GCSE Options Problem.... Choices Blocked!

[IJustWantAUserNameThatDoesntExistAlready]

Hi there, looking for advice from anyone who may be in a similar position with a bit more knowledge. My first post here, so apologies for any presentation errors...
My son is about to select GCSE options. He has the core, plus 3 optional.
Core is English Lang / Lit, Math, Combined Science and MFL (French). All good so far.
For his options, he needs to select one from each of the following blocks:
Block 1: Geography, History
Block 2: RE, Sociology
Block 3: Triple Science, Art, Geography (only if History chosen as Block 1), Computing... plus a bunch of vocational stuff.

Here's the problem. He's academic, and is determined (since he was 4) to make a career in the historical sciences (details don't matter). As a result, he wants to take Geography, History and Triple Science. All 3 would be very beneficial to him, and allow him to select the A-levels appropriate to progress into a degree in the appropriate area.
But because of the structure of the options, he can't. He has to drop one of these in favour of RE / Sociology, both of which are utterly useless to him (I'm not knocking them as subjects - I personally took RE to A-Level - but they're not suitable for his purposes).

Does anyone have any experience in how to approach the school to try and get this limitation changed? I'm quite happy to play softball or hardball with them to get the options he wants. Or does he just have to do a subject that is a waste of time for him, and get whichever of the preferred subjects we can't get through school privately (he already has private tutoring, I'm not bothered about the cost, but the additional schooling on top of what he already does might be too much?) If I say to the school "fine - force him to do a subject he doesn't want to do that will be a waste of time for all concerned, but don't be surprised if this straight-A student lands an F and brings down your school when he could get an A in his useful subject" - will this bounce back on him?

So frustrated that we're being blocked from GCSE options that he wants that could hinder him through the rest of his education!
Grateful for any advice...

I'd be really upset about that too. Triple science, history and geography is not a crazy combination. I'd push v hard with the school, and consider moving him if no dice.

I pushed for a combo for my daughter that the school technically didn't offer though, and they have made it work. See if you can get more parents on side who have the same concern - if 5 or 10 of you pitched it the school might go for it?

It may well be that he can't do the options due to the staff and timetabling. You can ask why it isn't possible and then if they can't change it you can move somewhere else.

So everyone has to take RE or sociology? That's mad

I get where you are coming from. However one GCSE which isn’t on your ideal list is hardly likely to have career limitations. If he’s really that bright he’s unlikely to land an F either, and will be perfectly capable of doing an extra exam out of school with a tutor. All 4 of my kids went to schools where 11 was the norm, 12 if you did ad maths. If it really that important to you and him, you’ll find a way. But in reality it’s the breadth of GCSEs that matters

I'm not sure what you mean by 'historical sciences'. What is his plan for A level? That's key I think. If Maths and science A level then not having both history and geography GCSE won't matter.

While i sympathise and understand the frustration, I'm not sure it's worth playing hard ball over. Focus on what is going to get him onto the A levels he wants.

Schools can't give everyone their first choice of subjects.

Would he put the work in to do the extra science after school? Or geography or history privately?

This will be due to timetabling. It won't make the slightest difference to your child in the long run whether he does geography or sociology since the stuff learned at GCSE level for geography is very basic. It sounds like he'll want to do three sciences at A Level anyway. Likewise history is very topic specific. So learning about WWII, Israel/Palestine and the Russian revolution at GCSE level is unlikely to make any difference to whether he can study history at a later stage. DS1 is doing history at university and due to covid only did half the curriculum at GCSE. Makes no difference whatsoever since the topics studied are completely different.

I would work back from degree, what A levels does he need for the degree he is thinking of, then do the GCSEs that allow him to do these a levels if he is bright then triple science would be a good choice. Remember sociology is quite science based. I would certainly discuss with the school but it may be impossible due to staffing and timetable. DS had a bit of this and had to take PE as it was the only choice he liked in one of the blocks. He did however get to do history, geography and triple science.

It’s quite common to give pupils a choice of geography or history in my experience. I suppose he needs to work out what is highest priority.

It’s highly unlikely they’ll be able to change the timetable for your DS.
Your options are to look for another school or look at sitting one of the GCSEs privately.

I think this happens a lot, mostly due to timetabling issues.

