GCSEs in England: which subjects / how many are compulsory? What can each school force kids to take?

Religious schools will remain until they solve the problem of how the government can acquire all the land and property the schools are based in an affordable way without seizing property from the church and other religious organisations.

(My childs Comprehensive covers the compulsory RE curticulum, PSHE, citizenship etc in a handful of off-timetable days throughiut the year rather than weekly lessons. They dont have specialist RE teachers. The world hasnt ended. So i agree forcing a GCSE is unnecessary)

If they're saying it's compulsory by law, it may be compulsory because they are a school supported by a religious organisation? I have worked at a Catholic secondary where RS was compulsory simply because that's that the Catholic Education Service dictated as part of our funding.

There was some way of listing it on UCAS.
I didn't know it was unusual. I think iiuc the material was repeated in A-level so it is a way of getting a headstart on the A-level syllabus, with a result "in the bag" as extra proof that A-level predictions are based on evidence.

I see many others have said what I was going to say, including the fact that no GCSEs are compulsory by law, although most schools will enter the vast majority of DC for the core GCSEs and then further subjects.

To answer your further questions @ItalianParent – firstly, remember that you don't choose a secondary school. Depending obviously where you live (and in London there are more options) for many of us there is very little choice. I live in a city and realistically there were four secondaries I could list which were even accessible by the DC; of those four, we were very unlikely to be allocated two. So just to factor that in.

For most schools, the same subjects will be on the compulsory list (assuming no major SEN here). Some, as others note, will insist on RS GCSE, often as an extra. That would not be a deal-breaker for me either way (my DC did not take it). Some ask for ebacc subjects (history/geog and an MFL) but that's becoming less common as it is being phased out as a measure. It's still not a bad idea to take a spread like that though.

Optional subjects will be pretty standard tho some schools do not offer all tech subjects and the specific MFL may vary (Spanish on the up, German going down sadly). I guess it's worth looking but as others say, it can vary; as @TallagallaPenguin says, the textiles teacher may leave and school may not be able to recruit; an inspiring music teacher may start and music GCSE may have more takers - that kind of thing.

Most students who are in mainstream school will take between 7 and 11; the majority will take 8 or 9. As others say, this can vary with things like triple science in a accelerated group. I wouldn't worry too much about the number. An extra GCSE like triple, taking a YP from 9 to 10, won't make much difference and they will be more able if it is offered to them (two of my DC took 10 in this way).

If extras like FM or stats as a twilight (offered in a few schools) are too much they can always drop them. Again not a deal-breaker. I would say btw that FM (yes it is not a GCSE but yes is at the same level, ie a Level 2 qual) is not that common. Certainly no school I know about in my area (and I know about quite a few through my DC and also working in schools) offers it. Maybe it is area-dependent?

None of the schools near me do more than 10 GCSEs:

Dd1 - grammar school - 10, everyone does triple science and has to do a language and humanity
Dd2 - comprehensive - 9 subjects, Maths, English x2 and Science x2 compulsory. Students can opt to do 8 if SEN. 4 options are completely free depending on timetabling so you could for example do art, Music, DT and Food tech as your options.
DN - Private school - 9 including compulsory language and humanity but some IGCSEs so more coursework

None of them offered Further Maths

Nothing is obligatory by law.

As an adult an individual will find it extremely difficult (though not impossible) to get employment without 5 GCSEs (at grade 4 or better) including maths and english so schools won't usually consent to pupils taking any fewer than 5 and its generally good practice to take more as a child is more likely to get a good grade in an optional subject that they like than the core subjects.

All KS4 pupils must study maths, english and science as well as having timetabled slots for Physical Education, Computing, PSHE&Citizenship and Religious Education but it is not obligatory for these subjects to be targeted at taking the GCSE exams, and schools are at liberty to schedule classes which offer the opportunity to learn about eg religion and spirituality as a non-examined subject in a half hour slot once a week, or may have a policy that the only way they will fulfil the obligatory requirement to teach religious studies is by teaching all pupils the full RS GCSE syllabus - and similarly for the other obligatory subjects. Schools must offer at least one GCSE subject in the areas of each of:

• arts
• design and technology
• humanities
• modern foreign languages

Schools can certainly require all pupils to be timetabled for 5 full days of lessons as they don't have the staffing to allow pupils to have lots of untimetabled time.

