General starting Y10 Sept 21, GCSE's 2023 thread

DD went back yesterday, and is already worrying about French She was moved up 2 sets to top set where there is a lot more focus on speaking, so while she is good at reading and listening/understanding, she hasnt done a lot of speaking in her previous set so is panicking. I think she will be fine, but its going to be a testing few weeks until she settles I think.

@MayBlossom DD was contemplating PE but couldnt fit it in, it was definitely her 4th option had she been allowed more than 3. She is quite sporty but I think she underestimates the amount of theory in GCSE PE

(namechanged but already on thread!)

Well DS technically goes back today but he is actually doing his bronze d of e expedition. Hoping all his class mates aren't doing too much work today.

DD starts Y10 tomorrow.

My DS goes into yr10 on Wednesday next week. He chose options back on yr8, 3 yr ks4 (though they don’t flag it like that 🙄) and he seems to have covered a fair amount of content already. I have no doubt this year will be extremely disrupted, so I’m very glad he’s already been working at gcse level for a year.

Ds is back on Monday, dd in y11 back Wed but at different school

Ds is back in on Thursday, has to do 2 LFTs before start of term (one 5 days before and one the day before).

I also have a DD starting Yr 10 next Tuesday. Not sure of the testing arrangements in the first few days without re-reading the end of term letter which seems like it was sent out 7 months ago rather than 7 weeks ago!

DD has to do 2 x English, Maths, 3 x Sciences as these were compulsory (unfortunately for her as definitely not her strong point), a language (Spanish), a humanity (History) and she has chosen to do Geography and PE.

Another sincerely hoping there is far less disruption for all school students this academic year.

DD is back in next Tuesday & has to go in on Friday for an LFT. The whole year group will then be tested again next Weds (the day after their first day back) and then we will be asked to do twice weekly LFTs at home. Well, at least, that’s how it is at the moment. Am also - like everyone else I should imagine - hoping for much less disruption this year, fingers crossed.

DD had to self-isolate only once last year when the schools were open and that was in the last week of the summer term when they sent home the whole year group.

But one of her friends in another school had 5 separate periods of being sent home to self-isolate because pupils she sat next to had tested positive .

DD is starting year 10 next week, LFT on Tuesday, in to school Wednesday for 2 periods of tutor time then lessons proper start after break.

She's doing 2 x English, Maths and 3 x science as compulsory then they had to choose a language (French), a humanity (history) and 2 others which are Art and Music. Because everyone at her school does 3 sciences, they started that & the maths course in year 9, all the others start this year.

I'm really hoping they have a less disrupted time of it this year, she really struggled with home learning and her grades for both effort & achievement dropped off a cliff as a result.

DD won't be in lessons until next Tuesday because they have four days of testing to work through first - really big school and they won't let the students in until they have done both tests (not that they are compulsory of course, but we had over 90% takeup before). Surprised at the number of schools who let children start having done one. When we did the March sessions we found our positives on Test 2 and 3, not 1.

I have a DD starting Y10 & GCSEs. She's chosen French & Geography GCSEs & Health & Social Care BTEC & Engineering BTEC (both worth 2 GCSEs)
Plus the usual English Lang, English Lit, Dual Science (she doesn't like Physics so didn't want to do triple) Maths & RE.
I was surprised she chose Engineering over Art or Art & Photography as she's good at Art & her Art teacher did try to persuade her. However DD was put off doing Art because of the sheer amount of work & time that's involved.
In her last option choice none of the subjects really appealed to her apart from the Engineering as it was something different.

I just hope that there will not be any more disruptions to their education from now on.

No harm in asking @tiggles, DD and her year group have been asking for both Food Tech and Astronomy as neither are offered at GCSE. They admit its too late for them but are trying for the younger students.

I saw the choice of Latin and classics and thought wow how amazing to be able to totally immerse yourself in the past like that.
My youngest (year 8) loves that historical period and is good at languages I think that would be an amazing choice he would love to do, but his school sadly don't offer either. I wonder if they might be able to offer classics if he starts asking now!

I noticed latin emphasis too. My girls both speak conversational Spanish (lived abroad for a bit and have a weekly conversation chat with a ‘tutor’) but dd1 doesn’t want to convert this into a gcse - too much work on tenses apparently, so latin it is and I don’t feel too guilty that she isn’t getting the experience of speaking a modern language. Year 7 sister wants to do the same.

I think mumsnet must break the national average on the number of pupils choosing Latin! Back in my day when we only did 9 gcses I'd have done Latin if we could have chosen 10 subjects.

Got one starting Y10 too and she’s picked German, History, Drama and Economics

Oh I wondered if there was a year 10 thread!

DD will be doing triple Sci plus Spanish, Computer Science, Latin and Music. It feels odd that she has no humanities subject, but she was very clear on what she wanted. I think she’s looking forward to getting stuck in at the beginning of term; she’ll have a busy time of it as she’s a musician and very tied up with extra-curricular but she’s been quite organised so far and I’m just hoping that will continue!

I have one starting Y10 - more than half her options picked beginning of last year, but this year she gets to drop Geography (continue history) and she chose between combined and triple science.

She starts this year with
Maths
English
Triple Science
Latin
Music
Drama
History

She's already talking about switching music for Geography - she's a perfectly competent grade 5/6 violin and viola player but it doesn't come that naturally - but I think it's still probably an easy-ish choice for her rather than yet more essay writing. We will see.

That's good he has been allowed to be more flexible Emma, fingers crossed it pays off for him

I'm another who had DC1 just finish their GCSEs this summer, with DC2 starting his journey of GCSEs this September in Y10 (another who does it as a 2 year course, although you could argue they've been doing elements of GCSE content since Y7 - or even earlier!). So 2023 is going to be a big summer for our house!

DC1 is very academic, and came away with a string of excellent GCSEs, we've started to discuss thoughts on Uni, and she's even considering Oxbridge applications.

DC2 is much more of an average student, diagnosed ASD, will only ever do the bare minimum of work. DH and I have already discussed amongst ourselves that we're going to need to get him into a more rigid routine of homework to ensure he's doing what he should, and to an acceptable level. He's not very good at organising himself, but once in a routine, is usually quite happy to continue it.

Their school allows for quite a lot of flexibility in subject choice - English x 2 + Maths, then they can choose a minimum of 2 sciences (DC2 has actually been allowed to only choose 1 science as he finds them particularly challenging), and almost anything else. So he's doing Chem, Comp Sci, Spanish, German, History & Drama. After 18 months of a light touch at school, I'm presuming they're going to go in quite hard and fast - he won't know what's hit him .

My dd has chosen geography, french DT and drama. She's in faith school so RE is compulsory.
She is my oldest and we moved to the uk about 5 years ago so it's all new us.

@SilverGlitterBaubles what does your dc want to change from and to?

Hi all, can I join DD is nervous about starting Y10 as she has been bumped up to top set maths meaning she has to do further maths. I think she'll be fine but she is a worrier.

For her options she picked Latin, Classics and CS and is over the moon to have dropped Geography

I hope all our DC have a less bumpy ride than the past couple of years

Oh just the thread I need. DD starting Y10 and is now doubting her options, partly influenced by what her friends are doing and also because she decided them early in Y9. So now having to revisit it again and hopefully they will allow her to switch some.