Standards for Written Work

BSK students should always take pride both in the quality and presentation of their written work. It is very important that written work can be understood both by teachers, when they mark it, and by students, when they review their work each evening and use it to revise for assessments and end-of-year examinations.

To help students develop habits of presentation that will support their learning, we have some simple rules.

To see the classroom poster that summarises these rules, please click here.

Take care of your books

• Cover your Student Planner and exercise books in clear sticky plastic on the day they are issued, before they have a chance to get worn or dirty! Use extra sticky plastic to overlap the first and last pages so that the cover stays clean and does not tear off.
• Take care not to ‘doodle’ or otherwise vandalise your exercise books or planner.

Use the correct pen or pencil

• Use only dark blue or black pens. Buy pens that will not go through the paper to the other side.
• Use a sharp pencil for drawings, diagrams and graphs.
• Use colouring pencils, not crayons, felt-tip pens or markers – unless your teacher allows you.
• Highlighter pens may be used, if your teacher allows, to draw attention to key words or phrases.

Getting ready to work

• If your exercise book does not have left margins, rule them neatly. Some subjects also use top, right and/or central margins. Follow your teachers’ instructions carefully.
• Write the date at the start of each day’s work. For Science and Mathematics use the numerical form, for example: 04/09/13. In all other subjects use the written form, for example: 04 September 2013.
• Write and underline a suitable heading at the top of each section of work.
• If you are working from a textbook, always write the page and exercise numbers, so that you can refer back to the work later.

Working neatly

• Put all numbering and lettering of questions in the margin.
• Use your best handwriting and write on the lines. Take pride in your work!
• Make sensible use of space. Do not crush your work, so that it becomes hard to read. Do not space it out too much, so that you waste paper.
• Corrector fluid is not permitted in school. If you make a mistake, just rule a single line through it and then correct it.
• Always use a ruler for underlining and for any diagrams which require straight lines.

So many rules! What's in it for me?

If you follow these rules carefully, you will discover that:

• lovely neat work can be done almost as quickly as horrible messy work;
• the process of presenting work well will help you organise your thoughts and learn more easily;
• revising from neat, organised work is quicker and more effective. You will learn more, in less time.

How your teachers will help

• Your teachers will help by refusing to accept work that does not meet these standards.
• Particularly neat or well organised work can earn you an achievement housepoint.
• Failing to follow these rules is a disciplinary offence and will be logged on the behaviour database.