Toast

Secondary 

National Strategy 

Guidance 

Curriculum and 

Standards 

Toast 

Year 9 reading task 

Teacher pack 

English subject 

leaders and 

teachers of 

English 

Status: Recommended 

Date of issue: 01-2006 

Ref: DfES 1789-2005 CDO-EN 

Assessing pupils’ progress in English at 

Key Stage 3

Toast 

Year 9 reading task 

Framework objectives 

Reading 7 

Compare the presentation of ideas, values or emotions in related or 

contrasting texts. 

Reading 11 

Analyse how an author’s standpoint can affect meaning in the literary texts. 

Assessment focuses 

AF2 Understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas 

from texts and use quotation and reference to text. 

AF3 Deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts. 

AF4 Identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, 

including grammatical and presentational features at text level. 

AF5 Explain and comment on writers’ use of language, including 

grammatical and literary features at word and sentence level. 

AF6 Identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints, and the 

overall effect of the text on the reader. 

Time needed 

Two consecutive one-hour lessons. Timings will need to be adapted if lessons 

are longer or shorter than 60 minutes. 

These timings are estimates for guidance rather than obligatory timings. 

The most important consideration is that pupils should have sufficient time to 

complete the task, working independently. Unfinished tasks are unlikely to 

produce evidence on all the assessment focuses. 

Teachers may adjust the timings for the task to take account of their particular 

circumstances, but should bear in mind that spending overmuch time on any 

section may disadvantage pupils. 

Pack includes 

Teacher notes 

OHT 1 – food cards 

OHT 2 – extract from Pommes Dauphinoise for shared reading 

Pages 2–10 of reading booklet 

Pages of answer booklet 

Marking guidelines 

Exemplar responses 

Task outline 

This task requires pupils to read and respond to sections of four chapters 

from Nigel Slater’s autobiography Toast. Pommes Dauphinoise is used as 

a class text for shared reading and exploration of early ideas. Toast 1 and the 

first section of Christmas Cake are studied together to bridge ideas, while the 

rest of the text and Smoked Haddock are studied by pupils independently. 

2 Secondary National Strategy | Assessing pupils’ progress in © Crown copyright 2006 

English at Key Stage 3 

DfES 1789-2005 CDO-EN

Teacher notes 

Teaching sequence 

LESSON 1 

■ Share the learning objectives with the class, rephrasing as appropriate for 

the group. 

Introduction (15 minutes) 

■ Tell pupils that they are about to read some chapters from Nigel Slater’s 

autobiography Toast. Draw out knowledge of him as a celebrity chef – 

his reputation for uncomplicated cooking. Compare him to other known 

celebrity chefs. 

■ Ask pupils why they think people write autobiographies. 

■ Explain that Nigel Slater was brought up in the 1960s in Wolverhampton. 

His mother died when he was young and Nigel was brought up by his 

father and then by his stepmother. Although he was often alone after his 

mother’s death and left to make his own meals, he writes about his 

experiences with humour and compassion. For Nigel Slater, food becomes 

a comforting and significant friend. 

You may wish to introduce some of this autobiographical information (which is 

relevant to the texts in this task) at the start, or draw it out as appropriate 

during the reading of the four chapters. 

■ 

Display OHT 1 (page 2 of the reading booklet), which names and describes 

some of the dishes from the chapter Pommes Dauphinoise. (This does 

not need to be cut up into cards.) Tell pupils that all these dishes are 

mentioned in the text they are about to read. 

This activity should be very quick and is designed to make the text accessible 

by establishing some of the ways in which food is made to sound delicious. 

■ 

Ask pupils to: 

1. circle any foods they know 

2. underline the foods they can work out in pairs by exploring language 

more closely – for example by examining parts of words they know 

3. find two dishes they want to find out more about. 

Pernod – an alcoholic drink made with aniseed 

Veal paupiette – thin slice of veal, rolled and stuffed with olives 

■ 

Take quick feedback, drawing attention to the way some dishes are made 

vivid through use of colourful adjectives/comparisons. 

© Crown copyright 2006 Secondary National Strategy | Assessing pupils’ progress in 

DfES 1789-2005 CDO-EN English at Key Stage 3 

3

Shared reading – Pommes Dauphinoise (20 minutes) 

■ Hand out the pupil reading booklet and ask pupils to locate Pommes 

Dauphinoise. Although this is the final text in the pupil reading booklet, it 

will be studied first. Explain that in this chapter Nigel Slater narrates an 

episode when he was in his last year at catering college. He was probably 

about 20 and full of ideas for his future life as a chef. 

■ Read Pommes Dauphinoise to pupils and ask them to be alert to the way 

Slater describes the foods they have just looked at. 

■ Display OHT 2 (page 3 of the reading booklet) and lead a short focused 

session on the passage on Thornbury Castle. Ask pupils to look at the way 

the writer uses descriptions of food to reflect Nigel’s growing passion for 

food and his discovery of pommes dauphinoise. On the OHT, highlight 

words and phrases that alert the senses to smell, texture, sight and taste, 

for example: 

– Tiny beads of condensation frosting the outside 

– Fat olives the colour of a bruise 

– Dark, sticky sauce 

– Comforting, soothing and fragrant 

– Anchovy puffs arrived fresh from the oven 

– Subtlest hint of garlic…as if it had floated in on a breeze. 

