Non sporty child wanting to take GCSE PE

My offspring teaches music at GCSE and A level and despairs of the children who decide to do it but have no aptitude at all. They won't join extracurricular groups or attend workshops and these children will probably do appallingly as their parents see it as a soft option. Please don't encourage your child to choose music unless they're committed.

Reading your update @doramaar, I agree with @clary that I'd be more worried about a non musical child taking music than a non sporty child taking PE!

I'm obviously a very lax parent, my 14 year old is about to choose hers - state grammar - and whilst I am very interested and discuss with her what she wants to take I work on the basis that a) it's her taking them so I can't override her and b) they are gcse's so in the scheme of things?? It does help though that she obviously has to keep English, maths and all three sciences, one language and a humanity so the ability to make "mistakes" with choices is very limited I suppose as the compulsory ones are a good coverage of subjects. She is doing one arty subject because it's mostly practical , I'm not sure that is the right thing . I'd rather she keep both German and Latin as I think she has a flair for them but she only wants to keep one language which is German and take Classics instead of Latin as it does have a link.

She was actually talking about the horror of the pe gcse and saying that some very sporty girls she knows are hating it.

Let her try it. If she hates it, she can switch. She's young. You can't always decide for your kids. What happens when she's older and chooses subject /career choices you don't agree with? Have the discussion by all means but respect her decision if she still wants to do it. She doesnt have to be the best. & she just might like it.

Is she trying to choose subjects she thinks will be "easy"?
PE is not easy at all but is she thinking she'll not have to put in as much effort as if she did 3 sciences or history for example?
Point out how much work is involved and how she'll have to fit in 3 sports in her spare time - that is really going to eat into her free time.
If she still decides to go ahead, fair enough. I think PE is a good GCSE and if it helps her to get more exercise it's good. I just wondered if she was trying to have an easy life.
She has also picked music and I'm just wondering if she sees that as an easy option too (which it isn't!) She will have a hard time with that if she's only just started piano. She'll need to do a lot of practise in her spare time to get a good grade and she will have a lot of theory to learn.

I must say @doramaar I think music GCSE with no grades in hand at all is a more doubtful proposition than PE with no outside sport. DD took music and was grade 4 or 5, with theory grades in hand too, in year 9/10, but still found it challenging. The theory in particular might be a hurdle.

The school’s previous grades are interesting but take them with a pinch of salt – often PE appeals to less academic students so their grades may correspond. DS2 was certainly the smartest in his A level PE class (not boasting – I was told this by more than one person) but far from the smartest in maths haha.

But I agree, good idea to discuss with her which three sports she would choose. As I said, boards will vary but I think all ask for one team sport, one individual and one that is either. Ask school what sports they support – at my school we used to get a climbing wall in regularly to help DC who hadn’t got access to sport outside school – often for financial reasons – which is of course another aspect of this.

It won't limit her A level choices if presumably she's taking two/three sciences, English lang/lit History or geography etc.
But she'll have to start loving sport! My son played rugby outside school and rowed competitively, plus did some other sport (can't remember). Lots of commitment time wise with practise two nights a week each sport and competitions/matches most weekends - that eats on to time for working in other subjects.

Maybe she just needs the opportunity to be sporty, why not say to her if you’re doing PE you’ll need to do some extra sports out of school if you want to do well, so which is it going to be, athletics or football? And sign her up. She doesn’t need to be the best as long as she’s taking part.

Although they also probably want good results too and should(!) have child's best interests at heart

My parents made me choose subjects for GCSE they thought were ‘suitable’ which basically pushed me towards subjects I wasn’t interested in, and I did ok but I would’ve rather done something I was interested in, let her do it and she might surprise you, if she finds out it’s really not for her I’m sure she’ll be able to change subjects.

