23 September 2004

Dear Parent

This term Year 10 students will begin their GCSE English course. This is a challenging but rewarding course for all, and the English Department are very much looking forward to helping your son or daughter to achieve the best grade possible. This year, our focus will be on the coursework aspect of the course ­ all students will have completed all five coursework essays by the end of the year. This allows us to devote as much lesson and homework time as we can to preparing for the exams in Year 11. Individual students will of course have the opportunity to redraft any coursework in Year 11 if they wish to, but most will have completed any redrafting by the end of Year 10.

I know that you will be keen to do all you can to help ensure that your son or daughter makes progress this year, and achieve the best results possible. They should have already completed one piece, on Macbeth, at the end of Year 9. If this has not been submitted, then it is already overdue, and we would appreciate your support in ensuring that this piece is handed in as a matter of urgency.

In order to enable you to keep track of your son’s or daughter’s progress in their coursework this year, I have included below the dates when final drafts of each coursework assignment are due, and the dates when students can expect to be given a mark for each piece. Please keep a record of these dates, and help us by ensuring that your son or daughter meets all deadlines. The course has been carefully structured in order to spread the workload for students, and help us to assess work in the most efficient way possible, in order to keep students informed of their progress. It is vital that students keep to this programme ­ if any deadlines are missed we will need to request that students attend coursework catch-up sessions after school, but I trust that, with your support, this will not be necessary. If you become aware that your son or daughter is going to have difficulty meeting a deadline because of illness, family problems or similar, it will be helpful if you can inform us of this yourself, by letter, phone call or a note in the homework diary which should be shown to the English Teacher. We will always do our best to be supportive in these cases, and the sooner we can be informed, the easier it is to make arrangements for supporting a student appropriately.