■ Draw out the significance of the chapter title. Ask pupils why they think the 

discovery might have been so important to Nigel: 

– It is a simple, comforting dish containing only two ingredients and may 

remind him of the simple foods of his childhood 

– The phrase “then something came along that was to change everything” 

implies that the discovery may have influenced him as a chef in the 

years to follow. 

Development (20 minutes) 

■ Introduce the two chapters Toast 1 and Christmas Cake. Explain that 

these chapters come earlier on in Nigel Slater’s book and tell us a great 

deal about his mother. Read up to “having to be filled with marzipan”. 

■ Ask pupils to think about the connections between these texts and the last 

text. Ask pupils to turn to page 4 in their reading booklet and draw their 

attention to the prompts in the left-hand column. 

■ Ask pupils to read the remaining part of Christmas Cake from “Forget 

scented candles…” to “…lawn for the birds” and to complete the grid 

in pairs. 

Plenary (5 minutes) 

■ Agree three key points from the completed grids and write up on the board 

or flipchart for the next lesson: 

1. The way the writer appeals to our senses 

2. The way the writer links food and cooking to memory and feelings – 

especially to his mother and father 

3. The humour of his observations – of people and events. 




LESSON 2 

■ Remind pupils of the learning objectives for these two lessons. 

Introduction (5 minutes) 

■ Use flipchart, display board or OHT from previous lesson to remind pupils 

of the key ideas from Lesson 1: 

1. The way the writer appeals to our senses 

2. The way the writer links food and cooking to memory and feelings – 

especially to his mother and father 

3. The humour of his observations – of people and events. 

■ Explain that they will be asked to respond to the rest of the text on their 

own and that these key ideas will be an important focus for their reading. 

Shared session (10 minutes) 

■ Demonstrate how to respond to a question which requires a longer 

answer, reminding pupils that the PEE model will be useful. 

This is best done through modelling an answer. Pupils working towards level 6 

may benefit from being shown a more flexible approach towards the PEE 

model, as the example below shows. 

Question: What impression does Nigel Slater give of his parents in the first 

section of Christmas Cake? 

Answer: Nigel Slater states that his mother was not a very good cook – she 

was a “chops-and-peas sort of cook” (Point and Evidence). His father tried to 

inspire her by making her a special gadget for her mixer but she was obviously 

overwhelmed by it and swore every time it appeared (Point and Evidence)! 

Nigel and his father seem keen for her to be more creative in the kitchen but 

she is clearly not particularly interested in cooking (Explanation). 

Independent response – Questions 1–3 (20 minutes) 

■ Remind pupils that although they have already read Toast 1 and 

Christmas Cake they should now take the opportunity to read them again 

independently. They should think about the three key ideas displayed on 

the board or flipchart and, specifically, on the way the writer links food to 

memory and his feelings about his mother; his sense of humour; and his 

descriptions of food and people. 

■ Pupils should be encouraged to highlight important sections of the text as 

they read, especially those which relate to the three key ideas. 

This is intended to support pupils and focus their reading. Do not read the text 

for pupils. This is intended to be an independent activity leading into the first 

set of questions in the pupil answer booklet. 

■ 

Briefly show pupils how to use the answer booklet. Ask them to complete 

Questions 1 to 3, explaining that these questions are all about Toast 1 and 

Christmas Cake. 



5

Independent response – Questions 4–7 (25 minutes) 

■ Introduce the last chapter in the sequence – Smoked Haddock – in which 

Nigel Slater’s attention turns to his father. 

■ Pupils should spend the remaining part of the lesson reading Smoked 

Haddock and completing Questions 4 to 7. Point out that Question 7 

requires them to think across all four chapters. 

These are not test conditions so prompt pupils if necessary (e.g. to write 

more, to explain themselves more clearly). Do not, however, provide support 

that means that the pupils are no longer responding to the text independently. 

If this kind of support is necessary for an individual pupil in the context of the 

lesson, you will need to take the degree of support into account when making 

the assessment judgement. 

It is good practice to: 

■ tell pupils if they have not written enough or are writing too much; 

■ prompt them to explain their answer more clearly; 

■ generally encourage them through praise; 

■ clarify a question or issue for the whole class if there seems to be a fairly 

general misunderstanding 

■ remind pupils how much time they have to complete the task. 

Assessment 

■ Use the marking guidelines to judge the pupils’ overall levels on the 

specified assessment focuses. Highlight, then tick, the sections of the 

marking guidelines according to the features you find and then consider 

whether the weight of evidence is at secure or low level 4, 5 or 6. 

■ Exemplar responses for each question at every level are also included for 

reference and to give guidance on how the criteria are to be applied. 




OHT 1/Page 2 of reading booklet 

Food cards 

honeydew melon 

wonderful, fat 

golden chips 

slices of home-made 

ginger cake 

little anchovy puffs 

fresh from the oven 

salmon with dill sauce 

chicken liver pâté 

fat olives the colour 

of a bruise 

onion soup 

chicken baked with 

Pernod and cream 

lamb with rosemary 

and apricots 

veal paupiette the size 

of a Cornish pasty 

and with dark, sticky 

sauce flecked with 

matchsticks of tongue, 

parsley and gherkins 

pommes dauphinoise – 

potatoes thinly sliced 

and baked in cream 

with the subtlest hint 

of garlic 



7

OHT 2/Page 3 of reading booklet 

Extract from Pommes Dauphinoise for shared reading 

White wine came in tall glasses with long, thin stems, 

tiny beads of condensation frosting the outside; little 

anchovy puffs arrived fresh from the oven with a dish of 

fat olives the colour of a bruise. We sat on chairs at either 

side of the fireplace, admiring the tapestries, the jugs of 

lilies and the polished panelling. The handwritten menu 

offered familiar things: chicken liver pâté and onion 

soup, but also things that were new to me: chicken baked 

with Pernod and cream, salmon with dill sauce, and lamb 

with rosemary and apricots. I chose chicken with tarragon 

sauce. Andy had the veal paupiette, which arrived the 

size of a Cornish pasty and with a dark, sticky sauce 

flecked with matchsticks of tongue, parsley and gherkins. 

