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Original poster

School have made RS compulsory at GCSE.

100 replies

spongebunnyfatpants · 08/02/2023 19:58

Does anyone have any advice please or anyone been in this situation before.
We have received the options for our child's GCSE's next year. The school (an academy) has made Religious Studies complusary.
My son is gutted because it's not an option that he would have picked and it means that he loses out on one of his other options that he really wants to do.
I imagine that for many of the pupils it will be a waste of a GCSE.
I have looked on the internet and from what I can gather it says that schools can make a subject complusary, however it also says that parents can chose to opt out of RS at any stage in their child's education.
Obviously this is something I'll be contacting school about
Has anyone ever done this before at GCSE level and can you talk me through the process please.
Thank you.

OP posts:
Hercisback · 08/02/2023 21:17

Have his options been reduced? Do you have access to last year's booklet? It's likely to have been added to, rather than removing an option.

sanityisamyth · 08/02/2023 21:17

I'm not religious in the slightest. Have no comprehension of how anyone can believe in a God and I spent 13 years as a avenue be teacher.

Having said that, the GCSE RE looks interesting, and the ethics and morals aspect is relevant to everyone in everyday life. It is a useful subject in terms of weighing up evidence, critical thinking and drawing conclusions - as is science. I can't see how you think it's a waste of time. If the school are making it compulsory, then you need to change your attitude and point out the reasons he should be studying it, rather than wasting time and energy, and telling him it's a waste of time.

plumduck · 08/02/2023 21:18

spongebunnyfatpants · 08/02/2023 20:57

Ethics, human rights etc are all important, but are all covered in PHSE too.

I understand that these areas will be looked at in greater depth in the GCSE, but my child and (judging by the other parents response) the majority of the students in the year don't need or want to study it any further than they already have.

They will not learn or gain anything from it if they aren't interested.

I would have thought schools who are so focused on results would want pupils to do subjects that are interested in so they will engage more and get better results.

@MrWhippersnapper regardless of how many topics there are, they are not relevant and are of no use to him.

@Tumbleweeder theres an open evening in a couple of weeks to discuss all the options. So I guess we'll find out more then, I guess if alot of parents complain it might change their minds.

Maybe they've noticed they get good results with it even if kids aren't interested.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

General education General parenting Secondary education
Original poster
spongebunnyfatpants · 08/02/2023 21:19

@KangarooKenny my other child did theirs last year and didn't have to do it and it's the same school.
Which is why I'm confused about why they're doing it this year. I guess I'll know more at the open evening.

OP posts:
plumduck · 08/02/2023 21:19

sanityisamyth · 08/02/2023 21:17

I'm not religious in the slightest. Have no comprehension of how anyone can believe in a God and I spent 13 years as a avenue be teacher.

Having said that, the GCSE RE looks interesting, and the ethics and morals aspect is relevant to everyone in everyday life. It is a useful subject in terms of weighing up evidence, critical thinking and drawing conclusions - as is science. I can't see how you think it's a waste of time. If the school are making it compulsory, then you need to change your attitude and point out the reasons he should be studying it, rather than wasting time and energy, and telling him it's a waste of time.

Yes I agree, if you reinforce his ideas that it's pointless he won't bother with it and then yeah he'll do shit

plumduck · 08/02/2023 21:20

spongebunnyfatpants · 08/02/2023 21:19

@KangarooKenny my other child did theirs last year and didn't have to do it and it's the same school.
Which is why I'm confused about why they're doing it this year. I guess I'll know more at the open evening.

Maybe they decided their cohort was quite intolerant to other peoples views and opinions so thought it might help them with general essay writing?

Talipesmum · 08/02/2023 21:23

I’d be annoyed about that too, OP. It’s not compulsory at my kids’ high school - they have PSHE once a fortnight, plus a whole day of it every now and again, but no timetabled RE at all that I’ve heard of. Definitely no exam. They can take 4 options, plus maths, eng lang and lit, and three sciences. Plus after school statistics / further maths if they’re good at it. It was hard enough picking 4 options.

I do appreciate it can be v interesting with ethics etc - but loads of other things are interesting like history, geography, computer science, DT, languages, art, music, astronomy etc.

Original poster
spongebunnyfatpants · 08/02/2023 21:25

@sanityisamyth I don't need to change my attitude at all. I actually would have found this really interesting to study, but he won't.

He's an intelligent boy and is able to make up his own mind about what he likes and dislikes and he doesn't enjoy it.

If he has to do it, he'll have do it, but if there's an alternative then I'd like to know about how he can do that instead.

OP posts:
DaisyCornflowerBlue · 08/02/2023 21:25

My DD goes to a non-denominational school, and R/S is a compulsory subject. She's taking her RS exam this year. I think she only learned about Christianity and Islam.

We are atheist but find the study of religion fascinating. Religion links so well with history, geography, art and culture. I see problem with it.

UWhatNow · 08/02/2023 21:27

spongebunnyfatpants · 08/02/2023 21:19

@KangarooKenny my other child did theirs last year and didn't have to do it and it's the same school.
Which is why I'm confused about why they're doing it this year. I guess I'll know more at the open evening.

No need to be confused. The school are lawfully required to teach RE so your friend’s kid did it as a lesson but wasn’t examined in it. They’ve obviously decided to enter them into gcse this year so that those lessons can turn into a qualification. Maybe they’ve been pulled up by the LA for not doing it previously. Either way your son will be doing RE whether he likes it or not. Google it!

