Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Dd in tears over gcse options.

138 replies

VivaLeBeaver · 05/05/2015 15:40

Aggh.

She's been told she can't do art and graphic design as they're in the same option block. Which is a bit shit when you want to be a graphic designer for a career and have been told you're amazingly talented at both subjects.

She's got to pick an option from a different block, so drama, music, computer sciences, history or geography. None of which she wants to do.

When the bloody forms came out the subjects weren't in blocks. I can't understand why they don't do options forms with the subjects in blocks and tell the kids months ago they need to pick one from each block.

Dd asked if she could carry her second language on rather that do something from block D but was told that's not possible as all the languages are in one block as well. Which for a language specialist academy seems stupid. Surely they should put similar subject areas in different blocks?

Anyway, what do you think my chances of arguing it with the school are. Apparantly head of yr 10 told dd he'd try and sort something but he doubted he'd be able to do it. I want to tell the school that unless they're taught at the same time on the same day I want her to be able to do both. Is that unreasonable?

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
HmmAnOxfordComma · 11/05/2015 17:29

It's my favourite punctuation... except maybe the ellipsis ;-)

howabout · 11/05/2015 17:18

Congratulations! We are still waiting confirmation that nothing was oversubscribed. Need to know where you stand on the Oxford comma - unnecessary untidiness or necessary clarification?

HmmAnOxfordComma · 11/05/2015 16:38

Just found out today that ds can have all his choices: art, graphics and history are all in separate blocks. That's a big relief as his year group is quite small so we thought they might suffer on the option choices.

CultureSucksDownWords · 09/05/2015 20:46

Computer science is an academic subject, it is classed as a science and is included in the ebacc as a science. (Not that the ebacc matters for parents or for choosing options, it's really only the school that should worry about the ebacc).

She sounds competent enough with IT from what you've described, and I do think that options should be chosen with some regard to what will be enjoyable. 2 years of a subject you're not interested in will be a challenge!

MissMuffetisin · 09/05/2015 20:43

Yes she did. Took at little while to get going, then to quote her art teacher " it all burst out of her '" . She took Art. English, Sociology and History at a level. They seemed to quite like the sociology, perhaps it helps to understand your market ! Must admit I am quite envious of her job Although it has stresses like every job, must be nice to create something for a living .

Original poster
VivaLeBeaver · 09/05/2015 20:38

I guess if she does go into a graphics degree they will cover the necessary ICT then. And it will be up to date stuff.

OP posts:
Original poster
VivaLeBeaver · 09/05/2015 20:37

She has some basic ICT skills. God knows she spends enough time on minecraft, but has set her own server up and has had to do some type of coding for setting up white lists and adding stuff to her server.

I think two years of programming would bore her to tears though.

And I do also think she really ought to choose a more academic option. Fair enough if she had a real passion for computing but she doesn't.

mrsmuffetisin. That's good to hear. Did your dd cope with the art a level ok?

OP posts:
MissMuffetisin · 09/05/2015 20:34

Gcse not goes !

MissMuffetisin · 09/05/2015 20:34

And don't get to hung up on a particular programming software - they will all have changed by the time she gets there ! The important thing it to be willing to keep learning new stuff. Daughter doors coding for websites, apps and also does print . But the jobs do tend to be mostly digital - that's were the earning potential is. I think she got an f at goes , she only got into it when it was useful to her !

MissMuffetisin · 09/05/2015 20:30

Daughter is a graphic designer, had some amazing jobs. She didn't even do Art at o level. Took it up after a monumental battle with school at A level. Then did a design degree at Uni

proudmama2772 · 09/05/2015 20:27

If she wants to be a Graphic Designer having basic ICT skills does not hurt at all. I've worked with Graphic Designers and they all have some basic programming understanding - particularly javascript

Original poster
VivaLeBeaver · 09/05/2015 16:18

Yes, I think she's unrealistic in her expectations of how much she'll do in her own time.

The one silver lining if she drops art for graphic design is that I hear the workload is less. Seeing as she will be doing photography as well which is also coursework heavy then that would be a good thing.

We're still no further forward in what to choose from The other option block. I'm still waiting for a phone call back from the school.

Options are geography, history, drama, music, computing, business studies.

I imagine she will end up doing geography.

