Best way to do an extra GCSE outside school ? (Or other options)

[madamweb]

DS is very happy at school and doing very well, but is facing a dilemma when it comes to GCSE options

They are allowed to pick 4 options for GCSEs (so he tells me, am waiting for school to release the info fully to parents, so this is me prepping in the meantime

However he really wants to do

• triple science (this counts as one option)
• advanced maths (he's steaming along at the top of top set maths and loves it)
• history
• geography
• German

He's keen to find a way to do them all, and I am guessing timetabling probably means school can't accommodate that.

So just wondering what options people have used to do an additional GCSE outside of school? I am thinking either using a tutor or an online course??

And which subjects might be best fit for doing that? My instinct is to say he does geography outside school as I have a degree in geography so could support him best (alongside a tutor /online course) . But I don't know how it would work for field work? Is that a component of the GCSE.

Very early days I haven't really begun researching so would welcome info and suggestions

To head off any judgment /questioning (because I just want advice on the practicalities):

He absolutely loves learning and this is his wish not mine, he already does extra "fun" courses outside school (presently he is studying astronomy online, and has a science tutor so they can look at subjects outside the curriculum)

(Nb he also does plenty of sport /hobbies and has a lovely group of friends)

@roselilylavender ... No, he checked his school intranet site and the options booklet is on there already so we read it through to tonight

Triple science involves using one of the options . He's keen to do it and is steaming along at the top of the top set so it will be a good option for him

The additional maths is advanced maths plus statistics as a combined option and again it is only for.top set but again he's consistently at the top of the top set

So that leaves only two more options for him. But he wants to do history , geography and German. He is gutted to be dropping business too but is going to just read about business in his own time

Reading on here, plus from discussing with him, we think German will be the best option to do at home

If his school can't offer him a space to sit the exam as a private candidate we will see where else he can do it, but we are hopeful they will be supportive.
Or @hamsandyams @Flustrationdo you know any good courses for studying for CEFR as an alternative or is it something you just study with a. Tutor ? (Am partly interested for me, I got to first year degree level in french (I did it as an option module) but then dropped it,.so am tempted to look at the CEFR.route as an incentive to really pick it up again, I can read and listen pretty fluently still (thanks to radio/books etc) but my speaking and written skills are horribly rusty)

@madamweb the Alliance Francaise works with CEFR. You can go on their website to assess your current level (takes about half an hour from what I’ve just done!) and it tells you which level you should be working towards and if there are classes in your area.

Ah fabulous, thank you!

The equivalent to the Alliance Française for German is the Goethe-Institut in London and Glasgow. They also offer online courses and have various offerings for young learners. The levels go A1/A2/B1/B2/C1/C2 (C2 being the most advanced, akin to native level).

What does he hope to gain from so many GCSEs? Most employers for me only see that I have x at grade y, plus English and maths at specific grades, and I get interviewed/jobs.

Think about a-level choices being enabled and drop the rest. Then he can focus and study well and do enriching activities outside of school.

My DD is doing a language via a home-education centre for similar reasons. The tutor is also a GCSE examiner so knew what we needed, and just let us arrange our slot after school. It is 1:1 because the other home-schoolers want classes when she is at school. It is not cheap - costing about £500 per term for tuition plus the exam cost (about £240) but she is doing the language in a year and the tutor is brilliant. If your DS has already been learning German, doing it in year 10 would be fine.

You could also look at Goethe Institute online courses. For us, the iGCSE worked out the best option because we have a homeschool centre nearby where she can sit the exam.

Fab, thank you @Drivingoverlemons . Do school know she is doing it and if so were they supportive of that approach?
Yes he's done German since year 7 and is doing well and really enjoys it. If he does it through school he would get to go on a school trip to Germany but he would be happy to go on a holiday or two to Germany with us instead

No, the school doesn’t know but if we hadn’t found the homeschool course, I would have asked them if she could do her exams there. Hmm, the trip thing is tricky as a school trip is always a fun experience for a teen. In my research I discovered that you can do all sorts of iGCSEs online. I agree with a pp that it would be a shame to do Geography online as he would miss the field trips. History may be an option though.

