How many GCSEs?

Yes, that's what most pupils do at our school, 10 GCSEs plus Additional Maths (FSMQ), for the top Maths sets.

I suppose maybe Additional Maths (the FSMQ thing) counts as an eleventh, so what she'd have liked to have done would have been eleven reformed GCSEs plus the FSMQ.

DD4 has just done ten GCSEs and got 9s in nine of them and an 8 in the tenth (although the school has put the whole cohort in for a remark on that one). She really didn't find it hugely stressful and was still pretty chirpy at the end. It really isn't possible to generalize. I think she could have taken another (and she'd like to have done another language) with no impact on her other exams or emotional health.

11 sounds like far too much. My DD has just done 10 GCSEs. She is also very academic and got 8s, 9s or A* in nine of them and a 7 in one.

She found the examination weeks absolutely exhausting. Week after week, she had an exam virtually every day and there were some days with two exams. Honestly, if she'd done another subject, I think her grades would have been mostly 7s...... which still would have been very good but not as good as what she got.

I should have said that if pupils opt for triple science, they do one less option.

I feel in my school the students are spread too thinly. They do too many GCSEs and teaching time is also compromised for each subject. We're in Wales, and a Catholic school so that makes a difference.
English x 2
Science x 2
Maths
Numeracy
RE
Welsh
Skills challenge (Welsh Bac)
Options x3

That makes 12. Plus some students do additional maths.

DD has just started her GCSE courses at our local Grammar school. She's taking English X2, Maths., and all 3 Sciences, as her 'core' subjects then Geography (humanity), German (MFL), and Art (creative) plus Latin as her free choice. PE is offered as an additional subject, some of the core PE lessons are given over to theory work plus they have to put in some work outside that. They've been taught sciences separately since yr8 so they've already covered some of the GCSE content in yr9.
I'd put school 2 down as first choice and school 1 as second, assuming DD is happy with that and the commute isn't too long. Only 8 subjects seems rather restrictive especially for high achievers.

Dd has just done 9, as did most people we know. Her school, an independent girls school, only allows 9 for most girls now - they made big chances after the new GCSES came in, as did most local schools. The only ones doing 10 at dd's school were those doing Further Maths or those doing an extra Language, which was one where they actually spoke the language at home.

I did 11. It was pointless.

The new GCSEs are much more rigorous and have a lot more content to get through. Loren really don't need more.

I do agree, however, that 8 is a bit low as it restricts options, especially if you are have subjects that have to be done, or you want to do triple science.

Dd had to do English language, English lit, maths and at least 2 sciences. They were then recommended to do a language and a humanities. This then gave her two options to choose freely. A lot of her friends chose triple science as one option.

My DD has never enjoyed RE lessons since year 7... not everyone does enjoy the subject. (I didn’t...!) Also, she isn’t a natural essay writer... although I am sure she will get better with time.

She really wanted to do Modern History - school only offered Geography, History and Ancient History. So because of that and the advice of the history teacher about essay writing, my DD switched to Geography which she equally enjoys.

RE at my DD’s school isn’t an optional subject - which is why I have an issue really.

It is one if the mandatory 8 subjects that all students have to take - on top of this they have to choose a MFL & Humanity subject.

Facilitating only matters for A levels

And even then only to a degree. My very bright Year 11 dd is thinking about A Levels and at the moment she doesn't want to do any facilitating subjects at all: Religion, Philosophy and Ethics; Classical Civilisation and Sociology. As far as her research goes, this combination should be fine for many universities.

All good then Milady.

One of mine is much more interested in RE than History so she chose it instead. She's still allowed to do history a level at her school as the topics they cover are completely different from gcse to a level but RE asks for similar essay skills. She's doing RE, History and one other for A level

GCSEs aren't all about getting to university though.
For the 50% that aren't heading that way, dual science is plenty of science, and RE (at least the short course DD1 did) gets you to learn and think about the beliefs of others, how to be tolerant etc. Actually, for anyone off to university but not doing science, dual science is plenty too.

So for general life RE is arguably way 'more useful' than the extra bit between dual & triple science, and just as useful as History or Geography.

Facilitating only matters for A levels

I agree, but if the GCSE facilitating choices are too narrow and / or there has been a change in direction then the facilitating choices left available for A level may well be sub-optimal.

So what? The choices are already narrow for a 14 year old and the broader the range of fac subjects the more options are left open for as long as possible. If a student is capable of doing 11 just for the fun of it, including RE, then all well and good. If they are limited to 8 either by school dictat or of necessity to maximise grades then RE would not be my priority.
(I studied Theology at Uni. Having GCSE RE would have made absolutely no difference to getting onto the course or performance once there).

Ebacc only matter for government measures, so not an issue.
Facilitating only matters for A levels, so not an issue.

Some schools (e.g one of the schools in my town) play fast and loose with the 'withdraw from RE', basically enabling parents to sign to withdraw on the GCSE options form.
Others continue with RE but not giving it the hours a full GCSE gets, so withdrawing from it doesn't enable an additional GCSE.

Our school used to do short course RE end y10 as a 'taster'. I don't know if it still does (awaiting options evening in Jan).

So what? Universities accept it for pretty much anything essay based.

RE isn't a facilitating or an Ebac subject though, whereas History and Geography are.

RE is s great course, including lots of philosophy.

It's no problem to include Triple Science as well as RE within 10 GCSEs:

3 Sciences
2 English
Maths
Foreign Language
Humanity (eg RE)
Art/Music
Another option (eg Computer Science or History)

It's true about RE, they don't have to do it, you can withdraw.
Some schools don't teach it at all, mine has never done it, apart from primary.

Triple science is far more useful than RE and PHSE

Not necessarily. RS or RE is a great subject, really makes them think and combines History, Philosophy, even bits of Geography.

My oldest dd was in the top set for Science and was due to take triple. She decided in January to drop to the dual award so she ended up with 9 GCSEs instead of 10, which is plenty in my opinion. Her reasoning - she wasn't doing Science A Levels, the triple course ended much later in the year leaving little time for revision and she thought it better to go for quality rather than quantity. It was definitely the right choice for her - she got AA for the dual award

My middle dd is at a different school where they all do triple. She also isn't doing Science A Levels and doesn't see the point in triple. Everyone does 11 subjects and dd is stressed.

9 or 10 is enough IMO.

Depends if the extra 3 subjects give real choice. Not necessarily the case if compulsory RE, science x3 and Further Maths make up the difference.

From Dept of Ed website:

"Religious education
Schools have to teach RE but parents can withdraw their children for all or part of the lessons. Pupils can choose to withdraw themselves once they’re 18.
Local councils are responsible for deciding the RE syllabus, but faith schools and academies can set their own."

maz99. Pity she had to change to Geography from History if she loves History.

RE is not woolly, it is a good subject in its own right, but with a reasonable amount of work you can get a decent grade, as I said before. To get a 9 in it you would have to work very hard. Just as with all subjects in the reformed GCSEs.

A lot of schools take the short course in RE.

Gosh RS is really vigorous subject. One of the best for learning to develop an argument.