The food was like that Joe Yates had talked of, food from 

another world. 

Then something came along that was to change 

everything. It was the simplest food imaginable, yet so 

perfect, so comforting, soothing and fragrant. The dish 

contained only two ingredients. Potatoes, which were 

thinly sliced and baked in cream. There was the subtlest 

hint of garlic, barely present, as if it had floated in on a 

breeze. That pommes dauphinoise, or to give its correct 

titIe pommes à Ia dauphinoise, was quite simply the most 

wonderfuI thing I had ever tasted in my life, more 

wonderful than Mum’s flapjacks, Joan’s lemon meringue, 

and a thousand miles away from anything I had made 

at college. 




Page 4 of reading booklet 

Explore connections between the three texts by filling in the grid. 

What is the chapter title? 

Pommes Dauphinoise Toast 1 Christmas Cake 

How old is the narrator? 

About 20? He’s at catering 

college. 

What do we know about 

his family? 

What is his interest in food 

and cooking? 

The way he appeals to 

our senses? 

He describes an early memory 

of his mother burning toast. 

His description of hot 

buttered toast shows that he 

was already interested in 

food. 

What do we notice about 

his sense of humour? 

He mimics the person 

ordering tea at the seaside 

hotels (four-coffees-withcream-and-four-slices-ofcoffee-cake-if-you-would). 



9


Text 

Toast 1 

My mother is scraping a piece of burned toast out of the kitchen window, a crease 

of annoyance across her forehead. This is not an occasional occurrence, a once-in-awhile 

hiccup in a busy mother’s day. My mother burns the toast as surely as the sun 

rises each morning. In fact, I doubt if she has ever made a round of toast in her life 

that failed to fill the kitchen with plumes of throat-catching smoke. I am nine now 

and have never seen butter without black bits in it. 

It is impossible not to love someone who makes toast for you. People’s failings, 

even major ones such as when they make you wear short trousers to school, fall into 

insignificance as your teeth break through the rough, toasted crust and sink into the 

doughy cushion of white bread underneath. Once the warm, salty butter has hit 

your tongue, you are smitten. Putty in their hands. 





Christmas Cake 

Mum never was much of a cook. Meals arrived on the table as much by happy 

accident as by domestic science. She was a chops-and-peas sort of a cook, 

occasionally going so far as to make a rice pudding, exasperated by the highs and 

lows of a temperamental cream-and-black Aga and a finicky little son. She found it 

all a bit of an ordeal, and wished she could have left the cooking, like the washing, 

ironing and dusting, to Mrs P., her ‘woman what does’. 

Once a year there were Christmas puddings and cakes to be made. They were 

made with neither love nor joy. They simply had to be done. ‘I suppose I had better 

DO THE CAKE,’ she would sigh. The food mixer – she was not the sort of woman to 

use her hands – was an ancient, heavy Kenwood that lived in a deep, secret hole in 

the kitchen work surface. My father had, in a rare moment of do-it-yourselfery, 

fitted a heavy industrial spring under the mixer so that when you lifted the lid to 

the cupboard the mixer slowly rose like a corpse from a coffin. All of which was 

slightly too much for my mother, my father’s quaint Heath Robinson craftsmanship 

taking her by surprise every year, the huge mixer bouncing up like a jack-in-the-box 

and making her clap her hands to her chest. ‘Oh heck!’ she would gasp. It was the 

nearest my mother ever got to swearing… 

However much she hated making the cake we both loved the sound of the raw 

cake mixture falling into the tin. ‘Shhh, listen to the: cake mixture,’ she would say, 

and the two of us would listen to the slow plop of the dollops of fruit and butter 

and sugar falling into the paper-lined cake tin. The kitchen would be warmer than 

usual and my mother would have that I’ve-just-baked-a-cake glow. Oh, put the gram 

on, will you, dear? Put some carols on,’ she would say as she put the cake in the top 

oven of the Aga. Carols or not, it always sank in the middle. The embarrassing 

hollow, sometimes as deep as your fist, having to be filled in with marzipan. 



11


Forget scented candles and freshly brewed coffee. Every home should smell of 

baking Christmas cake. That, and warm freshly ironed tea towels hanging on the rail 

in front of the Aga. It was a pity we had Auntie Fanny living with us. Her 

incontinence could take the edge off the smell of a chicken curry, let alone a baking 

cake. No matter how many mince pies were being made, or pine logs burning in the 

grate, or how many orange-and-clove pomanders my mother had made, there was 

always the faintest whiff of Auntie Fanny. 

Warm sweet fruit, a cake in the oven, woodsmoke, warm ironing, hot retriever 

curled up by the Aga, mince pies, Mum’s 4711. Every child’s Christmas memories 

should smell like that. Mine did. It is a pity that there was always a passing breeze of 

ammonia. 

