Welsh Second Language GCSE

Dear Parent/Carer,

Your child has been working towards their Welsh Second Language GCSE in class. The first external GCSE exam for this qualification is worth 25% of their overall outcome and will take place as follows:

• 10L and 10E on Tuesday March the 18^th at 09:00am.
• 10W and 10A on Wednesday March the 19^th at 09:00am.

The structure of the exam is different to those your child has previously undertaken. See below:

• Pupils go to the library area following registration instead of their timetabled lessons. Here, they will be free to revise under supervision. All revision materials and books are welcome. They are welcome to bring water.
• Pupils will remain in the library area until they are examined in their small groups. This is to avoid the sharing of confidential examination material, and is required by the exam board.
• Each pupil is in a small group of 2 – 3 pupils for their exam. This been prearranged in class with your child and they are aware of their group.
• Pupils are called out of the library area in their small groups. They are then provided with 10 minutes to plan a group discussion based on the content of a Welsh language video. They will not have seen this video before.
• Following this, your child’s teacher will voice-record their group discussion for marking purposes. Pupils will not be filmed.
• After their examination, your child will return to class and will follow their normal timetable.
• If your child is undertaking the Year 10 Art exam in Option 3, they will attend their Welsh GCSE exam first, and then continue with their art exam. Any lost time in Art will be provided to them later.
• If your child is still in the library area at break time, they will be provided with a supervised early break to ensure their comfort.

In order to be prepared for this exam, pupils have been advised to independently revise at home. Material to support this has been provided on Google Classroom. They have been advised to revise the following:

• Tenses: past and future. Without using tenses, pupils will not be able to achieve a C or above.
• Using the 3^rd Without using the 3^rd person, pupils will not be able to achieve a C or above.
• Providing their own opinion and agreeing/disagreeing with the opinions of others.
• Key vocabulary around the topics of ‘Wales and the World’ and ‘Youth’, which we have covered in class during Year 10.

Staff have been guiding and supporting your child in how best to revise via preparation in class and also via Google Classroom, where materials have been provided. The following resources will support preparation at home:

• All pupils have been given a department preparation booklet, which they have used regularly in class. Pupils have been encouraged by their teacher to take these home to support their revision.
• Digital revision resources have been added to Google Classroom. These will be very helpful to all pupils and we strongly encourage pupils to make use of them.
• All pupils have been provided with a structure to follow in the exam called ‘PCEQ’. This structure has been carefully designed to address the mark scheme of the GCSE exam. Your child is very familiar with this and has covered it in class in detail. This structure has been the main focus of all pupils’ Welsh classes since Christmas. Revising the content of this structure will support your child’s success. It is provided on Google Classroom digitally, as well as in their department preparation booklet.

I hope this letter provides a sufficient outline of the Welsh Oracy exam ahead, and of the support that has been put in place for your child.

Thank you for your continued support.

The Welsh Department