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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Year 9 - choosing options - how is it going?

143 replies

roisin · 20/01/2011 02:32

I was looking back at an old thread and wondering how everyone is?

MaryAnnSingleton
LadyGlencoraSnape
bellavita
OrmIrian
Polgara2

magentadreamer

deaddei

cocolepew

GrapefruitMoon
stleger

cory

.. and I'm sure lots of others I can't recall!

Are you all into the swing of options choosing?

Ds1 has to do Maths, Science (2), English (2), IT (2); the has thre options.
He has very high end of yr9 targets (mostly L8), but is on/above target for almost all, so has plenty of choice.
His current thoughts are triple science, German and History. He would have liked to do Spanish or Latin as well, but I think that will be plenty to keep him busy!

OP posts:
webwiz · 28/01/2011 13:02

She really needs a minimum of double science so core + additional. I would leave Psychology out and insist on the double science.

I would also briefly consider sixth form options to look at what they are asking for to do science A levels. School/college websites normally have a prospectus for sixth form with subject requirements.

DS will probably stay on and go to his schools own sixth form and this year's requirement to do science A levels is an A in the relevant science in triple science. The local college that takes from different schools has lower requirements - a B in double science. It would be a terrible shame if your DD inadvertently shut a door at this stage.

Core science just isn't enough for a bright child and it will look odd in her GCSE results.

summer111 · 28/01/2011 13:47

thanks so much webwiz, you've been a great help. Just checked and her own sixth form expect AA in double science for science A levels.

webwiz · 28/01/2011 15:31

Happy to help summer I'm going through this for the third time now.

oldbeforetime · 28/01/2011 16:32

Opinions please

To do an engineering degree - is it detrimental to have no humanties (or is RS a humanties - sorry if that's a stupid question) GCSE?

DD is thinking of swapping Geography for a 2nd language and having IT has a 10th.

mummytime · 28/01/2011 16:45

She won't get the EBacc (without Geog or History) but appart from that I don't think most Engineering departments will mind, as long as she has English.

Raidne · 28/01/2011 16:54

Late joining in here!!

Ds1 is hoping to do:
English x 2
Maths
RS
Science x 3
History
French
Spanish
Latin

They do some weirdy ICT thing this year so no need to continue with that.

Does it look too skewed as there's no art or music etc? The meeting is next week - we won't know until later if he can do these subjects.

oldbeforetime · 28/01/2011 17:07

Sorry [ignorant] what's EBacc?

webwiz · 28/01/2011 17:15

Its just a league table measure that has been introduced this year.

From the BBC website:
"Schools in England are now being measured according to how many pupils achieve grades A*-C in five core subjects - maths, English, two science qualifications, a foreign language and either history or geography"

oldbeforetime · 28/01/2011 17:54

Oh that's interesting - I don't know if her school will make her have to do a humanities, it doesn't say in the options booklet they do.

fresh · 28/01/2011 18:03

Just joining! We had the first meeting last night, and I'm a bit mystified at some of the "statutory" choices. Maths, English, science: ok. RE I was prepared to be v grumpy about but they teach it as philosophy and ethics which actually sounds like a good course. ICT I can live with BUT am mystified by PSHE/Foundation and Higher Project, two subjects which get DS1 half a gcse each and apparently are mandatory. Anyway he can do combined French and german, drama and then either hist (favourite) or geog. I want to know why he can't do geog instead of mysterious phse thing but suspect I'm not going to win that one. Anyone else had this?

seimum · 28/01/2011 19:33

DS's school is very late with this - parents evening 24 March & forms back 28 March.

Haven't even thought about his options, but if it's like the ones his elder sister had it will be Science x2, English x2, Maths, RE compulsory (church school). Then choice of a language, choice of a technology & 2 others.

However, I expect that they may now insist on either Geog or Hist to improve the school's Ebacc rating.

I hope they've dropped the requirement for a technology - DD1 did Food Tech which was a total waste of time - she may have got an A for it, but it didn't help her learn to cook.

Hope this thread is still running in March

CarlaBruni · 28/01/2011 19:42

Ist Options evening last night. I was quite impressed with the school's attitude tbh. Pretty sceptical about the E Bacc (explained it, explained the whole unknowns about it but went to a lot of trouble to clarify it a lot for parents) This school has open options - kids pick what they want (3 choices plus a 4th) and the school fits its groups around those choices. No, you can't do Spanish if you choose geography dilemmas.

seimum · 28/01/2011 20:00

I've found last year's GCSE options leaflet on the school website, and they don't have to do a Tech subject any more (hooray). So DS will have to choose a language & 3 others.

