Dear Year 10 Parent/Guardian,

We hope that your son or daughter has settled into their new English class and is already enjoying the challenges of studying AQA GCSE. I am writing with important information regarding the methods of assessment the English team will now be required to use.

All Year 10 students are currently studying the Moving Image unit. They have watched a film and will be required to write a response to the film commenting on the achievements within the genre.

Following government directives, the coursework pieces that students have submitted in the past have now become Controlled Assessment tasks, or specific questions provided by the examination board rather than the teacher.They:

- have to be completed within a time allocation given by the exam board

- will be completed under examination conditions during the students’ English lessons

- do not allow teachers to mark drafts, only the completed assignment

- must be completed without exercise books or additional printed sheets. Students are allowed a page of pre-prepared notes.

- cannot be planned for students by the teacher. All planning and organising of ideas must come from the students themselves.

- cannot be re-drafted after the allocated time slot

Although your son or daughter’s English teacher will have stressed the importance of thorough preparation, we would like to ask for your support to ensure that all students enter the Controlled Assessment tasks with the necessary notes and frame of mind to produce a successful piece of GCSE. Students who are unavoidably absent during the week of an assessment will be required to complete the task outside normal timetabled hours at a later date.

English Department