What should a year 10 be doing for Uni requirements

I believe that extra curricular or clubs or what have you should be because the child is interested, not because it gets them points for uni applications. If it can be both, great.
But I am amazed that unis here aren't interested in extracurricular stuff, as surely it shows a well rounded, interested and interesting person. And how do they differentiate between one three As (or Bs or Cs) student and another? As for disadvantaged children, the fact that they may have a part time job to help with household expenses or need to care for siblings etc also shows commitment, organisation and responsibility.
For example, though I was able to take my child to rugby practise, there were certainly others who cycled or took the bus, and there was a system to help pay for the kit and annual dues if unaffordable. It demonstrated total commitment that these boys, driven or not, got themselves up and to practise one evening and every Sunday morning rain, hail or shine. That would interest me if I was on an admitting panel. Likewise, my daughter has started a club in her school - it doesn't cost money and they meet at lunch. She, and the members, are doing something interesting with their time, learning new skills and working together. Surely that is something to be proud of and highlight?
I wouldn't want to be treated by a doctor who has nothing but amazing grades. And if I was recruiting for a university, I would value a person as a whole, not just their ability to do well in exams.

Not for university but I recruit graduates (general finance / business so not medical) and I like to see extra curricular, love to see D of E, love to see a hobby that has continued from school to university and I also like to see a part time job that has been held down for a while. Sorry for the tangent reply I just wanted to point out that university isn’t the end of the line.

Another teacher here. In my long experience, schools are really not the ones telling people that D of E, music grades, tiddlywinks etc matter to high grade tariff universities' admissions teams. At least no-one who knows anything about UCAS would say that. The most clunkingly awful personal statements I see are almost always ghost-written by dad, or less often, mum, under that misapprehension.

D of E, playing in teams etc are wonderful on their own terms, and certainly educational in the broadest, best sense, but they are not an artificial shoe-horn to funnell middle-class kids to uni.

If applicants do mention extra/co curricular activities on a personal statement, they should use them to continue to demonstrate how they are suitable for THIS course not just a random, 'and I play in an orchestra' or whatever. My advice is to make the whole statement at least 80% academic and entirely focused on the subject applied for. You can bring in any life experience to do this, so If applying for Sports Science or Music, then games/violin will be relevant, but you still need to explain why. If you wanted to do Physics, say and are also a keen mountain biker, you could show off knowledge of the mechanics of a bike, say, when writing about the hobby.

What unis do like is evidence of supra-curricular learning, ie going beyond the syllabus academically. They will quite reasonably expect kids from more privileged backgrounds to show more academic independence than others.

Listen to podcasts, eg from radio 4, READ, do an EPQ, take free MOOCS, do relevant work experience if possible, especially for medics, dentists, vets (to show people skills, so not necessarily in a medical etc setting). Above all, apply for a subject you genuinely love and do enough work in advance to find out why you love it so much. Then explain that.

It doesn't matter if it doesn't happen in yr10, she will also have 10 weeks off after GCSEs when she has finished her exams. By then she may have an idea of what she wants to do and can make a start.

They are looking for supercurriculars ie interest in a subject area and their foray into learning more. This can be anything from reading, watching YouTube, podcasts, physically exploring places etc. DoE is sold in school as one that makes you stand out, sadly it doesn't because loads of schools do it. On a personal statement it is literally about 2 lines at the end.

The best thing she can do right now is make flash cards or mind maps or any revision notes for her yr10 that she can also use in yr11. Get the best grades possible at GCSE. When she comes to choosing A levels you can always post back here and ask about her choices if you want some opinions on them

If she is thinking of something vocational or competitive then any work experience, online courses, course tasters, relevant volunteering etc will be more valuable than ucas points from extracurriculars.

Actually some medical schools look for any work experience, rather than "relevant", on the basis that it advantages students with contacts and medical families. Cardiff, for example.

grades are the currency. I don't think extracurricular stuff is often used even as a tie breaker.

Concentrate on her schoolwork.

Additional activities only where relevant to the subject she might want to apply for at uni.

For medical courses, relevant work experience is all but essential these days. Extra curriculars don’t add anything to her application really, but that’s no reason not to do them.

Work hard at her GCSEs and do extra curricular they enjoy, not so much that it affects mental health

GCSEs

I think I read it wasn’t so much about extra curricula activities but co-curricular ones. I may have got the word for the second one wrong.

For extra-curriculars, few people care, but if she wants to mention them, it should be about the transferrable skills they offer.

They want stuff on depth of study.

Clubs and most extra curricular are deemed non inclusive, as they are dependent in parental income and parental transport usually.

My DC didn’t do D of E, they concentrated on getting good grades. They both picked traditional subjects at A levels. In the upper sixth form one DC was elected onto the student council so I think that helped. The other one ran a little business which tied in with studying Economics and he went on a few day courses held at a university during the summer holidays. They were nothing to do with the school. They both had part time work and a had done a tiny bit of volunteering which they mentioned and they talked about their hobbies on their personal statement. The DS who did History at uni read a lot and showed his enthusiasm for history through his reading and by talking about some places he’d visited on holidays. They both got all five offers and went to their first pick uni.

Apologies if the options advice is too late; I thought you were looking forward to Y10, not currently in it.

Secondary teacher here.

The only thing to consider is whether not doing a foreign language or triple science will close any doors at this stage. (There are generally enough courses for given subject that don’t need one of these but it will close some doors)

Beyond that, developing good study skills eg revision and note taking and resilience will stand her in the best stead.

If you really want to check, figure out which current school subject is closest and you/her should speak to her teacher. There may be more specific advice but it generally comes in Y12/L6.

Like others have said unis don't care about that. Good grades in relevant subjects.

DD knows where she wants to go to uni and what she wants to study. She's at a secondary comp and knows that competition for her chosen uni is fierce, particularly coming at it from our state/working class background. All advice she has had comes down to grades. She's working hard to get her predicted grades, aiming for 4 As at A Level after that. We also try and stress the importance of back up options and researching alternative settings.

Hobbies are just that and she does the things she loves and things that make her happy.

My experience is that unless it’s for the top unis - Oxford / Cambridge Durham Bristol etc or for medicine / vet med / dentistry and law if they get the predictions they get the offer even in the RG unis

I’m not interested in any of that. In fact, country level sport, from experience, I’d suspect that the student would be spending their time playing their sport rather than coming to class, so it would not be something in their favour. I’m looking for evidence of engagement with the subject beyond what happens at school.

Many universities don't even bother reading the personal statement. DD is studying biomedical sciences at Newcastle and the admissions tutor told us that they only look at the PS if the student is bordeline. As long as the student gets the grades they are in.

Agree with others, music, DofE irrelevant (unless doing music degree!). The things to talk about on PS are why you like the subject and what you have done extra. So dd (Eng) spoke about types of books she loved and why, reading around she had done, authors she had met that inspired her.

If it's med or vet she should look at setting up work experience or even a job in related role.

Otherwise the best thing she can do to prep for A levels and uni is work hard and get good GCSE grades. I wouldn't bother with DofE at all unless she loves doing it tbh.