DD wants to drop a GCSE subject

The thing is, even if she drops it, she will still know Latin.

And if the worst came to the worst and she desperately needed Latin for some reason for uni (say she wanted to do Ancient History) she could still pick it up to a high standard. It doesn't just disappear because you didn't take the actual exam.

Definitely drop it. You won't forgive yourself if she gets a B in something else AND a B in the Latin, if she is tipped for so many A's.

(disclaimer: I did Latin A level: it was brilliant, so I'm not anti Latin at all)

12 GCSES is a ridiculous amount. I'd let her drop one.

how did you have no parent involvement in what GCSEs she chose?

I think she should continue, btw, but if she were mine, no way I could force her to continue.

Honestly roguedad, 10 GCSEs with some A* grades is way better than 12 or 13 at A and B. Why schools still insist on large numbers of GCSEs is beyond me. Latin is a strong acedemic subject, but the other subjects might also be serious and show breadth of learning. If the Latin is a sensible fit with a university subject, it makes sense to continue. I cannot say I like the idea of children giving up either, but if they are poorly advised it becomes more likely. No-one remotely cares if a child has 10 GCSEs or 12. They just need to be the core subjects plus several other sensible broad choices plus an arts one if possible. The high grades is what is required, not large numbers of subjects.

450 words is nothing and could be dealt with in a few hours. Not a reason to drop a solid, serious subject. Tell to grow up and learn the list with a bit of work. The fact that she thinks it is too much is not a reason to give in to her. Kids never achieve anything if parents let then get away with dumping things the moment it gets tough. Just tell her, "No, learn the vocab and stick at it for a bit". She does have some room to lose a subject if she is doing 12, but a temporary whinge over a vocab list is not a good reason to do it in a hurry. Maybe later in the year when some genuine information has emerged about what she truly hates or turns out to be no good at.

450 words does sound like a hill, not a mountain. But if she is thinking it is too much, then let her drop it. As millymolly says.

DD dropped one of hers at the end of Y10. She still got 13 GCSEs (because that's what they do at the school) She requested and got extra maths lessons instead.

This highlights the problem of doing 12 GCSEs. Problems become mountains. It would seem less of a problem if she was doing 10. No-one needs 12! Unless she is a linguist or potential ancient historian and, probably, she is not, I would say drop it.

My DS is the same age and has just dropped French - at the end of Y10. This was a long thought through decision after regretting the GCSE choice early into Y10, and several meetings with his various French teachers (the string of different French teachers being one of the causes of his difficulties). He was on track for a C/D - way below all his other grades. I tried hard to pursuade him to stick at it, but eventually supported his right to make that decision for himself. The school were reluctant to let him drop it (affects their EBac stats) but did evetuanlly condeed when I supported his decision He was kind of threatening to make no effort if they made him stay, with me implying I wouldn't be doing anything further to force him to study French. I think he really appreciated that I trusted him over that, and his effort and general maturity of approach to his other subjects has improved noticibly since he made that decision.

On the one hand, it sounds like your DD is maybe being a bit rash, if she's predicted an A and is just having a wobble at the list of vocab - could you split it into small lists of 20 words in a list, to see if that helps?

On the other hand 12 GCSEs is a lot. Unless she's considering going on with Latin (or maybe classics) post GCSE it's very unlikely to make any difference to her whether she has a Latin GCSE or not. She'd have a bit more time to revise other subjects without it, and the Latin that she has learned already won't actully be wasted - she still knows it whether or not she has a qualification to prove it.

Is this a properly timetabled subject or after school?

What would DD be doing during the lessons for the dropped subject?

Has she already accrued some marks for this GCSE, e.g. through controlled assessments?

How many subjects is she doing in total and is the subject an important one?

This should your DD's decision, made with your input. The teacher will not want a pupil who is doing well to leave their class so s/he is biased.

I think only your daughter can know if it's a positive thing to do and as pp says, what subject? Obviously she can't drop English or Maths. I dropped German because I was useless at it and knew I wouldn't get any better (or more engaged).

Personally, I think 11 GCSEs is more than enough! (my DD has got 11).

I think it depends on

• what the subject is (eg Food tech v German)
• what her predicted grade is (e.g. D v B) compared with other predictions
• what she wants to do later
• why she is doing so many anyway

DD dropped a subject Feb of y11 but there were very clear unusual reasons behind it. It isn't something the school would normally permit.