Admissions advice needed please

[OnTh3Up]

DS is currently in year 11.

He has had a very late identification of literacy processing difficulties** after I asked the SENCo to assess him.
He has had patchy teaching of geography.
He has one lesson a week of RE.

He is due to take 13 GCSEs which creates a very full exam timetable.

I have asked the school if he can drop RE and Geography.

The school have said dropping Geography could affect future university applications as it reduces the breadth of subjects.

Predicted Grades
Maths 9
Further maths 8/9
Statistics 8/9
Biology 7
Chemistry 8
Physics 8
Photography 8
Engineering 8
Music 8
English 4/5
English Lit 4/5

RE 3
Geography 3

He wants to do maths, computer science and photography A Levels and is considering a career in computer games design.

WWYD?
Drop RE and Geography?
Stick with Geography?

Either RE or Geography is fine, unis don't really consider specific subjects once the main criteria of core subjects is met. Geography might be better for him if it includes stats and data.

13 GCSEs is bonkers busy. At DD’s grammar 10 is the norm, 11 if doing FM and only 12 if doing FM and a twilight course like dance or mandarin which are timetabled at lunchtime and after school. A nearby comp does 8.

RE is also just once a week at DDs school like it is for your son which doesn’t leave much free time if dropped but would release stress. If he isn’t enjoying Geography then yes do drop.

I don’t know when the examination officers submit entries for the tests - that is the only thing that might be an issue?

your boy sounds super bright and those extra couple of subjects are only going to distract his energies and esteem.

He's got music and english lit for some humanities flavour. 13 is far too many at one sitting. I'd drop if I were him

Universities will absolutely not care

Makes no difference at all. Drop geography and RE unless it’s too late (exam entries might already be in)

You absolutely do not need more than nine GCSEs

Be aware some universities ask for a minimum 5 or 6 in English GCSE. It could be wise to drop some other subjects to focus on his English.

13 GCSEs totally OTT. I think dropping both is advisable - unis won’t care. DS wanted to be de-entered from a GCSE - school pushed back like hell so we had to INSIST on his behalf.

Thank you so much everyone. This is all very helpful advice.

I think @fortyfifty makes the key point. In an ideal world, weaker subjects would be pruned (RE, Geog, perhaps even Eng Lit) and the time saved to boost Eng Lang, ideally to a 6, to maximise the range of STEM course choices at uni if that is a future desired path.

In reality, entry for summer 2023 GCSE exams might already have been made and it might be difficult to unwind that. Additionally, the theoretically freed up time might not be able to be easily devoted to boosting Eng Lang.

All the above means the school's stated reason for resisting your request is a bit of a red herring, deliberate or otherwise. You could apply the counter pressure of pointing out that they had not picked up and acted on his dramatically divergent performance profile and now need to make up for lost time.

In terms of A levels, if Further Maths is offered at his school/future college choice, is it worth asking if he can take that, possibly with a view to dropping Photography early on in Y12 if he proves adapt at Further Maths but finding four subjects too much? This would also open up more maths and CS related choices at uni-level (but also emphasises the need to maximise Eng Lang GCSE).

I've got twins in Y11 at two selective grammar's in Trafford. One does 9, another 10. They focus on ebacc subjects and getting the best grades they can in fewer subjects. 13 seems bonkers.

I don’t think anyone will care if he has RE or geography gcse. Except maybe if he wanted to do a geog degree

I’ve just checked AQA website - school has up to 21 April to withdraw candidates. So fine in theory - in practice, I fear you will have to insist the school does so (and be sure to get written confirmation that the withdrawal has been done)

PS. Having looked at your son’s GCSEs, I am willing to bet the school are resisting because it will affect their EBacc scoring (he won’t have done history, geog or RE which count in one ‘pot’). We had this problem with DS - but, as we told his school, tough! EBacc is (one) part of how schools are judged, not individual DC.

Why so many being taken?
He needs to get a better score in english if poss

I was going to say, I'm sure I read a v similar thread recently which might help. Turns out, it was you...!

www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4735693-how-many-gcses-is-too-many?reply=123646706

So the point of dropping geography is ... what? Just so he doesn't have to see 3 on his records? Does he want to drop geography because he doesn't want to see 3 on his record?

drop geography and RE, focus on English

Thank you for checking this 👍

RE isn't an EBacc qualifying subject so if that is the school's motivation then they can't object to him dropping RE on those grounds. And if he's going to get a 3 in geography anyway it won't help their stats will it ?
I agree with everyone else - 13 GCSEs is ridiculous. It's an excessive workload and nobody needs that many. To be honest, I would probably have encouraged your DS to opt for a lesser number but broader range of subjects from the outset, to give the widest range of future options, but you can't do that now so from the current position, I would drop the ones he is likely to fail and focus on getting a secure 5 in English language. That's going to be more useful than either RE or geography I would think.

It's because he's had the opportunity to take triple science and also statistics and further maths. He is really lucky as he can do these subjects quite easily. He's also lucky to be able to do so many practical subjects- photography, engineering and music- he's really good at these. So he's in a fortunate position that he could potentially drop geography and re and still have more than enough GCSEs. He has also benefited from the knowledge he's gained in re and geography so it's not wasted. If it hadn't been for the pandemic maybe it would have been easier to flag up the discrepancy in his achievement in literacy based exams vs his ability. His geography lessons have also been quite bumpy due to several different teachers.

Yes! I'm still trying to work this out!

At my DCs school they do 9 GCSEs
The kids have no trouble getting into excellent 6 form colleges and top Universities

The point now is to cut his loses and make his revision load lighter and his actual exam timetable lighter. Knowing that the average number of GCSEs is 8/9 then he's taking about 50% more. That surely will put him at an unnecessary disadvantage. There are 3 geography papers and they all clash with another exam. If he takes re and geography out there are fewer clashes. He'll have more energy for the other exams.

13 GCSEs is too many

As he's doing both maths and FM, then I think it would be wise to cut down to 10 (or at a push 11 as statistics in in there too, so that's a lot of overlap)

I'd definitely be encouraging him to drop at least 2 and probably 3. So I'd get rid of one or both of geography and RE, and probably music as well (as he could just play for fun and/or do ABRSM/Trinity exams which will be on a different timeline