Student sample for assessment
Written by a Year 6 student in Ringwood, Victoria, Australia.
Sarah had been counting down for three weeks. The Year 6 carnival. She'd trained for the relay race, convinced her team they could win, imagined the trophy on the shelf in her room. That morning she woke at six, already buzzing. She pulled on her house colours and checked the window. The sky was grey but still. By nine o'clock, the wind had started. By ten, the rain was hammering. Mrs Chen stood in the playground holding a clipboard, her hair getting flattened against her head. 'We're going to delay,' she called. The crowd groaned. Sarah felt her chest tighten. She'd been ready. She was ready. And now— By one o'clock the rain hadn't slowed. Sarah sat on the bench in the gym with her knees drawn up, watching other students play card games. Her team was scattered. Some had gone home. Sophia had texted that she thought it was cancelled. Sarah stared at her phone, willing the weather to shift, but the rain just kept drumming on the roof. Then Mr Harris appeared with a grin. 'Right, Year 6. We're doing this indoors. Relay races in the gym, backwards. Obstacle course in the hall.' Sarah's head snapped up. Backwards? The students around her started laughing. Someone cheered. Sarah felt something shift in her chest—not the excitement she'd planned for, but something stranger. Something that felt more real. She lined up with her team for the backwards relay. Her legs felt light. The whistle went and she ran, laughing when she nearly crashed into the wall, gasping when Aiden knocked into her on the handoff. They didn't win. They came third. But crossing that finish line, dizzy and grinning, Sarah realised the carnival was nothing like she'd imagined—and somehow that made it better.