Cake holds a family together. I really believed it did. My father was a different 

man when there was a cake in the house. Warm. The sort of man I wanted to hug 

rather than shy away from. If he had a plate of cake in his hand I knew it would be 

all right to climb up on to his lap. There was something about the way my mother 

put a cake on the table that made me feel that all was well. Safe. Secure. 

Unshakeable. Even when she got to the point where she carried her Ventolin inhaler 

in her left hand all the time. Unshakeable. Even when she and my father used to go 

for long walks, walking ahead of me and talking in hushed tones and he would 

come back with tears in his eyes. 

When I was eight my mother’s annual attempt at icing the family Christmas 

cake was handed over to me. ‘I’ve had enough of this lark, dear, you’re old enough 

now.’ She had started to sit down a lot. I made only marginally less of a mess than 

she did, but at least I didn’t cover the table, the floor, the dog with icing sugar. To 

be honest, it was a relief to get it out of her hands. I followed the Slater house style 

of snowy peaks brought up with the flat of a knife and a red ribbon. Even then I 

wasn’t one to rock the boat. The idea behind the wave effect of her icing was simply 

to hide the fact that her attempt at covering the cake in marzipan resembled 

nothing more than an unmade bed. Folds and lumps, creases and tears. A few 

patches stuck on with a bit of apricot jam. 

I knew I could have probably have flat-iced a cake to perfection, but to have 

done so would have hurt her feelings. So waves it was. There was also a chipped 

Father Christmas, complete with a jagged lump of last year’s marzipan round his 

feet, and the dusty bristle tree with its snowy tips of icing. I drew the line at the 

fluffy yellow Easter chick. 

Baking a cake for your family to share, the stirring of cherries, currants, raisins, 

peel and brandy, brown sugar, butter, eggs and flour, for me the ultimate symbol of 

a mother’s love for her husband and kids, was reduced to something that ‘simply has 

to be done’. Like cleaning the loo or polishing the shoes. My mother knew nothing 

of putting glycerine in with the sugar to keep the icing soft, so her rock-hard cake 

was always the butt of jokes for the entire Christmas. My father once set about it 

with a hammer and chisel from the shed. So the sad, yellowing cake sat round until 

about the end of February, the dog giving it the occasional lick as he passed, until it 

was thrown, much to everyone’s relief, on to the lawn for the birds. 





Smoked haddock 

I may have rolled the pastry for a mince pie or fingered the butter, flour and sugar 

crust for a crumble, but at nine years old I had yet to cook an entire meal. My 

cooking had been confined to things I could do unsupervised, safe things. So 

protective had my mother been of her son’s precious fingers I had yet to turn an 

oven on or light the gas… 

Since my mother had gone, my father’s evening meals had been an almost 

steady stream of toasted cheese and Cadbury’s MiniRolls. He had his pipe, of course, 

but I wasn’t sure if that constituted a meal or not. He would come in, weary and 

smelling of oil, and then fiddle around making my tea. Every meal was seasoned 

with guilt. His. Mine. ‘You might at least do the plates.’ He said it just once. From 

then on I washed up after every meal, standing on a stool to reach into the deep 

steel sink. 

I was never sure if he expected me to make my own tea as well. There was 

nothing said. Just his disappointment hanging in the air like a deflated Yorkshire 

pudding. His favourite meal – tripe and onions – was a recipe known only to him. 

His way with the venous and quivering sheets of blubber was a mystery I had no 

intention of unravelling. Smoked haddock, his runner-up, held no such trepidation. 

It looked as easy as making a cup of tea. 

If a boy saves his pocket money up for three days he can buy enough smoked 

haddock to feed a tired and hungry man. My savings weren’t quite enough, I was a 

few pennies short, but the man in MacFisheries gave it to me anyway. ‘It goes under 

the grill, doesn’t it?’ He came round to the front of the counter and put his arm 

around my shoulders. He told me to warm the grill first, to rub some butter on the fish 

and cook it for about ten minutes. Then he warned me not to get fancy with it. He led 

me out of the shop, still with his arm around me. ‘He’ll enjoy that, your dad.’… 

A fillet of smoked haddock takes about five minutes to cook under a domestic 

grill. You rub it with butter, shake over some black pepper, but no salt, and let the 

flames do the rest. 

The haddock lies saffron yellow under the grill. The butter glistens on the fat 

flakes of fish. All is plump, sweet and juicy. It never looked like this when Mum 

cooked it. 

Where is he? He is always here by six o’clock. It’s now ten past. I cut two slices 

of bread and butter them. I have never known him eat more. Twenty past, half past. 

Where is he? The haddock is starting to curl up at the edges. The butter has set to a 

grainy slime, the fish is now dull with a milky residue that has trickled down and 

into the grillpan. 

The fish is turning the colour of a pair of old stockings, the edges have buckled 

like a dead frog in the sun. My father’s beloved smoked haddock is stone cold. 

I hear the purr of my father’s new Humber in the driveway. His fish looks more 

like roadkill than supper. Perhaps I should just chuck it in the bin so he won’t know. 

Then he wouldn’t feel bad about being late. But the pong hanging in the kitchen will 

give me away. Damn Auntie Fanny, if she hadn’t just died I could blame her. 



13


My father comes in, his face a bit red, his hair newly cut. Aftershave. His piece 

of fish is now on the table, sandwiched between two glass plates. ‘Where have you 

been? It’s ruined.’ 

‘No it’s not, it’s just how I like it.’ 

