Letter to Parents Dec 2009

December 2009

Dear Parent/Guardian

As you will know, your daughter is currently participating in mandatory Citizenship lessons. The purpose of this letter is to outline the course that she is following, highlight those areas where you may be able to help her achieve her full potential, and draw your attention to some important Health and Safety issues.

During May 2011 – towards the end of Year 9 - your daughter will take the GCSE short course in Citizenship Studies. Year 8 and Year 9 students at TGGS have been involved in this course since 2004 with increasing degrees of success: last year our Year 9 students achieved a 100% pass rate with 81% of the girls obtaining an A or A* grade. We enter all our students for this qualification two years early for three main reasons:

Ø Challenge. Our belief is that our students are very capable of doing extremely well in this particular GCSE at the end of Key Stage 3.

Ø Preparation for Year 10 & Year 11. We have found that that the vast majority of students gain a real boost in confidence from achieving GCSE success before they start their majority of their GCSE courses in Year 10. Also, the experience of completing formally assessed pieces of coursework and sitting an external exam stands the girls in really good stead at Key Stage 4.

Ø University applications, the world of work and the local community. Very few schools enter their students for GCSE exams as early as Year 9. It is our feeling that the ability of our students to point to GCSE success at such an early stage in their school career, may well convey to them a competitive advantage later life. Moreover, as explained below, one of the assessment elements involves the girls acting as an advocate for needy people and worthy organisations within our area: a process of great benefit to all concerned.

In summary, assessment for the course has two parts: Written Examination and a Controlled Assessment

Unit 1 – Written Examination

The written paper is worth 40% of the total marks and is divided into two sections.

* Section A: Candidates answer compulsory short-answer questions and a source-based question.
* Section B: Candidates answer one structured stimulus-based question on citizenship issues from a choice of three pre-released topics.

This section of the course is being taught by Mr Gregory.

Unit 2 – Controlled Assessment: Advocacy and Representation:

Each student has to act as an ‘Advocate’ for a Voluntary Organisation/Pressure Group or Local Environmental Issue. They will work through five stages during the completion of their assessment which is worth 60% of the total marks. Further details which have been adapted from the guidelines given by the AQA Exam Board are given overleaf.

Stage 1 – Inform Yourself. In this section, the student has to work with individually or with others to select a citizenship issue. They also have to identify roles and responsibilities within the group, and agree the means of gathering information about the chosen issue from a variety of sources, while exploring a range of views. The choice of advocacy made by the student is crucial to determining her chances of achieving a high grade, and the sorts of ideas that work especially well have been explained in detail to all girls. The best marks will be awarded to students who demonstrate the ability to thoroughly plan their activity and also show determination and initiative. Basically your daughter must choose something that she will enjoy and which offers scope to help people directly or indirectly!

Stage 2 – Justify Choices and Prepare the Case for Advocacy. Here, the student has to justify the choice of issue chosen and the strategies to be employed in her advocacy.

Stage 3 – Advocacy and Taking Action. Next, each student has to carry out the prepared plans in presenting a well argued advocacy to a specified audience(s), either in school and/or within the community. It is the aim of this activity to effect a change in awareness of, or attitudes towards, the chosen citizenship issue. As such, it is both ‘advocacy’ and ‘taking informed and responsible action’. Health and Safety issues are clearly an essential consideration if your daughter carries out her advocacy outside school, and she must not work unsupervised with strangers, have sole responsibility for younger children, work with any type of hazardous machinery and participate in any other activity that you would not normally agree to. Please note that Parents/Guardians are responsible for their daughter’s safety and conduct during any out of school activity linked their GCSE Citizenship assessment.

Stage 4 – Assess the Impact. In this penultimate section, each student is required to assess what impact their advocacy/action has had in terms of the extent to which the aims have been achieved, what change has occurred and what further actions could be taken. This could be done by asking the audience to complete a questionnaire, for instance.

Stage 5 – Reflect and Evaluate. Finally, the student is expected to make observations about the issue and citizenship concepts involved: reflect on how well the activity has been carried out, consider what changes were made along the way as the advocacy evolved and give suggestions for improvement. They will also evaluate their own contribution and that of others.

All Year 8 are being taught and supported in their Controlled Assessment by Mr Charlwood. They are currently in what is known as the ‘Preparation Phase’ of planning and research before carrying out their advocacy in the Spring and Summer Terms. They will begin the formal write up of their assessment under formal ‘controlled’ conditions specified by the Exam Board towards the end of Year 8, and finish their piece of work during Year 9. If she doesn’t already have one, a USB memory stick onto which she can back up her work would really help your daughter to complete her assignment effectively, and also reduce the chance of a disastrous loss of all her hard work due to a computer crashing!

We do hope that you will find this information helpful and reasonably clear! Please be assured that we will do our very best to guide your daughter very carefully through her first GCSE at TGGS! If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact either one of us at the school. Your daughter’s Citizenship attainment marks in all her Year 8/9 Grade Sheets and Reports will be in the form of GCSE grades.

Yours sincerely

Miss Z Beard
Citizenship Co-ordinator

Mr C Charlwood
Deputy Head