The Before And After School Extended Hours Childcare Service - IELTS Listening Answers & Explanations
From Cambridge IELTS 17 Academic Listening Test 3 · Part 2 · Questions 11–20
Audio
Questions
Questions 11–12 Multiple Choice (Two Answers)
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Questions 13–15 Multiple Choice (One Answer)
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Questions 16–20 Matching
What information is given about each of the following activities on offer?
Choose FIVE answers from the box and write the correct letter, A-G, next to Questions.
Information
A has limited availability
B is no longer available
C is for over 8s only
D requires help from parents
E involves an additional fee
F is a new activity
G was requested by children
Activities
Answers & Explanations Summary
| # | Answer | Evidence | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q11 | — | — | |
| Q12 | B / E | We are insured to provide care for up to 70 children I think we generally expect around 50-60 children for the afternoon sessions and about half that number for the breakfast sessions. |
Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript tells us the childcare service at the school can have up to 70 children. It mentions that around 50-60 children usually attend the afternoon sessions, and about half that number attend in the mornings or breakfast sessions. Answer Explanation: The answer mentions the maximum number of children that can attend the childcare service (E) and that a child cannot attend both morning and afternoon sessions (B). Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is B and E because the excerpt confirms that the service can have a maximum of 70 children (E) and implies that children attend either in the morning or afternoon, not both (B). Therefore, these two facts about the school's extended hours childcare service are supported by the information provided. |
| Q13 | C | For the afternoon sessions, which run from 3.30 until 6 p.m., it’s £7.20. | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript says that for the afternoon sessions, which start at 3.30 and end at 6 p.m., the cost is £7.20. Answer Explanation: The answer C is the correct choice. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is C (£7.20) because the excerpt explicitly states that the cost for childcare for a complete afternoon session per child is £7.20. |
| Q14 | C | At 5 p.m. children are given something more substantial, such as pasta or a casserole. | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript says that children receive a proper meal like pasta or casserole at 5 p.m. Answer Explanation: The answer means that children are given a proper meal in the evening. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer (C) matches the information in the excerpt that mentions children receiving a substantial meal like pasta or casserole at 5 p.m. This shows that the manager arranges for the children to have a proper meal as part of the program. |
| Q15 | A | It will also feel different because they’ll get the chance to make new friends with children from other schools – spaces are available for them because a lot of our term-time children don’t always attend during the holiday. | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript says that children from other schools can come to the school during the holidays because many students from the same school don't always go during the break. Answer Explanation: The answer says that children from other schools can come to the school. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is A because the excerpt says that the school is open for children from other schools during the school holidays. |
| Q16 | E | This is the only activity which we have to make an extra charge for – but it’s well worth it. | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript is indicating that this particular activity requires an extra payment. Answer Explanation: The answer 'E' means that this activity involves an additional fee. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer 'E' is supported by the information in the excerpt that states that this activity requires an extra charge, aligning with it involving an additional fee. |
| Q17 | D | We do rely on parental support for this, so if any of you sing or play an instrument and would be prepared to help out at these sessions, we’d be delighted. | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript is saying that they need parents to help with the music sessions. They are asking parents who can sing or play an instrument to assist. Answer Explanation: The answer indicates that parental help is required for this activity. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'D' because the excerpt clearly states that parental support is needed for the music sessions. This aligns with the answer choice 'D' which signifies that the activity requires help from parents. |
| Q18 | G | but children kept asking if they could do some art and so we finally gave in. | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript suggests that the children asked for a specific activity, and the adults eventually agreed to it. Answer Explanation: The answer indicates that the activity of painting was requested by children. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'G' because the excerpt explicitly states that the children requested to do some art, which implies that painting was a new activity that was specifically requested by the children. |
| Q19 | F | Yoga is something that we’ve been meaning to introduce for some time but haven’t been able to find anyone available to teach it – until now that is. | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript mentions that yoga is a new activity that is being introduced now after some time of not being able to find a teacher. Answer Explanation: The answer relates to the fact that yoga is a new activity being introduced. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'F' because the excerpt clearly states that yoga is a new activity that they've been wanting to introduce but only found a teacher for it now. |
| Q20 | C | Although the younger children love doing it, we found that the mess was just too much, so we’ve decided to restrict this to the over 8s, as they are better able to clean up after themselves. | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that younger children made a mess while doing the activity, so it is now limited only to children over the age of 8 because they can clean up after themselves better. Answer Explanation: The answer 'C' means the activity is suitable only for children over 8 years old. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'C' because the excerpt states that the activity is now restricted to children over 8 years old due to the mess created by younger children. This restriction implies that the activity is for over 8s only, aligning with answer choice C. |
Transcript
Good afternoon. My name’s Mrs Carter and I run the before and after school extended hours childcare service. I hope you’ve had a chance to have a good look around the school and talk to staff and pupils. I know that many of you are interested in using our childcare service when your child joins the school, and perhaps you already know something about it, but for those that don’t, I’ll go through the main details now.
