Year 8 options - have a few questions for other parents or teachers of this year group - would really like some perspective before speaking with the school. Thanks!

Does he have a planner that you sign each week? Homework should be written in there if soi & if none is written down then I would be questioning it - had a ny been set or has he not written it down?

Perhaps, as a deputy headteacher of a comprehensive school I can help? Firstly your DS sounds like a typical Year 8 boy who treats homework with disdain and gets what needs doing completed at school. They often do it in a cursory way because, at this age, they see it as a drudge. Boys have to see the relevance of the work, once in exam groups, with a specific goal (an exam and its result) they get motivated.
Secondly, your school is doing what all schools do. Detailed report with recommendations as to his ability to achieve. Options details. A chance to consult at school. The fact is your choice may be limited - partly if the school is choosing to adopt an EBacc component to the curriculum, this will reduce his choices. Also at this age, they have often decided already and will sulk and pout if they don't get their way! Plus, it is going to be him that completes the courses.
Thirdly, a reduced key Stage 3 is increasingly common and, for the reasons just outlined, a plus factor for boys. That said, check with the school how long he will study these courses. Will he take GCSEs in Year 10 or 11? If it's in 10, what will he study in 11? Some schools start AS Level then, or do a GCSE in a year (which helps if there is a course which he couldn't do now).
Fourthly, in a broader sense and a contentious issue. Schools provide homework for parents. It's what they think they want. Homework is fast becoming an archaic tradition rapidly replaced by modern technology. Because middle class parents had homework they want it for their children too because 'it's right'. There will be lots of ways children are expected to learn outside of the classroom; the days of complete page 36 Exercise A and B are dead and gone. Education has moved on.
Finally, I know its tempting and easy to say (I have two children!) but don;t worry so much. In Year 8 they are becoming adults with adult decisions. Some might say it's too early, but they will surprise you with the ease they will roll with all this. Hope this helps.

EBacc isn't for the children, though, it's an artificial measure of the school. Part of my DS's dilemma again as he's not good at languages but really good at Maths. His school doesn't force the DC to take a language, thank God, as he'd likely get a C or D. OK, a broad range of academic subjects are obviously preferable to 'noddy' subjects, but DS wants to do Geography, RE and Computing (not ICT) along with English, Maths, Triple Science and Engineering. Not broad enough for the EBacc!

I have 2 DDs, one in YR8 and one in YR9. Their school is changing this year from choosing options in YR9 to choosing in YR8. This means that over the next fortnight we will be making choices for both.

The reason the school gave for the change was the EBacc. All children with a certain CAT score or higher are encouraged to choose the EBacc subjects, and the school were afraid that, once this happened, they would have fewer children choosing the Design/Technology/Arts/Performing Arts subjects. These might then cease to be viable options. For this reason they choose earlier and thus have more time to dedicate to their choices - KS4 is YRs 9 - 11 and not just 10 & 11. I suppose the change means that they have time to do the subjects above as well as the EBacc subjects because they are not 'wasting time' on subjects they don't want to proceed with in YR9. To me, however, it seems a bit early to be dropping say, Geography, and I think they will need some support to make the right decisions.

Ours do 6 compulsory subjects (English x 2, Maths, Double Science, RS) and can choose an additional 5 subjects, one of which must be a language and one of History/Geography if they are to get the EBacc.

I have to say it's been a bit of a mystery to me, and we have things like 'Options Evening' in the calendar for ages without knowing what would happen on the night. It would be much easier if I had an older child as well!

We have had an opportunity to meet subject teachers for my YR9 DD and an options evening, which is more of a wander around classrooms looking at the syllabus I think (it hasn't happened yet) and then the same process again iin a fortnight for DD2. Options forms have to be at half term or thereabouts.

Folkgirl - an hours homework per night is certainly not the norm in our experience and I know our school is not alone on this. More like half an hour on some nights and virtually nothing on other nights.
I discovered that there are lots of things that the teachers suggest the pupils do e.g. online language websites, that most of the pupils disregard as they are "optional". Its good to get a list of them from the teachers and then coerce your son to doing them regularly.
My rule is that if ds has no homework then he has to do at least 20 mins on each of two of the suggested websites. I'm not very concerned about lack of homework itself but more that ds gets into the habit of sitting down each night for a short time. The homework will definitely come through in the following years.
One other tip - does your ds have any classmates with siblings in the older years? If so, maybe get in touch with their parents and ask if you can have a chat with them. They will have a ton of experience and it may help you understand how the school works and ends up with the great results.

would be interested to hear how you get on at the meetings etc.

DD1 in year 8 So I have limited experience as I learn as I go along with her.

WRT homework DD gets more than your DS, very often projects on several weeks that could if done every night in bits take an hour +. She does also get computer maths homework but it is exercises, not preparation/research for next lesson and they get marked when submitted.

Is your son maybe in a high set where they are pushed sufficiently in class so do not need as much homework or in a lower one where they do not want to overload the pupils with homework? (I have no idea if it is how it works but was just wondering if it is a possibility)

We have not yet had a parent evening this year, I think it is somewhere during the second half of this term. In year 7 we had one after a few weeks but it was just to meet the form tutor, the one where we met each subject teacher individually was at the end of April.

DD is asking me if your DS is in a HS that specialises in languages as some of her friends did have to choose their language option in Y8 and will pass their language GCSE in Y9.

Haven't heard of options in Y8 before. I would be horrified if our dc hadn't been doing homework in Y8. Both have had at least an hour an evening with perhaps two and a half at weekends.

