yr9 parents evening, pre-opt choices, what teachers to see?

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DD is busy running around getting the appointments.
They don't have their pathways or option booklets yet, so not 100% sure how many options she has.

I told her to ensure she gets appointments with the core subject teachers (Eng, Maths, Science, ICT, poss RS) and MFL, Geog, music to cover 3 presumed option choices, Also Drama of there is a 4th.

However, before she has had a chance to get the appointments for the above, teachers of other subjects have asked for her form and insisting on taking a slot.

She is also being approached directly by some teachers saying they really hope she will choose their subject. Her answer has always been "if I have enough options". They have then asked her what options she is thinking of choosing, and on has tried to persuade her to drop Geog. in favour of her subject.
And this is all before the "options evening" next month, when the reall selling starts
I told DD that if the only times left for the important subjects clash, then she must have these in preference to those forced on her. Otherwise quite happy to see them all.

Only one teacher seems to be playing fair and has told the class only to take a slot if seriously considering GCSE.
In other years we have seen all or most. What do others do on the last all subjects "opportunity"

It's difficult for you to do this uninformed. We had a booklet two weeks ago so we know what the choices are. Parents evening is next week. I suppose you should see all possibles. If there are some she absolutely has no intention of doing, then avoid those.Otherwise you may need to see them all!

Take a hip flask. You could be there forever!

For DS's parents evening we saw nearly everyone as we didn't have the options booklet at that point. The only teachers I didn't bother with were D&T as he has no intention of taking any technology subjects.

I would be annoyed at "selling" though, it doesn't help and just puts kids under pressure.

We have had our options evening. I went to see Maths, English, Science & German teachers as these are all compulsory GCSEs for dd.

Dd wants to do Drama for GCSE but that will be a new subject for her, so no teacher to see (but did chat to the English teacher about her views on doing Drama)

Didn't bother going to see any of the teachers for the subjects she definitely didn't want to carry on (Tech & PE). Went to see History, Geography, French & Latin as these are the options she is considering.

I saw all dd's teachers simply because it was an opportunity to hear how she's doing.
There was no "selling"- history and geography were both disappointed that she is dropping those subjects, as she is working very well, but just isn't interested.
It was a very long evening!!!

Do you need to see the core subject teachers at this stage? She's going to have to sit those subjects anyway. Can't you just see the optional subject teachers?

We saw the core teachers pippop1 because I did want to know how DS was actually doing in those subjects. Even though its a pre options parents evening it still fulfills the function of a normal parents evening ie how your child is working, what level they are at and how well they are likely to achieve in the future.

At ours the queue for the science teacher was unbelievable and DS told me off because I sighed too loudly while waiting!

Definitely need to see the core subject teachers. 1) to check how she is doing (especially English) and 2) as the levels here determine their options pathway. They had an 'options assembly' earlier this week, but this has left DD very confused. it seems they ARE NOT making languages comoulsory for the Ebacc, and need to be at least a 5b in English to take a language. The triple science pathway still has no compulsory language, and they need to be a 6a - although not clear if that's just in science, or Eng, Maths and Science. DD is now worried (again) that she won't be able to do the latter because of her English (5a/6c) I wish they would just give out the booklets and their pathways and be done with.

Can definitely avoid PE, design tech and Art, but food tech & textiles have already nabbed her.

The real 'selling' will start in the options evening next month when all the weird and wonderful new subjects are presented.

As the teacher of an option subject, I will let students who I think will do well at my subject know that it is a good option for them. I don't think that this is "selling" and I do think it helps. Sometimes, students are under-confident and do not believe in their abilities in a particular subject.

My advice would be to make as many appointments as you can manage, and, if she's a good student, to expect a lot of teachers to be encouraging her to take that subject. If you discuss the actual courses with the teachers, you may find that some subjects she hadn't considered are worth thinking about.

