Options: no geography or history, is that a problem

It’s always a valuable lesson to learn there is more than one person in the debate. There’s timetabling and workload and a broad education to consider. You need to look at what prior knowledge is needed for music. If she reads music, the theory won’t be difficult.

I only had two choices at school as had to do a tech and a MFL. I chose history and art, always felt that was a good balance and gave me options at A Level (where I also did those two subjects, although my degree ended up being in English Lit).

Considering most colleges just ask for 5 gcse grades 4-9 or 5-9 for brevity or T level courses and grades above 7 for specific a levels I would also consider this when choosing subjects.

If she plans of doing btec or T level in an arts subject then let her do what she enjoys and so will more likely get the grades in and subjects that will give her the foundation knowledge for these courses.

Because ultimately if she chooses uni what she does in college will count. GCSEs get you to the college part!

Honestly, I'd be led by what she wants. I'm not sure you even have to have gcses in either to study as AS level if she so chooses in the future. I'm a little biased mind, I didn't do history or geography gcse. Mainly chose art/ textile subjects as that's what I enjoyed. Fast forward twenty odd years and I work in a non-arts based profession and have a doctorate. My GCSE choices never held me back. 😉

Agree with @TizerorFizz, DD2 was always going to do science A levels and science degrees, but alongside triple science, maths, further maths and stats she also took history, Spanish, English x 2 and PE for GCSEs, just to give her that broad range. No regrets re. those subjects.

Staff can make or break most subjects! Art definitely. It’s also a lit the culture of the school. Do they value the arts? Or just one aspect? DDs gcse school was brilliant for drama. Useless for art we eventually discovered.

Dropping subjects at 13/14 which are general in favour of options which lead down a narrow path is not really a good idea for anyone. Even scientists should have a broad general education and geography is useful for some branches of engineering - eg environmental.

DD is just going into year 11, having dropped classics, history and geography, in favour of music,computing (probably not called that) and business studies. They seem quite light on homework (selective school) and I think the school tends to expect grades of 7 or above.

For music, grade 5 theory was a prerequisite and I think most of the kids are grade 8 on at least 1 instrument (but have been advised that it is better to ace an easier repertoire). They are encouraged to do practice recitals at lunchtime and a few performance after school, but it isn't especially onerous. It seems to me that it is one of the subjects where the staff can make or break the course.

Her friends are busy busy doing art. DT less so.

FWIW I think she'll end up studying something physics/computing/engineering related at Uni.

If she likes art then I would opt for classics over music as it is a better fit for A levels and university. Music can be done as a hobby outside school.

Exactly this! School timetablers infinitely prefer core subjects to options; in an option block, all of the teachers for all of the subjects have to be free at the same time and once you have a few part-timers it becomes a real problem. So being told "students must take an MFL" might well mean that it's impossible not to.

And music really depends on where they are in their ability - dd1 just sang stuff she already knew for grade 8 and knocked off the pieces of composition on Sibelius in no time, she was already a very accomplished musician including piano. Others really struggled because of lack of keyboard skills, not being proficient on Sibelius and their musical ability on their chosen instrument/voice (liking to sing pop songs isn't sufficient). The academic side of music was simple if you had grade 5 theory and knew how to analyse music

DD's school only allowed one coursework heavy design type subject (music doesn't count) she did food tech which was very time intensive due to coursework, her friend wanted to do textiles as well and was told no, you couldn't do textiles and art either (a makes sense combo)

I think if you have a good reason why, and push back, you can convince the school to allow you to drop the MFL.

That really does depend on how the school’s timetable is set up. If it’s timetabled alongside option subjects and some or all students are just told that they “have to” take it, then a parent could negotiate for their child not to do it and another option instead. That’s pretty much how it works in my school.

However, if it is timetabled like a core subject then dropping it wouldn’t allow you to pick another option instead. RE is compulsory at my school and timetabled like a core subject. If a child wanted to drop it there wouldn’t be any option lessons running at that time for them to switch to. The only other lessons on at the same time would be more RE or English, Maths, Science, PE. If the school timetables MFL they way that we timetable RE then dropping it won’t be possible.

My DD did two Art A levels (plus another) snd it was intense.

DD did drama and art gcse as two of 10. She did RE, History, Maths, double science, English Lit, English Language, French, drama and Art. I really would do a humanity that’s not just RE. I would t do 3 art subjects. I would highly encourage MFL.

It limits choices at A level if there’s no humanity as History is such a good subject to put with others such as sociology, politics, economics snd others and Geography goes with sciences and maths. If she’s not doing triple science, then humanities, and especially history, might be more useful in the future when looking at A levels.

Oof, I take my hat off to your DD (and to you for managing the inevitable stress)! Architecture?

Dd did Art AND a DT subject. Then Art A level as one of 4, plus an EPQ.,,,,

Very, very good preparation for her specific degree course.

(DS going into Y11, typo. So halfway through his DT course and already the project is big and sprawling.)

I completely agree with @cantkeepawayforever. Three would probably be a bit much (and that includes drama although that wasn't on OP's list). My DS (currently going into Y10) does DT, but he's good at time-management. My DD rather let GCSE Art take over her life. With A-level Art she limited her time a bit more, mainly because she decided that she didn't really like abstract/"fine" art, where it's all about documenting why you did what you did. She's starting art school next week (!!!) but on an illustration course where it's normally obvious why you did what you did -- because the client asked for it!

We must have been typing at the same time.

DS and DD both did very well in their art / design / music subjects, partly because they had natural aptitude, but also because they loved them enough to put in the endless work required (and bright enough that it didn't affect their grades in other subjects too badly).

I still would not advise doing all 3. I don't think there's enough time in the world to get really good grades in all 3, except if the music is something someone pretty much already knows from extracurricular music theory, orchestral playing etc.

@cantkeepawayforever Jinx!

About the coursework thing... GCSEs ages ago did have a lot of coursework. But it tended to be quite a few relatively short things. Art and Design courses have BIG projects, which the students work on over the whole course. That means that they can easily expand to fill all available time. (Possibly music too, but I don't have experience of DCs doing that!)

Those subjects are like that at A-level, too. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's hard to spend lunchtimes in the Art Studio if you're also expected to be in the Workshop!

The thing with art / design / music coursework is it is open-ended and therefore hugely time consuming.

Art ... create a portfolio. How big? As big as you want. Is it finished? Nothing is ever finished.

Music... create 3 compositions and a group performance. What do I need to include? It's a composition, include what you want to. Is it finished? It's a piece of music, they're never finished....

They're different by nature from e.g. the non examined assessment (NEA) in a subject like history, which IIRC was simply a longer piece of writing, completed almost entirely in school. the latter is much more like 'old' GCSE coursework. In art / design / music, IME almost all work on them is done outside lesson time, and to do well, the hours spent can be enormous. DD, for example, would finish all homework for other subjects during the week, and then spend 90% of weekends working on her Art and DT coursework.

(Unless your dc us a genuinely excellent musician with a really strong grasp of theory and the history of music genres through eg extensive orchestral playing, in which case that gcse really is fairly straightforward if the options chosen by the school match their expertise and interest)