Task 2 · Discussion (both views) · Family
Grandparents or nurseries for young children
A childcare discussion essay in which the band 9 answer separates what a child needs from what a family can afford.
The question
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.
In some families, young children are cared for during the working day by their grandparents. Others believe that professional nurseries provide a better start. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
A 250-word discursive essay — the half of the paper that carries two thirds of the marks. This prompt is original, written in the standard format for teaching purposes — it is not taken from any past paper.
What separates the three answers
The 6.5 compares affection with education, the 7.5 compares what each setting supplies, and the 9 points out that most families are not choosing between them freely at all.
The three answers
Band 6.5
253 words (the task asks for at least 250)The answer works. It addresses the task, the reader follows it, and the meaning survives — but ideas stay general, linking is mechanical, wording repeats, and small errors are visible throughout.
The answer
Nowadays, both of the parents usually work, so somebody must look after the small children during the day. In some families the grandparents do this job, but other families prefer to send the child to the professional nursery. In this essay I will discuss the both opinions and give my own opinion.
Firstly, many people think that the grandparents are the best choice. The main reason is that they love the child very much and they will take care of him with the great attention. Also, the child feel safe because he knows his grandmother and grandfather from the birth4. Another reason is the money, because the nursery is very expensive nowadays and many young family cannot afford it. Furthermore, the grandparents can teach the traditions and the language of the family to the child.
On the other hand, some people prefer the nursery. In the nursery the staff are trained and they know how to develop the skills of the children. Moreover, the child can play with the other children of the same age, so he learn how to share and how to make the friends. This is very important for the social development. Also the nursery has the special toys and the activities3 which the grandparents do not have in the home.
In conclusion, the grandparents give the love and the nursery gives the education1. In my opinion the best solution is to use the both of them2, for example the nursery in the morning and the grandparents in the afternoon.
What an examiner notices
1. Task response
“the grandparents give the love and the nursery gives the education”
A tidy antithesis that the body never demonstrated. Grandparents also teach, and nurseries also provide affection; the sentence sounds conclusive without being argued.
2. Task response
“the best solution is to use the both of them”
A compromise proposed in the final sentence with no support from the essay, and no acknowledgement that families able to arrange both are unusually fortunate.
3. Coherence and cohesion
“Also the nursery has the special toys and the activities”
The second 'Also' in one paragraph, introducing a fourth loosely related reason. Additive linkers are substituting for development.
4. Grammatical range and accuracy
“the child feel safe because he knows his grandmother and grandfather from the birth”
Agreement error plus a preposition-and-article combination that English does not use. Both are typical, recurrent and non-obstructive.
One honest caveat
Band labels here describe what each piece of writing demonstrates against the four published assessment areas, paraphrased in plain language. They are teaching illustrations produced for this site, not official material, and no sample has been marked by a test provider. Real scripts are marked whole; two answers with the same label can still look quite different from each other, and nothing on this page can promise anyone a particular result.
Compare another question
- Task 2 · Discussion (both views)
English as a world language
A discussion essay on global English, where the band 9 answer identifies which languages are actually at risk and from what.
- Task 2 · Discussion (both views)
Getting the news from social media
A discussion essay on social platforms as a primary news source, where the band 9 answer refuses to treat the two views as equally weighted.
- Task 2 · Discussion (both views)
Mixed-ability classes or setting by ability
A schooling discussion essay in which the band 9 answer distinguishes what streaming does from how schools actually use it.