He plays an instrument & plays in a couple of bands, so I was wondering about encouraging him to do music as an option, but I'm not sure what else is involved in the GCSE.

summer111 · 29/01/2011 09:23

seimum, dd wants to take music as one of her options. According to the inforation booklet we were given by the school, the edexcel examination consists of:

Performing: 30% (1 solo and 1 ensemble performance - instrument or voice)
Composing: 30% (2 compositions from different areas of study)
Listening and Appraising: 40% (written exam in 2 sections based on pieces studied).

They have 4 areas of study:
Western Classical music
20th century music
Popular music
World music

Hope that helps!

summer111 · 29/01/2011 09:32

fresh, we have something similar - English, Maths, Science and RE compulsory aswell as half PE, half IT and half PSHE GCSE's. I just think they are 'wasted' GCSE's to be honest Angry

Renniehorta · 29/01/2011 09:56

What is combined French and German?

Is that 2 full GCSEs, 2 short courses, 2 languges with only some skills examined, or 2 taken at foundation?

Whichever it sounds like it might be trying to do too much in a short time. I would ask for details on this.

Given the choice I would go for one full GCSE. It could be something that have come up with because they believe that it might be easier for lower ability students. The believe beibg that they manage 2 languages very superficially.

Renniehorta · 29/01/2011 09:58

I agree about PSHE and Project being a waste of an option. They would be very much on the soft end of the spectrum.

cory · 29/01/2011 10:08

Pheewwww, back from Options Evening- and everything made a lot clearer. Information filtered through the mind of a panicking teenager can be interesting, to say the least... Hmm

It seems they do do a compulsory BTech in PE, but it is mainly theoretical and even the practical is about organising a PE lessons- so nothing that disability should get in the way of. Mainly learning about the human body and good exercises, sounds all right to me.

And she gets 11 GCSEs on top of that, including compulsory double English and double Science, so don't think we should grumble really. Though could do without the compulsory IT and Tech I suppose. Having said that, dd is uber-academic, she can always learn another language at college, doing a bit of work with her hands won't hurt her.

RatherBeOnThePiste · 29/01/2011 10:13

Yaayy. Got a very comprehensive booklet today with all the courses outlined. There are seven core subjects, then a just straight choice of three options.

The specifics of each course are outlined and history contains a comparison of crime/ jack the ripper and the Yorkshire ripper. DH has gone all snooty saying that it should be the causes of the first world war!!

mummytime · 29/01/2011 12:48

Tech actually teaches a lot of very useful skills; eg. working from a project idea, writing a project brief, and planning a project. Really useful real world stuff, that even the most academic could do with learning.

cory · 29/01/2011 14:29

Yes, that was my second thought actually, mummytime. My only grouch is that there are so many of these non-academic/non-heavy subjects that are compulsory at dd's school that it doesn't leave that much room for the kind of subject that traditional universities like (no chance of a second modern language, for instance). But I agree that a broad curriculum is not a bad thing.

fresh · 30/01/2011 12:14

Re combined french/german, it's offered as an option to those students who they think can do it, and you get 2 gcse's at the end of it. They admit it's full on but think he can do it. Suspect DS1 has no clue what gcse work is going to be like as at the moment he apparently does his homework by osmosis. Still, they're stretching him so I'm grateful for that as he has my laziness genes. Luckily there are also a few of DH's competitive genes in there too!

Re phse/project agree it's a waste but 'citizenship' does appear to be mandatory under the nat curr, so I suspect this is a way of covering that. can also see from the head's messianic gleam that they are Not To Be Questioned about it, but can forgive them as the teachers are all so keen.

Uskgirl · 30/01/2011 15:02

Anyone got any thoughts on BTech's - relative merits and value compared to GCSEs? My son considering a combo of both but I'm not familiar with them.

thetasigmamum · 30/01/2011 15:29

I would avoid BTECs like the plague in the light of the new Education Bill. Fairly or unfairly I think they are likely to be regarded as very much not equivalent to GCSEs in the near future.

happyhev · 30/01/2011 15:41

My son wants to take triple science as he is hoping to do science A-levels. However he has been told that triple science is not offered to children in the middle stream. My son is dyslexic and was placed in the middle stream as he is below average in english and french. He is however a good average in science (6b). It seems so unfair that his ability in english prevents him from doing triple science.