Source A: A gap in the fence
An original contemporary non-fiction-style practice text, written for this question.
By June, I had cleared the allotment paths until they were straight enough to wheel a barrow along without catching a handle. Then I found a hedgehog nosing beneath the fence at the far end. I had been planning to block the gap. A neat boundary seemed sensible when the neighbouring plot was empty and the weeds were spreading.
My first thought was the lettuce. I had spent weeks watering it, and the leaves were already marked. I could not tell what had caused the damage, but I was tired of finding another problem each morning. When I mentioned the gap at the allotment meeting, one grower said it should be closed before more animals came in. Another said a gap was no great sacrifice.
I went back after the meeting and looked at the fence from the other side. The allotments were not a separate world, however much the wire made them look like one. I moved a stack of spare pots away from the opening and left the gap clear. I also made a small untidy corner of long grass beside it. It was not a grand solution, and I still worried about the vegetables.
A week later, the hedgehog passed through at dusk. I watched from the shed door and did not know where it was going. The lettuce still needed protecting, but closing the gap would have answered only my worry, not every question about what lived beyond my plot.
Source B: The strip we stopped mowing
An original contemporary non-fiction-style practice text, written for this question.
At the school, I used to mow the grass right up to the hedge. It made the grounds look orderly before the children arrived. Then a pupil told me she had seen a hedgehog near the path. I had never noticed one there, though I had been cutting that strip for years.
I did not want to leave the whole lawn long. The children needed room to play, and the path had to stay clear. So I suggested leaving a narrow strip beside the hedge unmown. The head teacher asked whether it would look neglected. I said we could keep the edges beside the path short and watch how the strip changed.
It was not an easy decision to explain. Some people saw long grass and thought nobody was looking after the grounds. Others liked the idea that a small part of the school could be left alone. We agreed to try it for a term and discuss it again.
By the end of the term, the strip looked different from the rest of the lawn. I could not say whether the hedgehog had returned. But the trial had made us ask a better question than whether every patch of grass should look the same: what did the grounds need to be used for, and what might we make room for?
Compare how the writers present their ideas about people making room for wildlife in places they use. In your answer, consider each writer’s initial concern, how they respond to other people’s views and the outcome. Support your answer with detailed examples from both texts, including brief quotations.
77 exam-style questions on Edexcel A IGCSE English Language 1.1.3 Links and connections between writers' ideas. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.