I would also be seriously considering this advice about further maths. In a way it seems a shame to have to go to the expense and effort of doing a GCSE out of school that he would gain enjoyment and balance out of doing in school (including trips and field trips) in order to do advanced maths. Unless it meant he could not do A Level maths without advanced maths.

I think until you know what the Gcse choices are and how they are done by the school before you can decide. As all schools seem to do it differently.

At my child school, the top set in science do triple science with additional learning done in tutor 3 days a week and 1 hour after school. The other children are split between English and Math teachers so they have additional teaching.

MFL is done as part of the core subject either French or Spanish. But you can also do a community language as long as the child is fluent in it.

Further Math is taught at 1 hour after school session.

They also offer English Literacy A level with 2 x 1 hour sessions after school and 1 lunchtime teaching.

My Dc is doing both advanced maths and German as extra to options choices.

Advanced maths is taught in lessons to the top maths set, and they stay after school for an extra lesson once a week - but I think this would be a really straightforward one to do with an external tutor.

German we pay a tutor, 2hr lesson online fortnightly (plus homework) - it’s with another child too, so they get to do conversation practice and group work together, which I think is important.

The school will enter dc for both exams, and facilitate the oral exam.

I wouldn’t choose history or geography to do outside school, definitely geography because of the fieldwork, but also I think class discussion is useful for developing skills.

In my DDs school further maths is done in extra lessons at lunchtime and after school.
Does he need to do a GCSE in German or just continue learning it online? Same with history I suppose, could he just enjoy reading about history rather than actually doing a gcse in it - he'd get to choose to learn about anything he wants then too.
It also depends what he thinks he might want to do after gcse, if he's leaning more towards maths and science then prioritise them, and probably geography which "goes" better with science and maths than history and German.

Is Astronomy an option? If he already enjoys it. We home educate and my son is sitting this GCSE. Does require observations sign off, he is following a one year evening class. Lots of maths in it! Expand your options to look at all the possibilities of IGCSEs too. So much out there for your son to explore! Also November exam sittings to spread the load. If he enjoys history perhaps Classical Civilization would appeal? Self study with o recorded online course is an option. GCSEs can be sat any year or age, my son completed 2 at 13. Spread the stress!

@CookiePookie oh no don't add more GCSEs to our list

I might suggest that to him as something to do alongside a levels perhaps though! or possibly we'll get started on German early and then you're right he could always do it before he does the other exams.

Agree with this. My sons all the top set kids did advanced maths alongside the standard maths GCSE, not as an additional option so I would check with the school on that.

I've read the school Options booklet now (we managed to find it). It's definitely an option rather than a bolt on to top set maths but it's because the option is "advanced maths and statistics" together. Lower sets can do statistics as an option on its own, the top set can do " ad maths plus statistics".

Maths is one of the easiest to do outside of school as no essays/lab/fieldwork etc. DC1 did FM as self-taught and an extra MFL with a tutor to A Level, the school provided a room for MFL speaking exam but I invited our own invigilator. Extra MFL
A Level actually helped with uni admissions.

DC2 is doing maths and German with tutors and will sit extra GCSEs as school's options will be restricted.

Teachers leave. Do it because you enjoy the subject, not because you enjoy the teacher.

Oh , he loves the subject too. I
Absolutely loves the subject. The teacher being great is just a reason he would prefer to do that GCSE at school not outside school. If the teacher did leave though I'd sort a tutor. But the whole maths department seems v good at his school, and DS would probably happily teach himself anyway

That's good @madamweb. My ds was steered away from a subject at GCSE as the teacher basically flagged up that she would be leaving during the two years, and he only wanted to do it because of her. He did something else instead (with a teacher both of us loathed, but that's by the bye!).

No it's a totally fair point to make, and if it was a subject he was normally so- so about I think that would be a v crucial point to consider. But he's been making me do maths with him "for fun".since he was a tiny preschooler and he was bursting to tell me about the ad maths GCSE when he found out