As he sits down and starts to eat I leave the room. It was supposed to be such 

a treat. Why be late tonight of all nights? He hasn’t had smoked haddock for tea 

since Mummy died. Suddenly, the tears come from nowhere, they just well up. A 

great hot wave. Later, I walk into the kitchen to see if he has finished. He is sitting 

with his head in his hands. He’s crying. 





Pommes Dauphinoise 

When my father was alive our eating out had been confined to the Berni Inn in 

Hereford. We usually skipped starters (I think we once had the honeydew melon but 

Joan said it wasn’t ripe) and went straight to steak, fat ones that came on an oval 

plate with grilled tomatoes, onion rings, fried mushrooms and wonderful, fat golden 

chips. We drank lemonade and lime except for Joan who had a Tio Pepe, and then 

had ice cream for afters. Sometimes my aunt would take me to the Gay Tray in 

Rackham’s store in Birmingham where we would queue up with our gay trays and 

choose something hot from the counter, poached egg on toast for her, Welsh rarebit 

and chips for me. There had been the odd afternoon tea taken in seaside hotels 

(two-toasted-teacakes-and-a-pot-of-tea-for-two, please) and tea taken at garden 

centres (four-coffees-with-cream-and-four-slices-of-coffee-cake, if you would) and, 

once, a memorable tea eaten in Devon with slices of home-made ginger cake, 

scones, cream and little saucers of raspberry jam. But that was it really. Eating out 

was something other people did… 

During his last year at catering college, Nigel meets Andy Parffrey. 

They become friends and Andy introduces Nigel to new foods and new 

restaurants, one of which is Thornbury Castle… 

White wine came in tall glasses with long, thin stems, tiny beads of 

condensation frosting the outside; little anchovy puffs arrived fresh from the oven 

with a dish of fat olives the colour of a bruise. We sat on chairs at either side of the 

fireplace, admiring the tapestries, the jugs of lilies and the polished panelling. The 

handwritten menu offered familiar things: chicken liver pâté and onion soup, but 

also things that were new to me: chicken baked with Pernod and cream, salmon 

with dill sauce, and lamb with rosemary and apricots. I chose chicken with tarragon 

sauce. Andy had the veal paupiette, which arrived the size of a Cornish pasty and 

with a dark, sticky sauce flecked with matchsticks of tongue, parsley and gherkins. 

The food was like that Joe Yates had talked of, food from another world. 

Then something came along that was to change everything. It was the simplest 

food imaginable, yet so perfect, so comforting, soothing and fragrant. The dish 

contained only two ingredients. Potatoes, which were thinly sliced and baked in 

cream. There was the subtlest hint of garlic, barely present, as if it had floated in on 

a breeze. That pommes dauphinoise, or to give its correct titIe pommes à Ia 

dauphinoise, was quite simply the most wonderfuI thing I had ever tasted in my life, 

more wonderful than Mum’s flapjacks, Joan’s lemon meringue, and a thousand miles 

away from anything I had made at college. 

© 2003 Nigel Slater 

Reproduced by permission of Lucas Alexander Whitley Ltd on behalf of HarperCollins Publishers 



15

Question 1 is about Toast 1 

1. What do we learn from these two paragraphs about the writer’s mother and his 

feelings for her? Make two points and support each one with a short quotation (AF2). 

(Try to use a PEE answer.) 

What we learn about his mother: 

What we learn about his feelings for her: 

Questions 2 and 3 are about Christmas Cake 

2. Re-read the paragraph beginning “Cake holds a family together”, in which the writer 

suggests for the first time that his mother is ill (AF6): 

Cake holds a family together. I really believed it did. My father was a different man 

when there was a cake in the house. Warm. The sort of man I wanted to hug rather 

than shy away from. If he had a plate of cake in his hand I knew it would be all right 

to climb up on to his lap. There was something about the way my mother put a cake 

on the table that made me feel that all was well. Safe. Secure. Unshakeable. Even when 

she got to the point where she carried her Ventolin inhaler in her left hand all the time. 

Unshakeable. Even when she and my father used to go for long walks, walking ahead 

of me and talking in hushed tones and he would come back with tears in his eyes. 

Why does the writer use the underlined words and what is their effect? 

Note to pupils: these words have been underlined here to help you. They were not 

underlined in the original text. 




3. The writer brings his memories to life by appealing to our senses – of sight, sound, 

smell, touch and taste. An example has been given below to help you. 

Choose another example from either sound or smell and complete the grid (AF5). 

Example 

“her attempt at covering the cake in 

marzipan resembled nothing more than 

an unmade bed” 

Example: 

How this appeals to our senses 

This appeals to our sense of sight, by 

helping us to see the cake as a messy, 

unmade bed. The marzipan on the top of 

the cake must have looked like messy, 

crumpled sheets, not smooth and flat as it 

should have been. 

This appeals to our sense of _____________ 

by… 

Question 4 is about Christmas Cake and Smoked Haddock 

4. From your reading of these two chapters, what might we infer about when and how 

the writer’s mother died? Explain how we know this (AF3). 



17

Questions 5 and 6 are about Smoked Haddock, in which Nigel cooks supper 

for his father 

5. Explain how the writer’s choice of words shows how Nigel and his father are feeling? 

One example has been done to help you (AF5). 

Example 

Explain how the writer’s choice of 

words shows us how Nigel and his 

father are feeling 

“Every meal was seasoned with guilt” 

The use of the word “guilt” instead of salt 

and pepper makes us feel that every meal 

was uncomfortable for both of them. 