Why are you so hostile to RE anyway? It’s a useful and illuminating academic discipline not religious conversion!

DaisyCornflowerBlue · 08/02/2023 21:28

DaisyCornflowerBlue · 08/02/2023 21:25

My DD goes to a non-denominational school, and R/S is a compulsory subject. She's taking her RS exam this year. I think she only learned about Christianity and Islam.

We are atheist but find the study of religion fascinating. Religion links so well with history, geography, art and culture. I see problem with it.

I see no problem with it.

HelloDaisy · 08/02/2023 21:28

It is compulsory in dds school, has been for a long time, but they do it in a year and sit the gcse in year 10. Good practice for the following year and all done and dusted so more time to study other subjects!

Original poster
spongebunnyfatpants · 08/02/2023 21:29

@Talipesmum where's your school? Does it have any places? 😉😁

@plumduck I don't think that's the case, his tutor always says what a great group of pupils they are and how well they discuss and debate different things and how open they are. Maybe that's why, they're doing it. 🫣

OP posts:
ArnoldBee · 08/02/2023 21:31

There's nothing wrong with RS is it's a perfectly good subject and not all about religion. I think this is clouding the situation.

The issue is your son had considered his options and due to RS feels constrained about his options and that he can't do what he wanted. What you need to know from school is if he is withdrawn from RS will ve be offered another option that he wants or will be be reading in the library?

Original poster
spongebunnyfatpants · 08/02/2023 21:33

@UWhatNow it was my child, not my friend's child and he didn't do any RE at all during his GCSE's only PHSE.

I'm not hostile to RE, I find it interesting even though I'm an atheist. I would feel the same if he was being made to do french, or health and social care or drama or any other subject that he wasn't interested in or didn't want to do.

OP posts:
NightsThatStartWithWhiskey · 08/02/2023 21:34

Our school makes Religious Studies compulsory for some children. I think it’s a good GCSE as it teaches kids critical thinking, research and essay skills. Those are beneficial skills for everyone, so many people seem incapable of critical thinking especially.

Original poster
spongebunnyfatpants · 08/02/2023 21:36

@ArnoldBee thank you, that is exactly it. I would feel the same about any other subject he was being forced to do that wasn't what he wanted.

He's going to spend 2 years studying it, it should be something he finds interesting, useful and relevant to him.

OP posts:
gogohmm · 08/02/2023 21:39

Both mine did RE philosophy and ethics, was a thought provoking course and you could answer from an atheist perspective! Mine attended church so scored a*'s for very little work I do admit

Hercisback · 08/02/2023 21:39

Wait til you hear about the students forced to do maths and English...

You haven't said if RE has filled a free choice slot compared to previous years, or if it has gone from being non examined to an examined subject?

LolaSmiles · 08/02/2023 21:43

How has he lost an option if you've only just got the information about the options for his cohort?

It seems that he decided what he wanted to do before the information was given and you're both now annoyed

RE has to be covered in some form. Sometimes schools put some of the principles in with PSHE/Citizenship and the pastoral program, some have it as a non-examined subject, some do a short course and some do full course.

If RE is compulsory for all pupils then school are unlikely to create a new class in a subject of your child's choice just so he doesn't have to do RE.

.

Original poster
spongebunnyfatpants · 08/02/2023 21:43

@Hercisback they've only taught it to those doing the GSCE in previous years, the other pupils not doing the GCSE haven't had to learn it. So it was a free choice and now it's not.

OP posts:
Unexpecteddrivinginstructor · 08/02/2023 21:46

The school has to offer it but you can withdraw him. If everyone else is taking RS then it is likely that they would be unable to timetable him to take a different subject during that time so he would be a subject down and would have to sit somewhere else during those lessons. It is often seen as quite an easy subject with less content (although that does depend on what sort of subjects you enjoy). He might be able to gain a high grade without too much work, which will look good for university.

Hercisback · 08/02/2023 21:47

But has it reduced his number of other free choices?

For exa last year, students got 3 free choices, and now he only has two?

Or has it been achieved via timetable changes, eg replacing PSHE with RE, then using form time for PSHE.

Sucessinthenewyear · 08/02/2023 21:49

Tumbleweeder · 08/02/2023 20:39

Regardless of the ‘forcing religion’ aspect I don’t understand why any schools have fixed options other than maths, English and maybe a MFL. I can see it might help timetabling but kids shouldn’t be restricted more than the absolute necessary and RE seems a rather odd choice if you are going to make more than the obvious ones compulsory.
What about home ec, science or IT ? All could arguably be more useful.

Have school asked or offered feedback or is it a done deal?

They legally have to teach GCSE so some
schools do this through the GCSE course.

Fizbosshoes · 08/02/2023 21:52

xyzandabc · 08/02/2023 20:05

Is it a full gsce or short course GCSE?

I don't know if this is still the case but sometime ago, some form of RS was still compulsory until the end of yr11. Some schools took the view that if they had to deliver RS, then the students might as well get a qualification out of it (rather than it being delivered via assemblies or phse style). So all students take short course RS which is like half a GCSE. Those who actually want to choose it as an option can choose the full GCSE.

If it's short course it's not really wasting an option, it's just getting a certificate for something he'd have to do anyway.

If it's full course then he has my sympathy, it's rubbish having to study stuff you're not interested in. If it's any consolation, many of the RS specifications now contain a lot on relationships, ethics, philosophy, beliefs, not just religions, so might be more interesting than he thinks.

This happened at my DC school, it was compulsory but there was a choice of long or short course RS,