Computer science GCSE

If she is into film and animation, programming and technical IT skills could be really useful.

Yes - and you don't necessarily have to have done much to know you can do it if the need or opportunity arises in future.

My dd did the old spec CS gcse and then up to AS , more useful to her than English lit for sure. (It was a girls school BTW, they had 2 classfuls doing the gcse. )

Agreed. I’ll be having my friend who works in that area look over the A Level syllabus when the time comes to choose, and degree content if she goes down that route. I’m 80% sure she will, but I’m well aware of teens throwing curve balls.

I don’t know enough to be able to discern the difference as I’m Tech adjacent in BioMed/Microbio/Data Science.

@Postapocalypticcowgirl the thing is GCSEs and A levels don't teach you the stuff you want to know to do those careers.

BTech, apprenticeship and degree level - undergraduate and postgraduate - may do depending if you chose the right course.

I've had friends leave courses because they were too theoretical, someone who pointed out a apprenticeship course was teaching irrelevant stuff and another who walked out off an apprenticeship as it was shit.

Even then in technical careers there is a lot of self learning.

If she is into film and animation, programming and technical IT skills could be really useful.

It would broaden out her other choices as well.

I wouldn't push it if she is more keen on another option, but equally there's no real benefit to e.g. doing triple science for the sake of it.

DD1 is in YR11 and does computer science. There are only 4 girls taking it across 2 classes of 25 in each. The workload seems light - she doesn't do nearly as much homework as for other subjects - but is still on target for grade 8/9. She enjoys it, but she is very mathsy rather than into computing for fun, and I think that's where the curriculum sits. A good few of the intake switched out in the first half-term as they were expecting something more practical.

She's not going to take it as an A-level, but only as the more competitive universities for Computer Science require maths and further maths but not Computer Science A level, and she'd rather do a humanity and a language for balance.

She is going to choose Media studies (actually I think it is called Creative i-media)

Creative i-media and Media Studies are two completely different subjects. If you'd said Creative i-Media originally I wouldn't have questioned it, because she will learn valuable technical skills. (However, in case you weren't aware, its a vocational qualification, not a GCSE).

@CinnamonStar DD also does Creative i-Media, and loves that too. A close friend of mine works in game design and said it’s very rare that anyone knows both sides of it, and those that do earn a lot of money.

4 girls including my DD in her CompSci class - by the end of the first half term, she was the only one left.

She loved it in Y9, was predicted an 8/9 if she did at GCSE. She’s in Y11 now and still on course for one of those grades, she did find the first term of Y10 quite a jump, but I work in STEM so was able to help a lot.

My Ds is doing it year 11 (last year of gcse). He, like many pp, finds it a bit boring but he is keen to go into engineering at uni so it compliments his other subject choices. Dh's career is in this field and he always says the most important thing is to have maths and extra maths a level but to be able code. Most companies/ unis are more interested in candidates that have maths/physics to a high level than computer science.

Definitely don't do the IT BTecc, have a look at the spec for whichever exam board her school do for computer science. There are a lot of online videos for computer science GCSE to walk them through it and no you don't have to be coding every night to do well in it.

My DS is at the same stage and he definitely wants to do ICT in some shape or form. We're a bit confused though because there are 3 different ones on offer:
Business communication systems
Digital technology multimedia
Digital technology programming.
Anyone know would the last one of these be most similar to computer science?

@CinnamonStar Have you questioned why she is choosing Media Studies? It seems an lacklustre choice for an intelligent girl, and if she chooses it over computer science the phrase "poverty of aspiration" comes to my mind. Parents need to be more savvy about which qualifications are most in demand in today's job market.

My dd (now in year 13) did it and enjoyed it. Ds is doing it now and wants to do computing at A Level and possibly degree level. It's a good qualification and quite an enjoyable GCSE for most of the students who do it imo.

It’s a brilliant qualification to have and I don’t think you should be talking her down. It will open many doors and potentially lead to an extremely well paying job. More girls should be encouraged to study computing. It will help to close the gender pay gap.

My son is doing it as one of his 3 science options (didn't want to do Biology!!).
It's not his best subject and he's not really 'into' computing. But it is giving him a basic appreciation of the nuts and bolts of the purpose of apps/it, how to programme etc so it's not a complete waste of time as opening his options for later on.

Both my older dc have done it or are doing it. Both find it fun and the workload not heavy. If your dd likes maths and problem solving and is a bit creative then it's a good subject.

My dd does compute science. It has quite a lot of theory and teaches you to code well. The code itself is simple (dd has done more in her free time) but learning the core theory is good.

@CinnamonStar if she is good at it, she should do it, especially if the school has a good teacher - she is remarkably privileged to have the opportunity - many schools don't have a CS department. And the country needs as many computer scientists as it can get. It definitely isn't a hobby subject. My DC does it and it isn't a hobby. He is good at maths, and logical, so is good at and enjoys the aspects of the course that some kids consider difficult - the boolean/hexadecimals and the coding.

My DD did it. Didn't programme or code outside of school. Really enjoyed the course and got a very high grade. I would say that the different exam boards have quite different specifications so it is worth looking in more detail at the course specification your school is offering. My DD's had a good balance between coding/programming and theory which really suited her. Also some are all exam and others a mix of exam and course work.
Remember computer science is a science and also teaches transferable skills such as logical thinking and problem solving. I would recommend it.

It's my son's favourite (he's doing triple science, french, music, 3D design as well).

It's my favourite too as he hasn't had any homework yet so it's a bright spot in a sea of long winded tasks from the other subjects taking up his evenings and weekends.

My DD did GCSE Computing, A-level and is now in her third year of her degree.

I remember her giving a talk to a prospective pupil at my school, who was interested in computing thinking it was a way to perpetual computer games without parental nagging.

She told him that Computer Science is all about problem solving, and you need to be tenacious and relentless about the problems you are trying to solve.

Which exam board? Dd doing edexcel independently (don’t ask) and it’s not tricky - she can do all the programming pretty well despite not enjoying it!