessment
Written by a Year 7 student in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
When European scientists first saw a preserved platypus specimen, they thought it was a hoax. It seemed impossible: a furry animal that laid eggs, had a bill like a duck, and could make venom. They were right to be shocked. The platypus is one of the world's strangest animals. It is one of only five monotremes — mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live babies. The other four are echidnas, found in Australia and nearby regions. The platypus is found only in eastern Australia and Tasmania. So what makes the platypus so unusual? Apart from laying eggs, the platypus has no stomach. Food goes straight from the oesophagus to the intestine, skipping the step that most mammals go through. The male platypus has venomous spurs on its hind legs — an unusual weapon for a mammal. But perhaps the most extraordinary feature is how the platypus hunts. It has about 40,000 electroreceptors in its bill. These are sensors that detect electrical signals created by the muscles and nerves of other animals. When a platypus is swimming, it closes its eyes, ears and nose. It navigates entirely by its bill, sensing where prey like freshwater shrimp are hiding. It is as if the platypus has a superpower — finding things underwater that other animals cannot see. The platypus is also a heavy eater. It can eat its own body weight in food in a single night. Baby platypuses do not suckle at nipples like other mammal babies. Instead, milk seeps through the mother's skin and pools in grooves where the babies feed. Almost every aspect of the platypus challenges what we think a mammal should be. This is why early scientists doubted their own eyes — the platypus seems designed by nature to break the rules.
