Christmas Jumper Day

Dear Parents/Carers,

On Friday 13th December 2019, the school is going to be supporting the Save the Children Fund Christmas Jumper Day.

This means that all pupils will be allowed to wear a Christmas jumper in addition to their normal school uniform. This is NOT a non-school uniform event; as pupils MUST still wear their normal school uniform on that day but can wear an appropriate Christmas Jumper over their existing uniform should they wish to do so. As part of the fundraising element of the day, pupils will be encouraged to donate £1 to charity.

Blazers are not required if wearing a Christmas jumper.

Many thanks for your anticipated support of this fundraising event.


Yours sincerely,

Mr. S Williams

Director of Pupil Progress

GCSE English Literature

Dear Parent,

Your child is due to sit GCSE English Literature Unit 1 on January 8th 2020. 

This real GCSE examination is worth 35% of their final grade and it is therefore vitally important that pupils prepare fully if they are to achieve their potential in this subject.  All pupils will be examined on the prose text ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck and complete an unseen poetry comparison. 

To help your child prepare, the English Department are pleased to offer revision sessions every Thursday lunchtime and at 3pm on Wednesdays.  A range of revision materials have been provided for pupils by their teachers and we kindly ask that you encourage your child to attend these sessions and also to revise as much as possible at home. 

A mock examination will take place next Thursday morning on the 5th of December.  It is vitally important that your child attends this exam as their results will give them an indication of how to improve before the real GCSE Unit 1 exam in January.

Revision materials and past papers can also be accessed by pupils through the Aberdare Community School Online Portal.   Good internet sources for revision also include:

•            GCSE Pod - Of Mice and Men and Unseen Poetry

•            BBC Bitesize / GCSE English Literature

•            You Tube – Mr. Bruff / Of Mice and Men

In addition to the above, the English Department will also provide an additional booster session to ensure that pupils are refreshed with examination advice, support and guidance prior to sitting their GCSE Unit 1 exam on the 8th of January.   The booster session will take place on Tuesday January 7th.

 

Yours faithfully,

J. Marrable

Leader of Learning for English

Year 11 Pre-Public Examinations

Dear Parents/Carers,

Your child is entering the final and most important phase of their time at Aberdare Community School. This letter is to inform you of how we intend to work with you and your child in order for them to achieve the very best in their GCSE examinations.

All Year 11 pupils will be sitting PPE’s between Tuesday 10th and Thursday 19th December. Traditionally, these exams have been referred to as “mocks”. However, the word “mock” does not accurately reflect the importance of these examinations as it suggests that they are “pretend” or “just for practice”. The reality is that these exams, as well as providing excellent preparation for public examinations, can also give students, teachers and parents alike some really valuable information about current levels of performance, strengths and those areas that still need developing in order to fulfil potential in the summer. For these reasons, these examinations will now be referred to as Pre-Public Examinations (PPE’s). Every pupil has been supplied with a PPE timetable, which lists the details and dates of the examinations they will be sitting. This should be checked and used to build a revision programme around in preparation for these important examinations. When working at home, pupils should be using gcsepod to support their revision, which will have the most impact when used with past papers.

We expect pupils to attend their normal lessons when they are not sitting an examination and to attend morning registration every day.

Please be mindful that normal school uniform rules apply throughout the examination period and the rules and regulations that must be adhered to are detailed in the attached information booklet. Please can you ensure that your child has read the booklet. Pupils will need to sign in at the pupil reception if they arrive after morning registration and make their way to their examination or timetabled lesson, however, I must stress the importance of being on time for school and examinations so that vital time is not lost.

Please contact the school if you have any queries in relation to the above. Thank you in anticipation for your continued support.

Yours faithfully,

 Mrs K Leyshon

(Assistant Headteacher)

PPE.png