However schools are ranked and judged according to what percentage of their pupils achieve EBacc standard which requires GCSEs in Maths, English Language and Literature, at least the 2-certificate combined sciences course, at least one out of History and Geography, and a Modern Language and their "Attainment 8" score which is a measure of each pupil's top 8 GCSE grades so schools will be generally very reluctant to allow a pupil to sit fewer than 8 GCSEs unless their SEN or other challenges make it likely that they won't achieve the important 5 good passes if they have to cope with that breadth.

Gcse are level 2 qualifications so FM is equivalent to gcse as are level 2 btec, nvq etc. dd took Maths gcsesin year 10 then FM/Add Maths level 2 certificate in year 11.

Id ask how many options the children get, and how many approximately there is to chose from.

As @SunsetGirl says, schools try to maximize their progress 8 score. This means that English literature is usually compulsory (English is only double-weighted in progress 8 if a pupil takes both language and literature).

Under the national curriculum, science is a statutory core subject and students must study biology, chemistry and physics - this can be as double award (combined into two GCSEs), but a state school will not allow you to just take biology and chemistry and drop physics, for example, whereas some private schools will allow this. Even though progress 8 would allow this too, I think.

From 2028/29 (?), Religious Studies will count as a humanity for the new "breadth" bucket of progress 8, so I think more schools will make it compulsory, since it is also a statutory requirement so they have to teach it anyway.

Schools will probably (continue to) shed languages.

I would ask:

• How many GCSEs does the school offer (usually 8 or 9 - I think 8 is a bit too limited since so many subjects are basically compulsory)
• Is RE a compulsory GCSE? (Especially important if your child doesn't like RE.)
• Does the school offer double science and how are pupils selected? (Some grammars don't offer double science at all or force all able children to do triple science. So this question is especially important if your child doesn't like science.)
• How many GCSEs are compulsory? (If a school makes 7 of 8 subjects compulsory, your child probably gets a rounded education but very few options.)
• Does the school offer a choice of languages? (if your child is a linguist) / Does the school allow pupils to drop languages for GCSE? (if your child doesn't like languages)

It's an interesting question but I think the part you're missing here is that you're not the "customer' so to speak. Schools have to fill their places as they get a grant per student. They have rising costs that are mostly outside their control, so they want all exam classes to run as close to the maximum as possible (which in practice means the size of the rooms). They want students to be as fully occupied as possible as they lack sufficient staff to supervise students in free periods. They will therefore only usually adjust individual students" timetables when the student would really have difficulty with following a full programme. They're not always candid with parents about this as the decision is the school's really. All state schools are required to provide a broad and balanced curriculum but it is up to the individual school to decide precisely what they mean by that.

The religious studies situation is that schools must include it, it doesn't have to be an examined course, and parents can opt children out although in practice few do.

So it is very worth asking what schools' offer is but things can change. The government has recently dropped the baccalaureate requirement so a lot of schools will be cutting back their MFL offer for instance. Subjects like music, languages, classics, DT, food tech, are on the wane sadly, so if those are important, you need to find a school in an affluent or educated area and/or with good partnerships with independent schools, or access to the subjects provided in other ways (like London/adjacent students attending Saturday schools at the London Conservatoires). A lot of parents who are foreign nationals also enter students for native languages outside of school. Some schools will then provide the exam centres.

The average exam entries counts Combined science as 1 entry even though it's worth 2 GCSE grades which distorts the numbers.

For schools local to us, 8, 9 or 10 GCSEs seems to depend on how 'academic' they position themselves. Universities only require 8 GCSEs so a comprehensive very proudly said they only timetable for 8 and make sure students get enough support to pass those 8. Another local school is very proud of arts/performing curriculum and encourages vocational qualifications alongside core Eng/Maths/Science.

My impression is 10+ is only grammar and private schools round here.

If a student gets 10 GCSEs it is often through triple science plus home language. I was going to make same point as @Ifonlyoneday about extra MFL GCSEs being dependent on languages spoken outside of school, the school does pay for the exam fee and arrange the exams which is useful.

Ah very fair point I had forgotten that nuance

As @HelpfulHelena said, the options booklets for the current year 9s are often online. I have googled "X school GCSE options' and usually found it.

