The school garden
Source A: an original account by a school cook.
The pupils brought me their first basket of beans in July. There were enough for one lunch, which was a useful beginning, but next week I still had to order vegetables for three hundred people. I would like the garden plan to include quantities, planting dates and someone to water during holidays. Children deserve to see how food reaches a whole kitchen, including the unexciting arrangements that make it reliable.
Source B: an original account by a pupil.
Our beans were crooked, and some were too tough to eat. Before we planted them, I thought a vegetable was something that appeared in a plastic bag. Now I notice how dry the soil gets and how long a flower takes to become a pod. I would be sorry if the garden grew only crops that produced the biggest harvest. The failed plants taught us things too.
What can you infer about the writers’ different priorities for the school garden? Use details from both sources.
40 exam-style questions on AQA GCSE English Language 3.1 Critical reading and comprehension, covering 3.1.1 Identify and interpret themes, ideas and information, 3.1.2 Read in different ways for different purposes, 3.1.3 Draw inferences and justify with evidence, 3.1.4 Support a point of view using textual evidence, 3.1.5 Identify bias and misuse of evidence, 3.1.6 Reflect critically and evaluatively using context, 3.1.7 Recognise different responses to a text, 3.1.8 Identify the main theme or themes, 3.1.9 Summarise ideas and information from a single text, 3.1.10 Synthesise from more than one text, 3.1.11 Explain how vocabulary and grammar create impact, 3.1.12 Analyse and evaluate form and structure, and 3.1.13 Compare texts critically. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.