Choosing options in year 8 and starting GCSE's in Year 9

My DS did this. Now in Year 10, having completed one, of a 3 year GCSE course. Works really well.
My only regret is that, at the age of 13, he had his last ever history lesson. Too early in my opinion, but not what he wanted to choose as an Option.

Our secondary does this - I can see both sides. It won't suit everyone, some teenagers will need more time to think about where their talents and interests lie. On the other hand I can't lie - it is perfect for my DDs who know exactly what they want to do. DD1 is in Yr10 and was really happy to drop ICT, Music, DT. She would have liked to do Art but understood the workload wouldn't have been manageable and would have had to drop History, which was never going to happen.

DD2 wants to do exactly the same set of subjects DD1 is and is in the same situation - the system works really well for them.

If DD's school had done that she would have had to choose GCSE options aged 12.5, and started them aged just 13 which is way too young in my opinion.

Also, I don't think she would have picked the same subjects she did eventually, and may even not have picked a second language, which she is now doing for A level.

So no, I don't like it.

DD's school now does mini options going in to y9 where pupils select tech subjects which I think is good but they aren't committing to doing GCSE in them.

hmmm... well, all yr9s at DD's school do some ICT. I thought it was a compulsory thing.

yeoldetrout DD2 is in yr9 and she doesn't do IT at all. She didn't choose it as an option and therefore doesn't do it.

My DS (15) is doing this. The school held a meeting and explained it although DH and I had no clue whether it was a good or a bad thing (it's a lot of years since we've been at school!). The subjects are studied in more depth and they really delve into them.

DS took one GCSE early (in Y10) although my understanding is that it wasn't 'early' just that the overall course is shorter so the additional year of study wasn't justified. He did well in the exam and that seems to have boosted his confidence. It also helped him with exam prep, he found it helpful just knowing what to expect in terms of the exam set-up before he deals with the others this year. The lesson time for that subject has now been freed up so it's used for supervised study and/or for additional focus on other topics that need a lot of self-driven input, eg. Art.

In terms of what subjects to choose, in his school they had to take Maths, English and the Sciences and they were 'very strongly recommended' to take a modern language and a humanity subject, then it was free reign for any other choices. There were additional topics available for GCSE study that they hadn't previously studied, more languages, drama and a few others. It did feel very early for him to be making choices but without exception, every single teacher said 'let him do what he enjoys'. The didn't have a GCSE in playing on the Playstation but that's exactly what we did and he is very happy with how it has worked out. I think your child may need to take a slightly different view if they had their heart set on a specific career and knew exactly which A-Levels they would need but I think that is the exception and as mentioned, the school insisted on the 'basics'.

My DD is in Y9 at a different school and about to choose her options for Y10 GCSE study. TBH, I wish she had the same '3 year' option as my DS but that's not what the school offers so we just need to suck it up. Sorry it's long - hope it helps.

my school is going down this route this time so I would be interested to hear experiences.

In one way I am looking forward to being able go more in depth with the extra time available, however I am concerned that having only studied some subjects for 2 years with limited time, for example DT/drama/art etc only having 1 lesson a week compared to the 3 lessons a week that history gets that this will further harm creative subjects even more than the 'Ebacc' is doing

They have to keep taking IT to end of yr9 (statutory requirement) even if they don't do it for GCSE.

At our school they can change their minds to some extent for 1st weeks after starting each GCSE and also in January of yrs9 & 10.

The main problem DD's mates have had seems to be parents saying (e.g.) "Drama isn't academic enough!" and kids having to fight for it.

In school I never had any lessons in textiles-DT-catering-business-IT-RE-German-geography so I thought it was already pretty impressive that DC had so much exposure to those (2 yrs). Enough to know if they wanted to drop or pursue them at least. DD hated geography but is doing it anyway for GCSE because she didn't much like the other choices in the end.

Yes they do drop subjects that they don't pick. My DC had a choice of new subjects that they hadn't studied before as well as traditional subjects.

Do they drop the subjects in Y9 that they haven't picked for GCSE then?

My DD is in Y8 and I wouldn't like that. I don't think she's done enough of some subjects to make a sound decision about them. She's fairly mature, analytical and opinionated, but it would mostly be me making those choices i.e. persuading her to adopt my view of the 'right' ones.

My DD is doing this this year. The school is changing to studying GCSEs over three years, none will be sat early I don't think.

The one difference to her older siblings is that they are getting more careers advice, including everyone getting a personalised letter suggesting subjects they should consider. Actually knowing she has to make this choice has made her grow up a bit.

However I do hate the fact that at 12/13 she might never do some subjects again (and others she has only had a very brief taste of at secondary).

My DC have picked their options in yr8 while they are in their middle school for studying in yr9 when they start at an upper secondary.

It's common at schools around here & very rare that I find a parent who dislikes it in any way. Most parents say emphatically it's so much better than the old system where all the stress came at once for everybody right at the end. When the work load became simply impossible & they felt very unprepared for so much work at once.

That it's better the kids get to prove themselves a bit with some early GCSEs that truly count, so they learn a bit about how to really handle the workload, pressure & that finally some of their work actually matters; school becomes real. So they don't hide head in sand, feel like they are just marking time. They learn from experience that they can't get a good mark without actually revising, in time to make sure that most of their results are good ones.

And other stuff like that.