We offer childcare for children from the ages of four to eleven both before and after school. I know that many parents who work find this service invaluable. You can leave your child with us safe in the knowledge that they will be extremely well cared for.
We are insured to provide care for up to 70 children, although we rarely have this many attending at any one session. I think we generally expect around 50-60 children for the afternoon sessions and about half that number for the breakfast sessions. Although we currently do have 70 children registered with us, not all of these attend every day. It’s ten years since we began offering an extended hours service and we’ve come a long way during that time. When we first opened, we only had about 20 children attending regularly.
We try to keep our costs as low as we can and we think we provide very good value for money. For the afternoon sessions, which run from 3.30 until 6 p.m., it’s £7.20. But if you prefer, you can pay for one hour only, which costs £3.50, or two hours which costs £5.70.
The cost of the childcare includes food and snacks. They’ll be given breakfast in the morning and in the afternoon, a healthy snack as soon as they finish school. At 5 p.m. children are given something more substantial, such as pasta or a casserole. Please inform us of any allergies that your child might have and we’ll make sure they’re offered a suitable alternative.
As you may know, the childcare service runs through the school holidays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. We offer a really varied and exciting programme to keep the children entertained – we don’t want them to feel as if they are still at school! It will also feel different because they’ll get the chance to make new friends with children from other schools – spaces are available for them because a lot of our term-time children don’t always attend during the holiday. In the past, parents have asked if children over the age of 11 are allowed to come with their younger brothers and sisters – but I’m afraid we’re unable to do this because of the type of insurance we have.
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So now let me tell you about some of the activities that your child can do during the after-school sessions. As well as being able to use the playground equipment, computers and the library, there is usually at least one ‘special’ activity that children can do each day. For example, Spanish. We have a specialist teacher coming in every Thursday to give a basic introduction to the language through games and songs. She does two sessions: one for the over 8s and one for the younger children. This is the only activity which we have to make an extra charge for – but it’s well worth it.
Once a week the children have the opportunity to do some music. We’re very lucky that one of our staff is a member of a folk band. On Mondays, she teaches singing and percussion to groups of children. We do rely on parental support for this, so if any of you sing or play an instrument and would be prepared to help out at these sessions, we’d be delighted.
Painting continues to be one of the most popular activities. To begin with we weren’t keen on offering this because of the extra mess involved, but children kept asking if they could do some art and so we finally gave in. Art is great for helping the children to relax after working hard at school all day.
Yoga is something that we’ve been meaning to introduce for some time but haven’t been able to find anyone available to teach it – until now that is. So we’ll see how this goes. Hopefully, children will benefit in all sorts of ways from this.
Cooking is another popular activity. They make a different sort of cake, or pizza or bread each week. Although the younger children love doing it, we found that the mess was just too much, so we’ve decided to restrict this to the over 8s, as they are better able to clean up after themselves.