As I'm of the opinion that sport is really important (my dds have done at least 1 hour exercise per day at least 5 days a week since 8yo, non negotiable although they can choose their sport) in your position I would be absolutely delighted if my/your dd did pe gcse. Not because of the grade, I'd let that go and wouldn't care what they got, but because it would be mean they'd actually do some exercise. Dd has pe for the gcse itself at least twice per week; then or is on the standard non gcse subjects list too. So she'd be covering a decent amount of exercise in school which I'd welcome.

I do agree with @waxandwane about the incentive to keep active - many teen girls give up sports. This is a big plus of GCSE PE.

I have a Y9 non-sporty, dyspraxia child doing it and she’s thriving. She loves the theory and regularly comes top of her class in tests on it. She does play hockey out of school, but at a very low/non-competitive level and is a goalkeeper. Her school will do climbing with them for the individual which she’s tried and loves and you can quite quickly get to a decent level at with weekly sessions. Not sure about the 3rd sport yet but possibly skiing which she is more than competent at.

I’m pretty confident she can get a good grade even if her natural abilities will preclude an A. And I see her enjoyment and the fact that she’ll keep up physical activity in the years when many girls give them up as well worth the difference.

DD is at a state comp and is doing PE GCSE - she loves it. She's doing the AQA syllabus too. She had to choose 3 sports - one team sport, one individual sport and the other could be either. DD chose netball (she's county level), swimming (she used to swim for a club but doesn't any more - but was able to demonstrate skills such as tumble turns and butterfly stroke that most non-club swimmers would struggle with) and skiing (we're a skiing family and she's been loads of times since she was little). Maybe talk to your DD about which three sports she would choose and how she thinks she can demonstrate the required skill level?

I think it would be hard to do well on the theory alone. DD says that in their mock paper, a score of 49% was only a GCSE grade 3.

Would you not be asking school teachers to speak to her and advise? She's more likely to listen to them than parent in my experience!

Sorry I just read your message @doramaar saying she is really enthusiastic about PE - well sounds like it might be a good shout after all? As I and others say, analysis and improvement are important alongside ability

Firstly – the weighting of practical over theory – I guess it varies, but I just checked AQA and the practical element counts for 40% so you are right OP, the theory as a higher weighting. That said, 40% is still significant for an element that you don’t actually enjoy – especially when pretty much everyone else in the class will enjoy that element.

IME PE is chosen for GCSE by two types of student – those who love PE, whether that’s one specific sport or a range, and those who really don’t like any subject at all but think PE will be reasonably easy. It doesn’t sound to me as tho your DD is either of those @doramaar .

Can you probe a bit further why PE? I hear her on not liking anything else enough, but there must be something that is driving her towards PE rather than history (or whatever).

I would say that taking history when you really don’t enjoy it is not helping you with A level options really – you are hardly going to want to pursue it post 16 if you don’t enjoy it at age 12.

This whole debate btw is a good argument for not choosing options in yr 8.

How popular is PE GCSE at your DD’s school? I ask bc it was v popular in DS2’s year – two groups – so someone who was less keen on sport might find others and blend in a bit more. But a local school to us has typically a tiny number taking it, like less than a dozen, so they will probs be the real keenies.

DS (obvs!) took it and for A level too. He is super sporty and has played so many sports in his time. When he did GCSE he offered footy (played for a local team for many years) and athletics (competed for his county) and then a third I cannot recall – but he did that one in school. His mate that is a great sprinter did athletics (similar standard to DS) and then two things through school, one being a team sport which was fine. A lot is talked about “must be xxx standard” but the key thing I think is that the DC does something outside school as it’s tough to cover everything in school tbh. Also it will improve their analytical ability if they do the sport 2-3 times a week.

Interestingly, tho in theory he was at a higher level in athletics, DS offered football for A level – he had played for many years (like about 12) but never higher than a local club level really.

And - 30%. 10% each sport.

It's been great in way - as it has meant dd has had to carry on with 3 sports outside of school and will do up till shes 16, which I'm really pleased about. But on the other hand it might be nice to have dropped one or so by now since she really just wants to go to the gym now.