Monday 5th March 2012

Dear Parent/Carer,

GCSE Geography Residential 2012 to Wales

This letter is to inform you that we will be offering a residential this year from Sunday 8th July to Thursday 12th July, the cost of which will be £230. We have worked hard to revamp the GCSE residential based on the needs of the new GCSE course. Students will benefit from participating in this fieldwork course by seeing Geography live, carrying out data collection techniques and gaining valuable case studies for the Unit 3 Tourism and Industry units taught in Year 11. We would recommend Year 10s attend this enrichment residential.

The cost includes accommodation at Abergavenny YHA, travel to and from Wales and various entrance fees and activities, a brief outline of which is detailed below:

Sunday 8th July – Travel to Wales via Bath’s Roman Baths.

Monday 9th July - Cardiff Bay Regeneration, Seven Barrage, Millennium Stadium and evening activity.

Tuesday 10th July- Brecon Beacons National Park (Conflicts in tourist areas).

Wednesday 11th July - Flatholm Island (tbc) and evening activity.

Thursday 12th July - Travel home via Big Pitt (the decline of mining) and Cribbs Causeway Shopping Centre, Bristol.

Please note until we have secured enough interest in this residential, a final itinerary cannot be confirmed.

This year we have an exceptionally large cohort doing GCSE Geography, so we have relocated the accommodation to enable us to provide more places. Places on this trip are restricted to 72 students at Abergavenny Youth hostel, but we will have sole use. In previous years students have had a terrific time, gained an extraordinary sense of the wider application of Geography and used the experiences as preparation for A Level. It should also be noted that students will go away at the end of the school year, reducing the impact on their other subjects.

Please return the attached slip to Student Services, together with a non-refundable deposit for £40.00 (refunded if we gain less than 30 responses) by no later than Friday 30th March 2012. Payment cards will be available to assist with spreading the cost, if you require one please indicate this on the reply slip. If we are able to secure sufficient numbers to ensure the viability of this trip, we will contact to confirm the full details and next steps. If we are oversubscribed after the deadline, names will be drawn out of the hat and students notified in writing at the start of the Summer term.

Should you have any enquiries in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact your son/ daughter’s Geography teacher.

Yours sincerely

Becky Copus

Head of Geography