Talk to me about Drama and Ancient Greek GCSEs please?

Ds headed down the Greek/Latin/MFL route. He found that having 2 or 3 vocab tests a week to be quite exhausting, and that he missed some of the more fun lessons (he hadn't chosen any creative subjects which we found to be a mistake - for him). So I'd look at the overall balance of what the lessons are like - Greek v similar to Latin in terms of GCSE course I think.

In terms of applying to university to do classics, yes, many undergrads will come to Greek as beginners, but that is because not many schools offer it at either GCSE or A level. As a result university Classics departments tend to be very familiar with which schools teach Ancient Greek especially at A level, and I expect wouldn't view a student who had declined to study Greek where it was available in the same light as one who didn't have the option.

Just to second what TAT said about drama. DS was in one group for at least the second year, and as they had to work together on their improvised piece it is important that they get on together and that everyone pulls their weight. There was a fair bit of drama queenerie (I wondered at one point whether it was actually on the syllabus) but all went well eventually.

For Greek DS did find the first year a bit of a slog of grammar and vocabulary learning, so much so that he almost dropped it. However, he really enjoyed the second year when they were concentrating on the set texts, which he has always liked, and he has in fact chosen it for A level. He said the exam was very easy, but we still waiting for the actual results .

If your DD is even remotely considering readings Classics later, then I would definitely do the GCSE, as it will save time later.

DD has just completed y11 and did Drama.

The workload was less than other subjects, though maybe it would have been better if they had actually done some practice coursework write ups. She didn't have any exams (except the final performance which was straight after Easter), so it was good to have one subject out of the way before the final exam period. Can't remember which board (AQA or Edexcel). At least one board does have exams though.

Warning for Drama - it depends on you being able to get on with others, and on other people being available for rehearsals. Other subjects you can be more independent.

Drama was a good break from the sit-at-desk lessons, as it very much a moving around lesson. So DD found it a welcome change when drama lessons came about.