Would you let your kids give up on some of their GCSEs?

Yes and I did with my kids.

We prioritised revising for maths, English, and their a level subjects.

They were still revising in school for the other ones anyway and they did ok.

It's sensible to prioritise the ones they will be continuing with.

I would be stressing they need to work on all subjects, GCSEs are not that hard, a bit of revision for mocks, a break then knuckle down at Easter for 6 weeks

I’m letting my daughter do the same.

She goes to a grammar school and they do far too many GCSEs as standard in my opinion.

I would rather she got 6 great grades than 12 poor ones. Cutting the number down will allow her to really concentrate on the 6.

In our state you need 6 gcses at 6 to get into sixth form

Unless it’s a private school they won’t let him anyway.

I am not keen on the idea of dropping subjects mid-way. Overcoming difficulties is a good lesson for life.

What I think should be a policy is a maximum number of exams you can sit in any one year. I also want to see the return of at least one modern foreign language being required to GCSE.

If the 5 5's to do A levels is the requirement to do actual A levels rather than an alternative I would say it's a sixth form not worth being in. Very very few children will come out with successful A levels grades from 5 level 5 GCSE's. Good grief I hope they don't allow anyone with a 5 in Maths to take A Level maths, that would be wrong on so many levels. (I'm definitely not all about A levels, 2 DC have 1.33 alternative qualifications between them)

Qualifications are a stepping stone and many people say it doesn't matter what you get as long as you get enough for the next stage but issues can hit at anytime, many don't complete the next stage so what they have is the grades in hand.

The school are not going to support dropping any subjects when there are seemingly no issues. They will sanction lack of participation in class, no homework etc. school could become a very negative experience all round once the teachers are continually on DC and your back.

Sixth form places are not guaranteed so they may decide they don't want to offer a place even with 5 5's and any GCSE's taken have to be listed on UCAS so low grades will reflect badly and if by some miracle he actually gets to drop the subjects having 7 subjects might flag somewhere in the system as different from the school norm.

I think it is short sighted to unofficially drop 3 leaving only 7 when he is clearly capable of more.
As others have said, they will gave to appear on UCAS form, and you don't know when else in the future.
Drop one, officially if possible. Let one other slide if he really must, but dropping below 8 is potentially dangerous.

I would just double check the college entry requirements, at our College we ask for grade 5’s but it has to be in five different subjects. English Lang and Lit counts as one, as does triple science. They want a range. Worth checking.

Exactly this.

But these are the subjects the DC has chosen. No one is forced to take business or CS. RS maybe is a compulsory tbf. But he chose these subjects and IMO it’s no bad thing to give them a decent go.

Surely he can just spend less time on those subjects, rather than drop them completely. He doesn't need to revise hard for them, but do spend some time going over the work just to re-familiarise himself.

It's silly to limit your options - if he's capable of a decent grade he should aim for that, just with less vigour than for the really important ones.

Is he planning on going to university?

as a university course leader I screen ucas applications and actually one of my biggest (but unofficial) ways of screening is looking at gcse results. If I saw someone with 3x fails they wouldn’t be progressing to an offer. Regardless of A level predictions. My course is massively over subscribed and I have to have some way of sorting stronger applications from weaker ones.

dd dropped German with my blessing late in year 10, but properly dropped it.

*be carful not to crush his spirit if he wants to do well in some I'd roll with that.

Dc don't choose these gcse at all they are forced to sit subject they don't likd

I'd definitely let my dc do this and would rather they got an impressive clutch than mediocre ones.
He can get everything he wants.

I would just ensure he will get good results in the one he wants to do.

The one he's predicted a 7 in he may well do well in anyway

This. Preparing to fail is just letting him think that it's ok to do that. What if he does screw up one of the others. And what else in life will he be prepared to fail at?

Dropping subjects is usually something a school would decide not a parent or child. If he is going to be going to the lessons anyway he may as well try his best.

Yanbu at all because of the circumstances of your child.
dropping one GCSE is no issue at all for anyone and for weaker students, who are struggling and need a few GCSEs to get on vocational or practical sixth form courses, dropping more or focusing on only some makes sense.
For your perfectly capable son it seems far more like laziness and will not be seen as impressive either by his sixth form or at university stage which can be very competitive.
I also agreee that it sends a bad message that he can give up whenever somethings hard. He picked these GCSEs (at least some of them) and is now giving up. He can’t do that with his A levels.

Yes, if he thinks it’s too much then let him do what he thinks he can cope with. As long as he keeps the essentials you’ve said already then he’ll be fine. And yes, he’ll be fine at A level because he will have a greater interest in his chosen subjects and it’s fewer again. I told my son to do just exactly this as he was getting stressed and art and can’t remember what else it was but it didn’t matter. He would never use it. Didn’t enjoy it. Best decision ever. He done well at A level and had so much more commitment. It also really boosted his MH and his self esteem.

I’m considering this for my dd. She is very dyslexic and extra time isn’t going to be enough to get her through certain exams. Her processing skills and memory are really poor. Also her overriding opinion she’s thick.
I hate our education system.

Like others have said, the grades will always be there on his transcript and certificates.
i didn’t get individual gcse certificates and showed the ones I failed.
It said something like:
RE A
biology B
maths C
English B
German E
Physics U

So he can’t really pretend he never took them. Unless the school withdraws him from those subjects

Perhaps encourage him to prioritise rather than drop entirely.

You can empathise with his feelings without endorsing his response/choice.

An open discussion about how much there is to do won't hurt, it's just the truth.

You may find that your decision and school's decision will not align. Your child will still have to.attend the lessons and still be expected to complete the hwk too.

The grades will always be there though, it’s not like he can just forget about those grades. If he applies to Uni those grades will be there and could impact. Or maybe it won’t ever matter. My DD did her GCSE’s last year and I was surprised she had so many (12 GCSE in total, 1 done in year 10). So I wouldn’t want him to drop so many. Is he being lazy or genuinely be spending most of his time studying for the other GCSE’s or does he want to do this so he can have a more relaxed approach to his GCSE’s?

Also although the school may only require 5’s for A level but reality is that A levels are a big jump and he will need to up his game. The fact he is predicted a high grade and wants to give up the subject concerns me, I wouldn’t be impressed with that. He needs to manage his time to revise for more subjects. Maybe look at courses at local colleges too aswell as A levels.

Questions:

What do his school think?
How would he deal with still doing the lessons in the subjects he wants to “drop” He’s unlikely to be able to not participate.