“Just his disappointment hanging in the 

air like a deflated Yorkshire pudding” 

“His fish looks more like roadkill than 

supper” 

6. Read the end of the chapter again from “The haddock lies saffron yellow under the 

grill” to “He’s crying”. 

In your own words, explain why you think Nigel Slater chose to end the chapter in this 

way. How does he want the reader to feel (AF6)? 




Question 7 is about all four chapters: Pommes Dauphinoise, Toast 1, 

Christmas Cake and Smoked Haddock 

7. These four chapters come from a much larger autobiography. 

What do you notice about the way the chapters are arranged in the book? 

You should write about (AF4): 

■ the chapter titles 

■ the order of the chapters 

■ how the rest of the book might be organised. 



19

Marking guidelines – Year 9 task – Toast 

Pupil name ............................................................................................ Form ................................. Date ............................... 

AF2 – understand, describe, select or 

retrieve information, events or ideas from 

texts and use quotation and reference to 

text. 

L6 In Q1, pupils clearly identify two relevant 

points and support them with an apt 

quotation and further elaboration, e.g. he 

loves his mother even though she burns 

the toast as it says “it is impossible not to 

love someone who makes toast for you”. 

This shows that he sees the toast as an 

act of love from his mother. 

AF3 – deduce, infer or interpret 

information, events or ideas from texts. 

In Q4, inference based on all/most of 

available evidence, with some linking 

developed comment. Pupils make specific 

reference to his mother’s breathlessness, 

e.g. carried her Ventolin inhaler all the time 

and had started to sit down a lot. Stronger 

answers may also refer to his parents’ 

hushed conversations and his father’s 

tears, which imply that they knew how 

serious her condition was. 

AF4 – identify and comment on the 

structure and organisation of texts, 

including grammatical and presentational 

features at text level. 

In Q7, comments explore the way the 

structural choices support the writer’s 

theme or purpose, e.g. the chapters 

progress from simple toast and cake to 

exotic dishes such as pommes 

dauphinoise as the writer develops his 

cookery skills. Stronger answers may 

comment on ‘Toast 1’ and suggest that 

other chapters may include ‘Toast 2’ etc. 

and link this to the title of the text as a 

whole. 

AF5 – explain and comment on writers’ 

use of language, including grammatical 

and literary features at word and sentence 

level. 

In Q3, pupils provide an appropriate 

example linked to the sense of sound or 

smell, e.g. “slow plop of the dollops of fruit 

and butter and sugar…” or “faintest whiff of 

Auntie Fanny”. Comments are developed 

with some explanation of the details of the 

language used and its effects, using 

technical language where appropriate, e.g. 

onomatopoeia or humour, e.g. “the faintest 

whiff of Auntie Fanny” creates humour as it 

contrasts strongly with the lovely smells of 

home cooking. Like “passing breeze of 

ammonia”, the smell of Auntie Fanny is 

always lingering in the background. 

In Q5, developed comments explain how 

the writer’s language choices contribute to 

the overall effect on the reader, e.g. the 

way he compares the haddock to a dead 

animal in the road emphasises how Nigel’s 

attempt to please his dad has gone so 

badly wrong for both of them. 

L5 In Q1, pupils identify two relevant points 

and support them with a relevant 

quotation, e.g. His mother is not a good 

cook as it says “my mother burns the toast 

as surely as the sun rises”. 

In Q4, inference based on several pieces 

of evidence and some developed 

comment, e.g. that she died when he was 

between eight and nine years old and 

probably died of an illness, perhaps 

referring to her Ventolin inhaler or that she 

had started to sit down a lot. 

In Q7, comments show some general 

awareness of structural choices, e.g. the 

early chapters are about his early 

memories – ‘Pommes Dauphinoise’ 

probably comes much later in the book/ 

the chapter titles are linked not only to 

foods but to important episodes in his life. 

Reference is made to each bullet point. 





Auntie Fanny”. Comments give some 

explanation of the choice of language and 

its effects on the reader, e.g. the words 

“plop” and “dollop” really sound like the 

cake mixture dropping into the tin. 

In Q5, comments show some awareness 

of the effect of the writer’s language 

choices, e.g. “deflated” makes it sound as 

though all the life had gone out of his dad 

– it’s as if he’s gone flat. 

IE 

Overall assessment (tick one box only) Secure 6 Low 6 Secure 5 Low 5 

Assessing pupils’ progress in English at Key Stage 3 

Secondary 


for school improvement 

AF6 – identify and comment on writers’ 

purposes and viewpoints, and the overall 

effect of the text on the reader. 

In Q2, comments show clear 

understanding that the effect of all the 

words is to emphasise the 

reassurance/comfort cake gave to him as 

a child. There is some explanation of the 

way that the single word sentences and 

repetition strengthen the emphasis, have a 

cumulative effect and contrast ironically 

with details of the mother’s illness. 

In Q6, pupils clearly identify the effect on 

the reader and explain how this has been 

created, e.g. the chapter ends with both 

Nigel and his father openly crying. Up until 

now, their feelings have been “hanging in 

the air” – this is the first time their emotions 

have been released since his mother died. 

In Q2, comments show awareness that the 

effect of the words and repetition is to 

emphasise the reassurance/comfort cake 

gave to him as a child. There is some 

limited explanation of how the words relate 

to the mother’s illness. 

In Q6, pupils show some general 

awareness of the effect on the reader and 

provide some limited explanation, e.g. it 

ends with his father crying, which makes 

us realise how upset he is now that his 

wife has died. 




