GSCE option choices

We found there was very little real choice. Just between history and geography. Between French and German. And between art and drama and music.

10 is fine. DD1 took 10 last Summer - she ended up with 11 as they all did RE in year 10.
DD2 is choosing at the moment and will do 10.
This is at a Grammar as well.
They don't need more than that and will get better grades by not spreading themselves too thin.
I feel your pain though as DD2 can't decide either.
My advice would be to look into the individual courses in detail e.g..for history what period are they going to cover and will she be interested in that.
DD1 didn't look hard enough at specs before choosing and ended up swapping from Geography to Drama at the end of the first half term.

Under the old system DD's school only timetabled 10 GCSE subjects. The compulsory ones were Maths, 2 x English, 2/3 x science and Citizenship.

Those only doing double science could then choose 4 other options, those doing triple science could choose 3.

Making option choices is tough for all-rounders but she needs to avoid over-burdening herself. I’m finding that even my very brightest students in year 11 found it really tough to cope with the increased number of exams in the mock exam periods and they only do 9 GCSEs. The problem is that most of those GCSEs now have 3 exams whereas under the old system 1-2 exams (plus controlled assessment in some subjects) was the norm. My subject had 3 exams on the old spec but we were the exception rather than the rule.

I don’t think there is any chance at all that she’ll be able to do 13 GCSEs. Assuming a standard 25 hours per week of lesson time minus the 2 hours of compulsory PE required by law, each gcse would be timetabled less than 2 hours per week. Our students have 2.5 hours per week for most GCSEs but have over 4 hours per week of maths.

The number of subjects is usually not flexible. The school will usually have a set number of option blocks on the timetable (in my school it’s 3). Our students all do 2 x English, 2 x Science, Maths, RS, Core PE (double lesson each week but GCSE not compulsory) and then choose 3 options. In reality those choices are limited though as the majority have to do a language and either history or geography, which only really leaves one completely free choice. She probably won’t get to choose how many subjects she does and 9-10 is the norm now IME.

I have issue but with ds very happy to drop a language which the school will most definitely try and put a stop to! He also wants to do history and geography which may be an issue though has been allowed some years. He would dump RS in a flash but think compulsory. He is a triple science candidate but decision made year 10 so shouldn't limit options right now...
He too wants raft of other subjects which he simply won't be allowed to do. Something will have to be sacrificed!

Going through this in couple of weeks as well. You will need to talk to school re whether can do more than 10.
I will be having this discussion soon and think option for my ds to do more than 10 if can be accommodated in the timetable. However, like you need to decide what best in long run workload wise.
Hard to get rid of well-loved subjects!