Year 9 timetable

[theendofsummer]

DS just got his Y9 timetable and has 7 hours of English out of 30 hours of lessons. AIBU to think this is excessive?
He has English, maths, RE science, PE and two hours of study time

He is doing 2 x English, 3 x Science and 3 other GCSEs?

That means he should spend about 25% of his time on English. This is correct.

Most schools locally do "options" in year 8 now and start GCSE work in year 9. I heard on results day that it's becoming increasingly popular nationwide.
It's something Ofsted are rightly concerned about because students are having their curriculum narrowed far too soon and some schools are failing to teach a broad and balanced curriculum.
Some schools who've tried to game GCSE results by limiting children from 12/13 are going to get a shock under the new framework (and rightly so).

In my area the better schools in terms of results and reputation have a 2 year KS4 and spend 3 years in y7-9 giving a broad and balanced curriculum that builds foundation skills in a range of subjects.

But narrowing subjects in KS3 will definitely be looked upon dimly by Ofsted.

They shouldn’t make the GCSE curriculum unattainable in 2yrs then,
there’s too much to teach and very little time.

They shouldn’t make the GCSE curriculum unattainable in 2yrs then
there’s too much to teach and very little time.
We teach 2 English GCSEs in 2 years and get good results. I'd be bored senseless teaching a 3 year KS4 (and most places I know who do that seem to try to finish the content by the start of y11 mocks and spend the rest of year 11 "revising" which is really rushed reteaching of material from 2.5 years ago that wasn't taught properly or the students lacked skills to do at a high level).
If KS3 is valued and well planned and prepares students with appropriate foundation knowledge and skills in the subjects then there shouldn't be an issue most of the time.
If KS3 is wasted and then the school needs to do everything at GCSE because they've routinely ignored y7+9 by then the school needs to sort their KS3 curriculum out and consider if their ks4 methods are effective.