Have you thought about making an appointment to see the head of year? Presumably the parents evening will provide you with quite a lot of feedback to support your decisions.

When it came to it there was never much choice for ours. DD is in Y9 now and DS in L6. We have felt a bit of a hiatus with DD because she moved schools at the end of Y8. Both at different schools but both have ended up doing similar with a hard core of English, English Lit, Maths, French, RS, History (choice), Latin (choice), three separate sciences and one has done art and one likely to go for music or spanish.

Although DS has started his core subjects apparently they are not taking exams any sooner, just having more time to cover the syllabus along the way. Of course our Y9( Or Y8) DCs are the first to do the new linear GCSEs so it will look different for schools anyway.

DS is doing triple Science, Maths, English. A 1/2 GCSE is compulsory in Beliefs, Philosophy and Ethics. He had four choices and has chosen Italian, Geology, Geography and Music.

How are other people's schools handling the Ebacc? DSsSchool advised students following acadamic pathways to consider their choices in regard to the requirements of Ebacc but didn't push it.

FolkGirl, we didn't choose a school with an accelerated KS3, but here's a bit from the prospectus of one that we looked at (I don't think it was the only one, but it was the one I could remember):

'Year 9 is seen as an intermediate GCSE year and allows for more accelerated learning and a wider range of accreditation options and learning experiences'.

Whatever the hell that means.

Some schools play the statistics - get kids to focus on fewer subjects earlier and/or take a couple of subjects a year early, guide pupils towards subjects which they are most likely to get the precious A*/A or A-C rankings. Its why a lot of schools which were high ranking by those metrics fell down when 'English Bacc' suddenly appeared. Of course the schools know where the goalposts have been moved to, but the league tables for the first couple of years including EBacc can be quite revealing.

Just looking at DDs school website, they do 3 year ks3 2 year ks4 except for Tech subjects where its 2/3. Don't know if that means they have to decide which tech subject they are doing for GCSE next year (they have to do one) - DD would be all too happy to drop Food Tech asap but not to have to choose yet between Electronics and Product Design

My dd is in year 8 and we are choosing options in March. We have a parents evening in Feb and an options meeting in March. When we went to the last parents eve in year 7, each teacher told us that they wanted dd to gcse in their subject. But our options are limited

At present dd wants to be a vet so we have picked the following but are open to discussion and it depends on her results at the parents evening

English, Maths and RE (compulsory)
Triple science
French or Italian
Geography
Art
PE

I just find the whole process really early to be honest but hope to get advice from school during the process.

State grammar. They have already had to decide which two of French, German and Spanish to do at the mo (unless they do a 'twilight' class for all 3), but AFAIK they keep doing the full spread of subjects next year.

Interesting, LadyWellian. I'm not convinced of the benefits of taking GCSEs early, but perhaps having 3 years to cover the GCSE syllabus and taking the exams in Y11 could work. I'd still hate for them to have to make these decisions so young...

I know some schools do an accelerated KS3, so it's only Y7 and Y8, not Y9 as well. So I guess these ones would choose options in Y8.

My DS is in Y9 at a comp and will be choosing his options over the next half term. We get a parents meeting with time to meet subject teachers and they get lots of information in a booklet which is discussed in tutor time (haven't seen the booklet yet.)

English, maths and science are compulsory, double science is usual (all 3 sciences leading to a double GCSE) single for those who struggle and triple for the top set only in his school. They also have a compulsory DT subject to choose as the school has a Technology specialism. The options appear to be only 3 1/2 subjects as RE is a compulsory 1/2 GCSE, from French, Spanish, History, Geography, ICT, Computing, Art, Drama, Music, and some more vocational diploma type options that count as 2 or more GCSEs. RE can be taken as a 1/2 to make a whole GCSE, or 1/2 French, 1/2 ICT, I think.

I've never heard of choosing options in Y8. My DS has started some GCSE syllabus work in Maths but that's due to him being in the top set for that subject and he may take the GCSE early. And it's a core subject of course. I'm not sure if that will actually benefit him.

He's in a bit of a dilemma, actually, as he hates languages and is likely to do fairly poorly at French. He's tempted to drop it entirely for geography, RE and computing instead, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea if he wants to go to university. It's tricky to know if it would be better to get an A or B grade in RE or risk a D grade in French.

Which is why it's essential to talk to the subject teachers before you have to make these life changing decisions. The wrong GCSEs now may rule out access to courses that mean certain careers are also ruled out. Weighty decisions at 14, even tougher if you are only 12 or 13. I'd want much more information from the school to find out what effect these Y8 options will have on your DSs GCSEs.

DS (y9) and Dd (y7) both have significant amounts of homework. School has rebranded it 'homelearning' and has been encouraging parental involvement a lot.

DS (y9) has just chosen his GCSE options, we had a report with comments in November, a parents evenings in December to speak to teacher individually regading aptitude and progress and finally an options evening last week which was a bit like a 'roadshow', you could go round each department and discuss the courses in more detail.

We have also had letters explaining the process and a very lengthy booklet explaining all the choices.

Option in Y8 seems to be making them specialise very early, DS is disappointed about stopping some subjects at the end of Y9 (although not Art, he would have given that up happily last year). They have started core subjects (Science/Maths/English) this year though.

We are at a comprehensive by the way.

Doesnt really sound like an "outstanding" ofsted school tbh. My ds also goes to a very good comp and we get a lot of information on what's happening (in the form of newsletters, options booklets, ks3 handbooks and outline of topics covered by term by subject).
If I received as little information as you indicate I would be quite concerned and would be asking his form tutor or Y8 learning manager for a face to face meeting so that I could learn more.