OP posts:
summerends · 09/05/2015 06:56

VivaLeBeaver it speaks well for her future that she is strong minded Smile. However if you really think that's her future lies in design then perhaps a bit of pressure bribey as suggested before. However if she is so adamant at least it opens up the possibilities of another academic subject. What are the choices again that she might consider in that block?

It seems unlikely that the teacher will continue to have the time to do extra art particularly at the same level as those doing it for GCSE. She's also going to want time to do other things like socialising after school is n't she?

Original poster
VivaLeBeaver · 09/05/2015 06:30

I've told her that Summerends. I'm getting to a stage where I can only tell her and if she doesn't listen then it's up to her. Drawing is her weakest area and Id have thought she'd benefit from 2 years of lessons on that.

Hopefully if she does some after school stuff with the art teacher that will help.

OP posts:
Original poster
VivaLeBeaver · 09/05/2015 06:27

Yes. Most unis say an a level in an art and design subject. Mw high I'm guessing could inc graphic design a level. along with a portfolio.

She's spoken to her art teacher and has decided to drop art and do graphic design. Her art teacher says she's happy to help dd at lunchtimes, Wednesday afternoons (currently no lessons). That she will help dd with an art portfolio, etc.

So she still has to choose an option from block d.

OP posts:
summerends · 09/05/2015 06:25

It strikes me after reading the experts' advice that if she is already producing very high level graphic design work and is serious about this then she would have more to learn from art GCSE (plus perhaps photography). Would n't improving her art (plus photography) feedback into making her a better creative designer at A level or beyond plus open up her design / art options? (I can't see the point of her doing computer science without some interest in that.)

However if she wants the short term view of the easiest top grade and a relaxing GCSE because in fact she is more likely to pursue academic subjects at A level then she should choose graphic design.

PiratePanda · 08/05/2015 23:52

Has she even looked at the websites for the universities and art colleges that offer graphic design to see what they suggest as suitable A Levels? if not, why not?

She'd be crazy not to do art.

CultureSucksDownWords · 08/05/2015 12:57

I code websites... I'm a programmer. I can't design for toffee - no artistic, graphic design skills whatsoever. I create the website as the designer wants it, using their graphics, colour scheme, layout etc etc.

Web designers will need to know HTML, CSS, Javascript and others, but the OPs daughter seems to want to be a graphic designer not a coding web designer, ifyswim. Unless she is really interested in learning to code, the GCSE Computer Science course will be a hard slog.

ragged · 08/05/2015 11:40

The designers we know can't code for toffee. Okay, a little basic 4th gen language, but that's it. They are whizzes at the graphics software and have a canny sense of what works visually.

Duckdeamon · 08/05/2015 11:34

Yes, designers absolutely do and will need coding! Eg it is used for designing websites.

Original poster
VivaLeBeaver · 08/05/2015 10:40

X post with CultureSucks. Thanks, that's what I was thinking.

OP posts:
ragged · 08/05/2015 10:40

Poor thing has NO Interest in computing.
I'm a wannabe geek, but it's not for everyone.
I can't find words to comment on MN obsession with getting "top" grades.
My gut feeling is that the girl herself will make the best choices for herself.

Original poster
VivaLeBeaver · 08/05/2015 10:39

The computing course the school offers is all coding and programming, would that be necessary for a graphic design career?

OxfordComma thanks, will check out those art classes.

Maybe she should do art. I just feel so sorry for her having to stop her favourite subject which she's so passionate about.

OP posts:
CultureSucksDownWords · 08/05/2015 10:36

Are people aware the Computing/Computer Science is not like the old ICT courses. There will be no content at all about using applications.

Computing/Computer Science will be about how the computer works, and how to program a computer. So that might mean learning a programming language like Python, Ruby, VB, Java or similar. Plus learning binary, hex, logic, how the CPU works, about different types of computer memory etc. All very useful of course, particularly if you want to go on to do computer science, engineering, physics, etc. But I'm not sure that this would be the kind of "digital skills" that are useful in a wider sense, the sort of thing that would be covered in an ICT course (graphics packages, website design, DTP etc).

Duckdeamon · 08/05/2015 10:13

V hard to get top grades in art a level. Not having GCSE will be a disadvantage.

If she's sure her future is in art or design she might want to consider a specialist college (eg foundation course) for sixth form.

wouldn't advise dropping computer science if she is really interested in a design career. It's pretty essential to have digital skills.

Swipe left for the next trending thread