The reality is, that while it would be nice for him to have free choice to study exactly what he wants, having double instead of triple science with history and geography (and either sociology or RE) won't negatively affect his opportunities later.

This is very common.

It's because timetabling a school is a sodding nightmare and this cuts down the complexity massively.

You can get in touch with them and talk about it but if it is due to tinetabling it is unlikely it will be changed.

I'm struggling to think of what degree would fit with "historical sciences" and how he needs history, geography and triple science.

In general students only do 3 a levels so he will need to specialise then anyway.

History or geography is a pretty standard block imo. As others have sai I’d look at degree requirements and work backwards: unless he is planning l/needs to do science/history/geography as A levels I’d be surprised if the lack of one of the above (geog I’d guess based on his end goal) is a key blocker. (Id have thought sociology could be an excellent fit f potentially depending on what he wants to go into)

. You can do science A levels just fine with Combined science.
. I think you can do History A level without History GCSE.
. (Don't know whether you need Geography GCSE to do Geog A level.)

It's not the end of the world.

RE and Sociology are interesting.

He could ask if they can rejig the blocks but I doubt it.
Two options
. suck it up, it won't impact A levels anyway
. move schools.

It happens a lot due to timetabling.

My ds didn’t get the option to take a foreign language. At all! As there weren’t enough takers in the year. He’s now looking at taking one privately.

Not having geography or history gcse won’t stop him doing the a level though. I would have thought RE more useful if history is his interest?

Thanks for the replies so far - I do appreciate them!

Thanks for the suggestion :@DarkAcademia - I hadn't considered seeing if others are similarly limited. My wife handles most of the social interactions with the other parents!!

I agree it seems crazy @pokebowls - I did hear a few years ago that there were plans afoot to try and push GCSE RE on everyone "to reduce extremism". I don't see that being a winner, quite frankly! We discuss religion a lot at home, and he has a keen interest in many aspects of it, but primarily centred around the polytheistic beliefs of more ancient times - Greco-Roman, Viking etc than the primarily monotheistic "current culture" which is what RE covers.

@titchy The problem was that he was looking to do A-level of History / Geography / Biology / Maths- so the pre-requisites for these would be covered under GCSE History / Geography / Triple Science. Degree to be in either paleontology or archaeology, with a postgrad in a specialisation.

@PuttingDownRoots I expect that I won't "win" with this - and that it will end up being History or Geography done privately. Just figured I would throw it out there to see if anyone had any experience "pushing back" at the limitations before I start raising the matter outside of the home.

@Maybeicanhelpyou He's bright, no question - straight As consistently (OK, outside PE, but that's because he doesn't enjoy football, which is the "game of preference" at this school). But he's... stubborn. My fault... I've brought him up to question things, and push back when something is wrong. He has no interest in the syllabus of either RE or Sociology as taught at this school and I know he won't apply himself - honestly, I'd have no inclination to push him to apply himself - I'd sooner he spent his time on something useful!

@user120405 Thanks for the reminder about subject matter covered - it's more about setting the foundations for the techniques and methodologies applied, than the actual contents. He spends more time watching historical and natural documentaries than anything else, and has a breadth of knowledge that's nearly caught up to mine already! I'll bear that in mind though.

Moving to another school would create a host of other problems. It's something we've considered and spoken about, but for the time being it's not an option on the table.

DS would have struggled with those option blocks - his 2 non negioatables were triple and computer science. And block 2 would have been problematic.

Is it a very small school?

As most other posters have said, it’s a staff/timetable thing.

Dd is now taking gcse options and can’t take triple science with RE. Or art.

My dc is doing Geography Alevel not having done GCSE geography.

Take a view that RE (which is also Philosophy and Religion gateway) could be very useful for the degrees he’s considering especially archaeology. It’s less of a shit option than you think.

And History/Geography can be difficult to take in all schools together (state and public)

Take a look on what uni to see what popular combinations of A levels are.
Here’s the data for Durham

Is there any reason he can’t take A-level biology with just doing combined science?

I’d suggest combined science then he can have both history and geography.

Alternatively history, sociology and triple science. Sociology would be useful imo.

Ok well aiming for 4 A levels isn't particularly sensible - 3 is all any university will ask for.

I'd suggest he / you look at uni requirements for both paleontology and archaeology. I suspect you'll find history isn't needed for either, and geography or even geology would be the preferred humanity.