Dear Parents/Guardians, 22nd Sept 2023
Year 11 students have now completed the whole of the GCSE English Literature course. I would like to thank you for your support of both us as a Learning Area and your child during last year. We are very proud of how hard they worked and delighted at their considerable success and pleasing results. We hope to continue this into the forthcoming new school year.
In lessons, we are now preparing for the English Language GCSE, which will be the focus for Yr 11. There will not be a resit opportunity for GCSE English Literature, due the complex demands of new coursework tasks.
English sets have been reorganised in order to ensure pupils are in the correct groups for the English Language course, following Baseline testing in early July 2023, with catch up sessions completed for those who missed them then. The groups will be monitored closely throughout the year to make sure pupils are in the right place for their ability/current working grade/target grade.
As there are no tiers in English Language GCSE, all pupils will sit the same examination, so it is possible for your child to achieve the very highest grades in any of the teaching groups.
There are a couple of important events in the rest of this year for which we would like your particular support:
- NEAs [Coursework]
- Week Beginning Monday 23rd October – Group Discussion Oracy Exams
Pupils will be allocated a slot on one of the days during this week in a small group and will then go to a separate room in order to undertake a Group Discussion prepared in advance in English lessons and at home, on a topic set by the exam board. This will be recorded as per the WJEC exam board specifications. There will be no audience for this.
These Oracy exams will contribute towards the final GCSE English Language grade, worth 20% of the grade [10% per task]. It is essential, therefore, that your child prepares thoroughly for these tasks, attends their allocated slot promptly and does their very best.
Most pupils have completed the first oracy NEA task in July 2023 [Individually Researched Presentations]. Pupils whose combined NEA grade for the 2 tasks falls below their target grade will be offered the opportunity to redo the NEA task in which they have the lowest mark. We anticipate this will take place between the start of November 2023 and the end of January 2024, but it is difficult to be more precise until pupils have completed the group discussions.