Marking guidelines – Year 9 task – Toast 

Pupil name ............................................................................................ Form ................................. Date ............................... 

AF2 – understand, describe, select or 

retrieve information, events or ideas from 

texts and use quotation and reference to 

text. 

L5 In Q1, pupils identify two relevant points 

and support them with a relevant 

quotation, e.g. His mother is not a good 

cook as it says “my mother burns the toast 

as surely as the sun rises”. 

AF3 – deduce, infer or interpret 

information, events or ideas from texts. 

In Q4, inference based on several pieces 

of evidence and some developed 

comment, e.g. that she died when he was 

between eight and nine years old and 

probably died of an illness, perhaps 

referring to her Ventolin inhaler or that she 

had started to sit down a lot. 

AF4 – identify and comment on the 

structure and organisation of texts, 

including grammatical and presentational 

features at text level. 

In Q7, comments show some general 

awareness of structural choices, e.g. the 

early chapters are about his early 

memories – ‘Pommes Dauphinoise’ 

probably comes much later in the book/ 

the chapter titles are linked not only to 

foods but to important episodes in his life. 

Reference is made to each bullet point. 

AF5 – explain and comment on writers’ 

use of language, including grammatical 

and literary features at word and sentence 

level. 





Auntie Fanny”. Comments give some 

explanation of the choice of language and 

its effects on the reader, e.g. the words 

“plop” and “dollop” really sound like the 

cake mixture dropping into the tin. 

In Q5, comments show some awareness 

of the effect of the writer’s language 

choices, e.g. “deflated” makes it sound as 

though all the life had gone out of his dad 

– it’s as if he’s gone flat. 

L4 In Q1, pupils identify one or two relevant 

points and support them with a generally 

relevant quotation which may lack focus, 

e.g. She always burns the toast, “the 

rough, toasted crust”. 

In Q4, inference based on one or two 

straightforward pieces of evidence with 

little comment, e.g. that she died between 

the two chapters ‘Christmas Cake’ and 

‘Smoked Haddock’ because he is alone 

with his father in ‘Smoked Haddock’. 

In Q7, some straightforward comments are 

provided, e.g. the chapter titles are all 

different sorts of foods/it starts off with his 

early memories of when he was a child. 

Some bullet points may not be addressed. 

In Q3, pupils provide an appropriate, if 

more obvious, example linked to the sense 

of sound or smell, e.g. smell of baking 

Christmas cake/the sound of the raw cake 

mixture. Some straightforward comment 

about language choice and/or the effect on 

the reader, usually at a general level and 

undeveloped. 

In Q5, simple comments on the writer’s 

language choices are made, e.g. the fish 

doesn’t look very nice any more. 

B4 

IE 

Overall assessment (tick one box only) Secure 5 Low 5 Secure 4 Low 4 Below 4 

Assessing pupils’ progress in English at Key Stage 3 

Secondary 


for school improvement 

AF6 – identify and comment on writers’ 

purposes and viewpoints, and the overall 

effect of the text on the reader. 

In Q2, comments show awareness that the 

effect of the words and repetition is to 

emphasise the reassurance/comfort cake 

gave to him as a child. There is some 

limited explanation of how the words relate 

to the mother’s illness. 

In Q6, pupils show some general 

awareness of the effect on the reader and 

provide some limited explanation, e.g. it 

ends with his father crying which makes us 

realise how upset he is now that his wife 

has died. 

In Q2, straightforward comments identify a 

main purpose for using the words, e.g. he 

wants the reader to notice them, with some 

simple explanations of their effect. 

References to single word sentences, 

repetition and the mother’s illness tend to 

be undeveloped. 

In Q6, pupils make some simple 

comments on the effect on the reader, e.g. 

it’s a really sad ending because he is 

crying. 



21

Exemplar responses 

1. What do we learn from these two paragraphs about the writer’s mother and his 

feelings for her? Make two points and support each one with a short quotation (AF2). 

(Try to use a PEE answer.) 

Level 4: Response and commentary 

Two appropriate points are made. Although the first comment is straightforward – “He 

dose love her” – and is supported by a relevant textual reference, the second relies on an 

overlong quotation to make its point. 


Two appropriate points are made – “he still loves her” and “the maker is in complete 

control”. Each point is supported by a relevant quotation from the text. 





Two appropriate points are made, each clarified by further elaboration and supported by 

an apt quotation. 



23

2. Re-read the paragraph beginning Cake holds a family together, in which the writer 

suggests for the first time that his mother is ill (AF6): 

Cake holds a family together. I really believed it did. My father was a different man 

when there was a cake in the house. Warm. The sort of man I wanted to hug rather 

than shy away from. If he had a plate of cake in his hand I knew it would be all right 

to climb up on to his lap. There was something about the way my mother put a cake 

on the table that made me feel that all was well. Safe. Secure. Unshakeable. Even when 

she got to the point where she carried her Ventolin inhaler in her left hand all the time. 

Unshakeable. Even when she and my father used to go for long walks, walking ahead 

of me and talking in hushed tones and he would come back with tears in his eyes. 

Why does the writer use the underlined words and what is their effect? 

Note to pupils: these words have been underlined here to help you. They were not 

underlined in the original text. 


The main purpose for using the underlined words is made clear – “how the father feels” – 

but with little elaboration beyond what is in the text. 


