To think my son should not be forced to do a full GCSE in religious education

[ReallyTired]

He would far rather do GCSE music. He had done RE since he was five. Surely an extra two years is not going to increase his knowledge of other religions that much.

"Of course you has a choice of school. Your ds may have had to travel but you were not forced to choose that particular school."

There says someone who doesn't live in a rural backwater. There are plenty of places in the UK where practically there is only one choice of school. Theoretically there may be a choice but the next school could be over 50 miles away with no school or even public transport to get there. Parents may not drive, they may have younger dc to get to primary school or they may work and be able to do a school run.

There is a school near me which I would prefer dd to go to. Only ten miles away but I can't get her there. No public transport, I work shifts, Dh works 90 min commute in the opposite direction and starts work at 8am.

We had a choice and took it, resulting in almost £300 pm in bus fares. Not really a choice everyone can take.

Dd moaned and groaned at doing RE. It was by far her easiest A*. Just saying.

I studied drama & music at uni.

I would say drop drama. Drama teacher s are constantly complaining about the inconsistency of external marking on performances & how grades are being adversely affected. The new syllabus is all over the place.

My dd will be doing gcse mysic instead of drama but just carrying on with a weekly LAMDA/Trinity lesson.

Oh and her tip to ds - just churn out a load of bullshit in the exam, you will be fine

There says someone who doesn't live in a rural backwater.

Or an urban area where there are more pupils than spaces, so you really only have one or at most 2 choices.... Neither of which may offer ideal GCSE options, even if you were in a position to know what those would be when your child is at primary school.

WTFIS Rural backwater, just upstream of such! And a couple of miles further upstream would be in a different country, as perversely are 30% of the pupils. But it is best school for a hundred fifty miles.

Nothing wrong with doing drama if you enjoy it and just want to do it for its own sake but I agree that group work can be unfairly graded and it isn't necessary to have a drama GCSE to do any kind of acting/theatre/drama study at any level.

I had to do RE when I was at school out of a choice of 3 humanities. Geography bored me to tears, I struggled too much with history (have always found dates and times incredibly difficult to retain, though I can accurately tell you exactly what happened in the lead up to/during/after an event ), so RE was the only available option left. It was an easy, put in no effort at all B grade, but I would much rather have been allowed a choice to study something I was really passionate about. I find schools too restrictive in their options.

In my childrens school they dropped RE as well, no lessons

Religious assemblies as christmas and easter and all other assemblies (one a week) had no formal relgious content but they obviously talked about moral/ethical issues

Grade 5 theory is the equivilant of a GCSE in music, do that instead rather than ask the school to change its timetables around your son. Also if your son is not grade 3 already in an instrument ( and preferably at more than one instrument) he will struggle with GCSE music anyway.

Sorry, but far too many people expect state schools to make exceptions for them in far too many things.

Rufus- your school may well have done that and good luck to them. But they were not fulfilling their statutory obligations.

betrand

Happy to agree with that, my point is only that the (used to be outstanding now good ofstead inspecting lets drag sick children in so our stats look good) school is getting around it somehow and i don't actually believe that its the only one in the country

Would be interested to see the legislation but i can't be bothered to google as its not a "problem" for me in my childrens school

My friends child goes to a school where RE is compulsory, in my childrens school you have to do either geography or history...i wish RE was included as a choice as thats the subject DD does best in

Legislation doesn't specify a minimum amount of RE.

The legal requirements for the provision of RE in maintained schools do not specify any particular time allocation or how the curriculum should be organised. Schools are not required to teach subjects separately or to use their given titles, though there can be advantages in doing so. One subject can also be combined with another, or it can be taught in separate lessons, or a mixture of provision used, depending on the objectives of the curriculum being followed.
Schools should weigh the advantages of regular and coherent provision, say every week, against those of more flexible provision when more time can be allocated in one week, term or year than in another - as long as the programme of study required by the agreed syllabus is covered. They need to ensure that their RE provision includes a distinct body of knowledge and enables all pupils to make effective progress in achieving the RE learning outcomes. Schools also need to evaluate the effectiveness of their provision as part of their own self-evaluation process.

Thanks merry

Grade 5 theory is not equivalent to GCSE music. It is the same level qualification, as is Grade 5 practical. And you don't need to play more than one instrument.

My DS1 did compulsory short course RE and also found it an easy A*. He had 4 options. DD is very annoyed 2 years later that RE has been dropped to absolute minimum so no Exam. Things change.

Well actually to be honest, GCSE is below grade 5 if you get both practical and theory.

In many cases, it is preferable that you play more than one instrument, it helps with the composition and performance elements.

TBH the OP won't get music on her son's timetable instead of RE anyway, schools make it compulsory because its cost effective, want more? Pay more tax or go private, problem solved.

I agree with RE being a compulsory subject but think the teaching of it needs a complete overhaul. I was shocked at the number of Y10s who were unaware that Christianity, Judaism and Islam all have the same G-d! I believe it should be taught to aid understanding and tolerance - show where they are similar, where they differ, etc.

I don't agree that all children need a formal qualification in it.

I can't see any point in asking- it isn't going to alter the policy of your school!

YANBU. I would expect all schools to offer a music GCSE to anyone interested.

"YANBU. I would expect all schools to offer a music GCSE to anyone interested."

At DD's school they either do full or short course GCSE RE. The course they do is determined by their set for English & is compulsory. Our family is not remotely religious so I initially thought it was a bit of a waste of an option. Turns out I was completely wrong. It's very much philosophy & ethics based, covering subjects such as drugs, abortion & the death penalty. DD loves it so much she wants to do it for A level! It's a very different subject to the one I remember at O level ( showing my age )

They do offer it, xmas. It's just that OPs son is more interested in drama and IT.

The OP is barking up the wrong tree totally, even if her son was allowed to stop doing R.E it is unlikely that it would be in the same timetable pool as music as they are in options pools.

To the person saying schools should offer music GCSE to any student interested... Maybe in a private school, but in the state system it is currently becoming common that if less than 10 students are opting to take an option subject it is not going ahead. The teacher can be better deployed somewhere else as it just isn't good ROCE.

For the record GCSE drams and English Literature are not the same and have no similarities - especially under the new system which makes Lit compulsory for all and is a much more intense course.