GCSE options - sciences, history and/or geography

Sorry, based on aptitude and likely to do a science A Level. Then choose both humanities or one other.

I would go triple science.

Since he is going to study maths and physics at A level, then he should not drop triple science. Especially if applying to selective sixth form.

I would consider dropping the language so he can do both history and geography. There is no sixth form for uni requirement for a language unless you want to study it at university.

My niece took following GCSEs- Eng Lang, Eng Lit, RE, Triple Science, geography, Maths, Further Maths, Computer science and Design Technology. She dropped a language so she could do both computer science and design technology. The school will never suggest this because you need a language for the English baccalaureate or eBacc. The eBacc is not a qualification or necessary or of any advantage to the student, it is purely goes into how the colleges are rated by Ofsted. The more students leaving college with eBacc, the higher their rating. But it isn’t always in students best interest, so you can drop that language.

She wants to be a robotics engineer. She is taking the following A levels

physics, Maths, Further Maths and computer science.

(She already knows another language anyway, Chinese.)

The more practical subjects are much harder to do remotely - DD is taking art and drama so we've had to build up a supply of art materials at home, and even then we can't hope to duplicate the facilities she has access to at school. And currently she is trying to manage drama groupwork over Teams, which is not remotely the same experience as doing it face to face! But whether you should consider this when selecting options is really unclear!

Mine wants to do medicine. She asked me for my opinion. Then my mum. Then my dad and we all gave her the same advice history & geography and & triple science. Art, drama, music - they have extensive abs I mean extensive extra curriculum after school abs lunchtime. Also we talked about Covid impact for the next 1-2 years abs I think that will impact on subjects like pe and drama in particular whereas zero contact needed for history geography etc so hopefully at the end of the day her choice but the form will be discussed and filled out later this week.

So might also be worth finding out if they mix the two parallel streams in KS4, or keep them separate. If they are mixed, that's a much wider pool of others to associate with.

Um, 5 sets is not a big school (unless there are multiple sets at each level) :)

That does make it more likely that it will be the less able scientists taking combined science. But good idea to talk to the head of science. I doubt they will tell you which children are taking what but they should tell you how many children in a typical year take foundation/higher in triple/combined.

How big is the school (i.e. how many sets)? If triple science is only offered to Set 1 or Set 1 and 2, then in a big school there will still be an awful lot of good scientists taking combined!

A lot of kids don't like science as it's "hard" so behaviour in those lessons can be more challenging as you've got an unwilling audience.

Normally I'd say double science doesn't really hold you back from anything. But as he's top set and all other top set kids are doing triple I'd say do that. They'll be able to challenge them more for top set grades and behaviour will probably be better

Ds1 did combined science, came out with 9,9 and does Physics A level, he is predicted A*/A in it. I think it is more about picking stuff up easily, most of the A level group did combined rather than the triple. There is a strong maths element to it, not as much as GCSE but those who do well at maths.They were put in sets for Science so no messing around in class.

Both History and Geography are very content heavy in terms of facts and figures to remember and the essays you have to write. If you do know the exam board have a look at a past paper to see the marks given for each question which will give you an idea.

I can only talk about History GCSE as both mine did that (they are now year 13 and year 10) they do OCR and it is 3 papers and 5 topics. Very interesting but a lot of detail. It is burned into my memory from flashcard hell of revision.

Lady should be lad!

I hear you on the wandering off thing! My able autistic lady's only Y7 so we haven't given it much thought, but I can imagine food tech being enjoyable for him but also quite a challenge in terms of organisation, planning tasks etc.

Drama v food I have no opinion on but I think it's a great idea to have one or the other, if he is ok with the performance aspect and group work of drama. Actually if he really benefits from being taught things explicitly, where others might just pick up as they go along, then food tech sounds like a very good fit. I think it's good for your brain to have something a bit different in your week, if it's chosen because you enjoy it.

Either double sci + 2 humanities or triple +1 humanity are really solid choices that lots of able children will take before going on to university. I don't think all schools even offer triple sci though the ones we looked at all did. Again I think it comes down to what he enjoys most. I'm not getting a strong feeling from you that he actually prefers hist & geography to sciences.

One other thought that is probably unfair & snobby. My Y9 says a lot of her peers moan about science and mess around. She wants to do triple science partly so she will be in the group who've actively chosen it. But maybe the setting avoids that being an issue for your son.

It’s just food for thought. It really has to be what your DS will find ‘best for him’. I’m loving the idea of him wandering off to watch telly whilst the cake’s burning. Sounds like my DD3. Except she leaves the mixer going 🙄

Food & nutrition is absolutely a useful life skill but he doesn’t need a GCSE to learn those skills; a lot can be learnt at home. Given he’s already thinking A level physics, he may be better off with 3 separate sciences. The jump from a full (3/3rds) physics gcse to A level is already significant. So the leap from 2/3rds physics to A level will be seriously significant. Obviously not impossible but worth considering. Gaining 3 science GCSEs (doing 3/3rds of each science) and a smaller jump to A level maybe more beneficial than 2 science GCSEs (2/3rds of all 3 sciences) and food GCSE. I hope I’m making sense.