Week 2 · English Practice Paper

Reading Passage

Read the story and answer the questions. Apart from questions 12 and 13, you do not need to write in full sentences — a word or short phrase is fine.

The Runaway Kite

"I'm just popping to the shops," called Mum from the hallway.

"We're off to football practice!" shouted Dad, already halfway out of the front door.

"What about me?" I asked.

"You can tidy your room," said my brother Joe with a grin, and he dashed off after Dad.

I sat on the stairs, feeling rather sorry for myself. Everyone else had somewhere exciting to go. What could I possibly do all by myself on a Saturday morning?

Just then, something bright flashed past the window. I ran to look and saw a huge kite shaped like a dragon, its long tail flapping wildly, sailing over next door's roof with nobody chasing it. I grabbed my coat and hurried outside.

I followed the kite down our street, round the corner, and into the park. It kept swooping just out of reach. Twice I thought I had lost it completely, but then it dipped low over the duck pond and got tangled in the branches of a willow tree.

I climbed carefully onto the lowest branch and reached up. My fingers were shaking with excitement. At last I caught hold of the string and pulled the dragon kite free.

Nobody in the park seemed to know whose kite it was, so I carried it home very carefully, holding it away from my coat so I would not tear its paper scales. When Joe got back from football, he could not believe his eyes.

"That's amazing," he said. "I've never seen a kite like that before. Look how carefully it's been painted."

We made a poster and pinned it to the noticeboard outside the shop, describing exactly what the kite looked like, in case the owner came looking for it. A week later, a man from the local newspaper came to take a photograph, because nobody in our town had ever seen such an unusual, handmade kite before.

Ellie Marsh (7)