Comment shows an awareness of how the reassurance provided by having cake in the 

house is emphasised by the underlined words – “how safe it felt to him... how loving the 

home is” – although explanation does not go beyond this point. 





This answer focuses on each of the underlined words in turn and makes an appropriate 

comment on the implications and impact of each. There is also some recognition in the 

final sentence that all these words provide comfort in a situation where there was an 

increasing need for mutual reassurance. 



25

3. The writer brings his memories to life by appealing to our senses – of sight, sound, 

smell, touch and taste. An example has been given below to help you. 

Choose another example from either sound or smell and complete the grid (AF5). 


An appropriate example is chosen and comment is relevant, although generalised and 

developed only in the most straightforward way – “seem realistic like we’re standing with 

them and listening”. 


An appropriate example is given with an explanation that comments on a specific aspect 

of the effect on the reader of the choice of language – “imagine the sound... because of 

the butter and fruit falling on to the tin”. 





An appropriate example is given, supported by an explanation that draws attention to 

the use of contrast – “Flexible soft icing to stiff hard icing” – to make an impact on the 

reader. Although not developed in detail, the comment just meets the level 6 criteria. 



27

4. From your reading of these two chapters, what might we infer about when and how 

the writer’s mother died? Explain how we know this (AF3). 


Two straightforward inferences are drawn, each supported by an appropriate textual 

reference, showing understanding that the writer’s mother was “getting ill” and that she 

“maybe died of an asthma attack”. There is no comment in relation to when she died. 


Inferences about when the writer’s mother died are based on several pieces of evidence 

from across the text – ‘...the end of Christmas Cake. At the beginning of Smoked 

Hadock...’ – supported by an additional reference to her carrying the “ventolin inhaler” as 

a further indication of her increasing frailty. 





Inferences about when the writer’s mother died are based on several pieces of textual 

evidence from ‘Christmas Cake’ and ‘Smoked Haddock’. These references are linked to 

others related to her “Ventolin inhaler” and “his parents hushed conversations” thus 

providing additional clues as to the nature and timing of his mother’s death. 



29

5. Explain how the writer’s choice of words shows how Nigel and his father are feeling? 

One example has been done to help you (AF5). 


Although comment is quite generalised, there is clearly an awareness of the implications 

of the language chosen. In the first case, “in the air” indicates the absence of “saying 

(what) they wanted to say”, and in the second, ‘roadkill’ suggests the fish supper “was all 

mushy and bloody than normal”. 


This answer shows some awareness of the impact of the language by apparently focusing 

on literal meaning – “deflated” appears simply paraphrased as “to make it flat”. In fact, 

that phrase in itself captures a sense of the depressing mood, which is reinforced by the 

explanation that the supper “does’nt look eadible anymore”. 





This response provides comment that explores quite precisely the overall effect on the 

reader of the writer’s language choices. Reference is made to how both the “depressing” 

nature of the atmosphere and the “unhealthy” nature of the supper are emphasised. The 

first example is not dealt with so effectively as the second, but there is sufficient here to 

meet the level 6 criteria. 



31

6. Read the end of the chapter again from “The haddock lies saffron yellow under the 

grill” to “He’s crying”. 

In your own words, explain why you think Nigel Slater chose to end the chapter in this 

way. How does he want the reader to feel (AF6)? 


There is recognition of the overall impact of the final paragraphs on the reader – “feel 

like sorry for him” – and an understanding of the key features of how this is created – 

“on his own, cooking tea for his dad and his mum has just died”. 


This response shows an overall understanding of the impact of the final paragraphs on 

the reader, with sympathy deriving from the writer’s attempt to become “more 

independant” and “the author’s frustration” at the lateness of the father which is 

emphasised by the “time words”. 





This response shows an understanding of the way the ending of the chapter gains impact 

from the fact that initially the reader has a sense that Nigel “was coping”, but that he is 

now “crying because he is missing his mum”. There is also an awareness that the reader’s 

sympathies are further engaged on Nigel’s behalf because he “hardly sees his dad” and 

“cooked a meal for his dad and it went wrong”. However, the final twist to the chapter 

comes from the tears of the father, with both Nigel and the reader’s recognition that “he 

misses his wife” and also feels guilty about “being late” for dinner. 



33

7. These four chapters come from a much larger autobiography. 

What do you notice about the way the chapters are arranged in the book? 

You should write about (AF4): 

■ the chapter titles 

■ the order of the chapters 

■ how the rest of the book might be organised. 


Straightforward comments focus on the way in which chapter titles progress from “simple 

easy food” to “foods which are less simple”, noting that this progression is also related to 

the writer’s age, to his becoming “more adult” and ‘changing’. 





Comments show a general understanding of the way structural choices have been made, 

with chapter titles being not just “all names of food” but those that relate to “great 

memories for him”. These are then ordered chronologically from “when he was a small 

child... to a college student”. 



35


Comments show understanding of the way structural choices have been made, with 

chapters being sequenced chronologically from “when he was young up to when he is in 

college”. There is also comment on the way in which the chapter titles reflect increasingly 

more sophisticated dishes – “get more compilated” – with an implicit recognition that this 

reflects his increasing maturity as a person and competence as a chef. The final sentence 

shows an awareness that structure supports the writer’s theme and purpose by linking 

various foods to important episodes/developments in his life. 

These materials have been developed by QCA in partnership with the Secondary National Strategy. 

The help provided by the teachers and pupils who have trialled the materials as part of the Monitoring 

Pupils’ Progress in English project has been invaluable.

Toast

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