Some local schools start GCSE courses in Yr 9, meaning some choosing of subjects in Yr 8. For me that is too early, as it narrows their education. I appreciate it can be beneficial for some students to have longer to cover GCSE content.

Despite the numbers on here, the average number of qualifucations take at 16 is 7.8.

At my dd’s school everyone does compulsory religious studies at gcse in year 10 (it’s not that hard so they start the course in yr 9). Then there are differing pathways at gcse level. Some kids will do several GCSEs and then some additional certificates in childcare or hospitality. At the other end of the spectrum some kids sit 11 GCSEs in y11 including PE and triple science.

Most schools share the KS4 options information buried in the Parents section of their websites. You can find out all the GCSEs offered there.

At my dd school religion, maths, eng lang and lit, a modern foreign language, science were mandatory. So that’s 7 or 8 already (depending if you do triple science or not).

My DD’s options were offered in groups, but it would have been unlucky to find your chosen subjects didn’t work out. She did triple science but passed on PE so she did 11 GCSE’s of which 8 were mandated by school leaving her with three options.

That’s very normal.

Its not just GCSEs, it can be equivalent Level2 qualifications. Often Vocational. These ate worth the dame, but may feature more coursework so suit some pupils better than the exam heavy GCSEs.

Our bright students study Additional Maths on top of Maths. This is actually higher than a GCSE.

Different schools have different rules.

Technically RE is compulsory in all English schools, but that doesn't mean GCSE. That is the only subject that the law says has to be taught.

But the government introduced progress 8 as a way to measure schools achievements, this depends on each child taking 8 GCSEs.

This is not easy to explain but think of the subjects as 'buckets', the buckets for English (language and literature) and maths count as two buckets each.

The next buckets are for 'ebac' subjects so a humanity a science and a language.

The last buckets are any other subjects.

So most schools dictate the students have to do the subjects that score points. Religious schools will usually dictate RE GCSE.

BUT

next year this is due to change, the 'ebac' is no more so schools may well change their timetables.

If you are selecting a school for an 11 year old it may well have changed again by GCSE year.

Further maths can be taken but as the progress 8 / attainment 8 only scores for GCSEs takin in the final year schools that do teach it usually have the top set maths students take it a year early and then take GCSE maths for attainment 8.

It is crazy, when I was at school schools that did further maths had students take their maths (O Level - I'm that old) a year early and then take further maths.

glad you found the stats useful.
Yes as a generalisation most English state schools do the equivalent of 8 or 9 GCSEs per student. Some schools that have a very academic intake or grammar schools may teach triple science and allow 4 options equalling 10. Some schools where a student has a native language other than English will register the child for that language at gcse, think Chinese, polish, Punjabi etc knowing that child will pass without lessons taking the average 9 GCSEs to 10 and helping to improve their EBAC scores. Some schools do citizenship, RE short course or PE short course gcse which they teach out of their mandatory hours to do a 10th GCSE. From what I have seen anything 10 or above is for the truly academic students.
private schools have the benefit of allowing their students to sit igcses some of which have coursework elements which means the terminal exam burden can be a little bit lighter.

Great links, thanks.
Table 17 is interesting in your middle link - it shows that for students taking 8 GCSEs, 2.5% got all grade 7 and over. But as the number of GCSEs taken increases from 8 up through to 11, the percentage getting all grade 7 and over increases too, up to 21% 7’s and over for 11 GCSEs (and 20.7% for 12 or more GCSEs).

That tallies with what I’ve seen, in that the students who take more tend to be the ones who are typically the most able students. Maybe if they’d taken 11 instead of 12, or 10 instead of 11, they might have got a higher grade, but it does look like the ones doing more are the ones most able to do so.

Here are some useful data points for you

this link breaks down a schools gcse results to grades per subject https://schoolsdata.uk/
Average number of GCSEs per student scroll down in this link for 2026 stats https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/qualification-results-in-england-summer-2026/qualification-results-in-england-summer-2026
GCSE subjects studied in more detail https://analytics.ofqual.gov.uk/apps/GCSE/SubjectCombinations/

Yes, ours can have 10 timetabled for a normal week:

2x English
1x Maths
2x science +1 if taking separate sciences
4x options.
=9 or 10 depending on science choices.

Then the additional statistics / further maths if the most able mathematicians want. - both of these can make it up to 12. Not compulsory for anyone at ours.