Does my son have to take the 5 core subjects

[hubbs]

Need some advice please before I ask school !!

Secondary have listed the following as the 5 core subjects that he has to take as GCSE

1. Maths
2. Eng lang
3. Eng lit
4. French
5. RE

He can then choose 3 others

he hates French and would like to substitute that for another subject as he knows already it's a waste of an exam !!

RE we don't value this an grade and it will have no bearing on what he is wanting to do but other subjects would help .

Can we do anything or are we stuck with it .... ?? Thanks

French and RE are not compulsory.
You may have to move schools if the timetable means those are the only options - I.e everyone at that school takes them.

School can set their option blocks however they like.

Science is normally compulsory

No science?

They aren't the five core subjects! I thought all schools (clearly I'm wrong!) had the following core for GCSE: Maths, Eng language, Eng Lit and two sciences.

Often schools then advise a language and a humanity.

Each school has its own rules about this. My DS is starting year 7 this year, and it's one of the questions I asked as we looked round potential schools. All of the schools said he must do a language at gcse (although this is negotiable if child has a SEN). The CofE school also listed RE as one of their core GCSEs. This school offered a huge variety of GCSEs, but realistically DS would only have 2 options, and so we ruled it out.

Surprised there is no compulsory science in there.
RE is often taken as a half GCSE as studying some form of RE in KS4 is compulsory unless you have withdrawn your child.
You kind of have to do whatever the school dictates, unless you can argue SEN. Or move schools.

No mention of science? I thought minimum of dual award science was compulsory at GCSE. The French and RE is school-specific but it may be how they timetable that everyone has to take those.
Ask the school!

What type of school? A selective school may well enforce an MFL on the grounds that if you passed a selective test you are capable of passing French.

Ooops sorry I missed science as a compulsory !!!

@TeenDivided @Thingsthatgo @Patchworksack

Science is a compulsory I forgot to type it !!!

It is a state comp school who offer some of the more obvious language speakers the option to do fast track GCSE in Y9 but we opted out as he does not enjoy the subject at all . He obviously is still studying it but not fast track.

I am going to spk to school but wanted to know if anyone had experience of swapping out (school specific core subject like French and RE for something else ..... how did you have to sell the idea to the school ??

I've known people not do a language where thee are SEN reasons it wouldn't be in the child's best interests. But most schools encourage it.

RE will be school policy. Probably unlikely to get out of it without moving schools.

If you have a stronger reason than "he doesn't like it" I'd try with the French.

You’re not going to be able to swap out a language and RE for something else. It would be a timetabling nightmare and will not happen.

you do have a legal right to withdraw from RE if you want to and your school will have a policy on this. However, in our policy (for example) we are clear that we do not provide work to cover that RE lesson. Your child’s school may say something different.

RE is statutory at KS4 unless you withdraw your child because you object to them being taught it - so lots of schools put everyone in for at least the 'short course' GCSE.

You can absolutely remove your kid from the lessons, but they are highly unlikely to be able to offer a different subject.

Most schools have a compulsory GCSE language requirement. You could argue that your dc is unlikely to pass, & often students with SEN are withdrawn to do 1-1 work etc, but again, it's highly unlikely he would be able to do a different GCSE course.

It's about timetabling & staffing, which happen in blocks.

My dd didn't have to do a language (thank God as she hated languages!)

You can speak to the school and see what they say.

This link explains more about what schools have to offer www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/key-stage-3-and-4 but whilst it says schools must offer at least one MFL and teach RE they don’t have to do a GCSE. My son’s school they had to pick either citizenship or RE to study from y9 and take exam Y10 and then they do the other as a non-exam subject (aka dossing about) in Y11 which presumably covers the compulsory aspect. They do maths, English language and lit, dual or triple science and then 3 or 4 options, which can include a language but it’s not compulsory. The school are encouraging them to do the English Baccalaureate which gives an additional qualification if they do well across a range of subjects including a language.

Sorry just looked at the EBacc stuff again and it says it’s a performance measure for schools, not a qualification for pupils, but that universities look on it favourably.

Wow my ds is at an independent school, he does not have to do a language or RE, and he won’t be.

It is a legal requirement for (state school) students to learn RE even into KS4 so many schools make it compulsory as a gcse so they get the qualification (to make the lessons more "worthwhile"). Very few people withdraw from RE. Those who do usually do it for religious reasons. Be aware that if you do this, you have to provide appropriate RE work yourself, the time cannot be used to other subjects. This will be how it is set up in the school with the timetable too so k don't know how you think your child would study something else when everyone else is timetabled to do French and RE?

Both are worthwhile, not just for the content that they are learning but also for the skills they gain, eg in RE, critical thinking, forming and evaluating arguments, understanding different worldviews - the "new" gcse requires study of 2 religions as well as non religious viewpoints like humanism.

But yes I think what your school is offering is fairly standard and there will still be options available! I wouldn't think you would have much chance of convincing them to swap these subjects for alternatives unless for example your child has some kind of learning need that justifies doing something like literacy instead of French

We stopped our child doing a gcse language so that they could choose a subject that they enjoyed and would get a much better grade in at gcse. School will tell you that the government have set out target- 75% of students should be pushed towards a gcse language, and that Ofsted will give them grief if they don't achieve it, less than 5% of schools achieve this figure. If your child gets a better grade at a subject that they enjoy, it will add to the school's value added score which is far more important to them! Fight for your child if they are adamant they don't want to do a language. Good luck!

RE is a well respected GCSE. My ds had to do it as school said if they had to teach it to KS4 then they might as well take the exam but they mostly did the Ethics stuff which is both interesting and good for developing analytical thought and coherent argument. Don’t totally dismiss it.

@silverpinecones thx for the info . I dont have any expectation of how I think they will schedule it I'm just looking for info at the moment ! 👍🏽

@Patchworksack thanks I'll read through this . X

@Ilovegardens how far in advance did you let school know that you didn't want to waste an exam on a subject that they had little internet in ? He will be choosing in March ..... it's frustrating that out if 9 exams they only get to choose 3 !!! He has no SEN issues but just loves other subjects and knows he can do better at those than French !!! Crazy isn't it !!!

Others have explained, RE is likely to be compulsory in all schools. MFL isn't. However, if your DS's school wants everyone to take an MFL subject, then presumably the timetable is set up for this, and he won't be able to study another subject in that block on the timetable.

By all means talk to the school about MFL, but be prepared to hear that there is no way around it- in this circumstance your only option would be to move schools.