GCSEs next year

[Orangeblossom78]

Just been asked by school to pay in advance for music lessons for next year - even though it does not know 'in what form' these will take place. Ds not really engaging in lessons since they stopped, but lessons are a requirement for the course. He has a processing speed issue and is given extra time. Wondering if they might allow him to drop it as now looking unlikely to pass

Anyone else with GCSE issues? Wonder what will happen with the new guidance

State or private? (not that it makes a huge load of difference, private may be more flexible).

State will struggle to "house" him elsewhere while the music lessons are on. How many other subjects is he doing?

Why are they compulsory. I’ve had two kids do GCSE music and 1 about to do music at college (the other does musical theatre at college). For both I’ve chosen to pay for 1 to 1 instrumental/singing lessons but not necessarily at school.

I would pay if he is an instrumentalist and feels he needs them for the performance part of his GCSE. But my two both want to make music their career so it’s a bit different for them. The majority of their classmates are not in a financial position to pay for private lessons. I did persuade ds’s school to allow him to drop a subject (Food). He is autistic with slow processing & other issues.

State

I was just told that music lessons are required for the GCSE. It can be through school or private. At school, they have to go during other lessons which concerns me also, as he will need that more due to his issues i guess and not to get behind in them.

If they drop a subject what do they do with that space the timetable? Do they work in the library or something?

Individual music lessons are really important to GCSE music. Students who access them always do better. Whatever happens with GCSEs there will be a need to perform. The suggestion at the moment is one performance instead of two. Schools are working out how to safely provided individual music lessons but if you can, do.

He has done no music before GCSE but was encouraged to take it my school. He is now working at level 1 due to lack of engagement during lockdown and unlikely to get a pass. Other subjects a 6/7

It's really difficult in state schools because there is literally nowhere for them to go if they drop a subject. There just aren't the staff available. Schools discourage dropping subjects for this reason. The other reason is that if one student drops a subject it can lead to a situation where others think they can request to drop and a cascade of dropping subjects begins.

He may be able to sit through the lessons and not take the exam.

It's definitely worth a conversation with school in September.

My son either revised for other stuff at the back of the class in the subject he dropped or went to the SEN room

its hard to know what to do as I have heard they may not sit exams other than core subjects,which I think is rubbish as a lot of pupils will have choose on what they are good at and would help in there career

I’m not sure this helps particularly but paid music lessons definitely aren’t needed for GCSE music. My dd got a 7 in music last year without ever having a paid lesson in her life. I’ve paid a lot for dance lessons over the years though so these would have helped with the musicality.

What did your daughter do for the practical exam? @nex18

She sang for her performance and used the piano to make up her composition.

its hard to know what to do as I have heard they may not sit exams other than core subjects

Ofqual are proposing they sit exams in all subjects next summer. Schools may withdraw some students from some exams on an extremely limited basis due to personal circumstances but those students will not get a grade. DfE have been clear that schools should not be wholesale stopping students options or withdrawing them from exams.

I think if someone is a naturally gifted singer then it’s possible to do ok in gcse music but otherwise I think it would be very difficult.

At ds's school they needed to be grade 5 minimum standard to take gcse music as I thought that is the level of the piece they need to perform for the performance part...
we have found our online private music lessons to be great during lockdown as we could generally be flexible with it and often have them fortnightly. The only problem was the school lessons had to be weekly and it became too much, so we've decided to have a break. Could you find a private teacher who can / will be more flexible?

When DS was thinking about doing music GCSE he was told that you would need to be at least Grade 4 in an instrument to get a reasonable grade in GCSE. He decided not to do music at GCSE but has carried on with his grades in piano. He has had lessons online during lockdown which have gone really well. He uses his tablet and his phone, so on one he can see and speak to the teacher and the other films his fingers playing the notes so the teacher can see what he is doing.

Depending on whether it’s Edexel or AQA (I’m not familiar with OCR or WJEC) you need to be around a Grade 4 standard to get the highest performance marks. You get a couple of extra marks at AQA for performing a Grade 5 piece and a few more for Edexel.

It’s possible to get a perfectly decent grade with a Grade 2/3 piece but if you are hoping for 7-9 I’d advise being Grade 4-5 standard.

There is no extra credit for being able to perform at a Grade 6 or above.

@Orangeblossom78

He has done no music before GCSE but was encouraged to take it my school. He is now working at level 1 due to lack of engagement during lockdown and unlikely to get a pass. Other subjects a 6/7

That seems rather short sighted as music is a very demanding gcse.

Dropping a subject is not something that you decide on the spot and is usually a process. Sometimes takes weeks or months. Usually the subject is replaced by either a different subject (to late for your son probably) or booster Maths/English classes, but there needs to be a provision for these. I have also seen students sit at the beach of the room for the remainder of the year doing homework if nothing else could be sorted out.

I know what you mean however this year there is new guidance and it specifically mentions they may be able to drop a subject, due to the corona situation. I think due to his processing issues he could use the time to catch up on other subjects, also the SENCO recommends he does a touch typing course. Or could work on homework, possibly in the library. I guess I will need to discuss it with his tutor.

Yes they were very keen for DS to do music prior to making choices for GCSE despite no former practice and didn't explain it is pretty demanding, more it is nice to do something creative to balance other subjects. He was given a more flexible pathway rather than the standard language, option etc at the time. hence music.

Also finding the DT / product design tricky at home as well and feels a bit like the amount of time on these subjects is impacting the corse subjects really. As mentioned in the guidance.

To get top marks in the gcse performance you need to be grade 5 I think. But you can play a much easier piece and get a lower mark. The performance is only worth about 30% I think of the whole thing. It is totally possible to get a decent grade with a low performance score. And the same goes if you’re great at performing, but rubbish at the written paper. If he is having trouble with his instrument, and is ok at singing, then maybe switch to singing instead. My daughter did music (it’s her best subject and got a 9). She would recommend downloading all of the “set works” from Spotify, and listen to them in the car over and over. If he’s doing edexcel then get the anthology too, and one of the study guides - I think my daughter used cgp? That was very helpful.

He's just lost interest, his real interest is in the other subjects he is doing, in which he is getting A or B grades. However he does take his time

Would they be allowed singing? Had leavers service last week and no singing was allowed. Even in a huge church.