Evil twins that isn't selling in my book, I want to know which subjects teachers think DS will do well in. Selling is trying to persuade a child to drop other options in favour of a subject and not leaving them alone when they have given clear reasons for choosing an alternative subject.

Ah, I see. webwiz - I agree - I don't think that's fair. Yr 9 kids are confused enough...

No problem at all with being told what DD could do well at in GCSE. We were getting that at both the yr7 and yr8 parents evening.

But there are only so many options, and I think it is unfair for a teacher to persuade a pupil to drop a (more academic and useful) option they are good at to take theirs.

I just went to see the teachers of teh subjects that dd1 was interested in. They all wanted dd1 and a few kept trying to gently persuade her.

Also saw the guidance teacher (pastoral) to ask re uni p[references but she was shit and didn't seem to know how unis looked at subjects.

Ach, we didn't see it as selling. It was some flattering banter, teachers keen to get enthusiastic students. We enjoyed the chat.

I donlt think there will be anyone at the parents evening giving general guidance.
And the optiion evening next month is just talks and presentations as far as I know,

Though we did have the opportunity to go to a careers festival a couple of weeks ago. Although quite useful, was more aimed at yr11 than yr9.

Hi, I am feeling very frustrated with the GCSE subjects my daughter has been offered at her school as optional GCSEs.There seems to be too many BTECs,and the GCSE subjects are very limited. For example GCSE Law, Psychology,Graphics, Business have not been offered.

The subject that are being offered as GCSE are as followed:
Art & Design
French
Triple Science(only for set 1 & 2 students.
Citizenship
Drama
Geography
music
Child Development
History
Technology-Food(catering)

BTECs on offer are:
Business
P.E
CACHE
Media

Is it just me or do other people also feel that the school is steering students towards studying vocational or BTECs at college?

Shouldn't secondary schools have emphasis on a variety of GCSE subjects and let students take BTECS at college if this is what the students want to do.
I don't feel students studying the above subjects have a good chance of getting in to Academic A levels for example Psychology,Law,Science.

I would love to hear from other parents what subjects their children have been offered and and how they feel about it. Is this normal for schools to do?
Other than speak to the school, what else can I do?
I am very worried to what is best for my daughter,as changing schools at this stage is
too disruptive. However at her current school I feel students haven't been given the chance to raise to their full potential.

Aminumber1 - to be able to study A level Psychology or Law you do not need to have done a GCSE in that subject. Also to go on to do a Law or Psychology degree you do not need A levels in Law or Psychology. As long as the school offers Double Science or what ever it's called these days to lower sets then A level Sciences could be studied. It's BTEC Science that needs to be avoided if a DC wishes to go on and study A level Sciences.

My DD's school offers a much wider range of subjects then the list you give but this is due to how option subjects are taught - they use vertical tutoring so option classes could have DC's from Yr9 -11. DD has subjects as traditional as Geography to the rather bizarre offering of GCSE Astronomy.

What other subjects would you expect to see at GCSE?

With the exception of RS (unless it's inluded in Citizenship) 2nd or 3rd MFL, all the academic subjects are there. Latin isn't, but that's generally grammar and independents only.

Going from last year, In addition to your list, DDs school offers German and Spanish aa well as French, but one of these would have been studied since yr 7. Also Italian for more talented linguists.
They also have many of the non-academic subjects at GCSE- textiles, graphics, product design, Catering, Media, Business, PE and child development.

The less academic pathways have a more limited core, and must chose at least one of the BTECs. These were sport, travel and performing arts.

Also, none of the ICT is GCSE - DIDA and CIDA I think.

The non- GCSEs can be taken by the more academic as option choices, but they all take up at least 2 option choices.

At some schools they do a group presentation, then there is an "options fair" with staff manning stalls about their subjects.

In this case the core subjects' (English Maths Science) stalls are often very quiet. Don't ignore them. This is a great opportunity to find out about the courses they are following, what the assessment strategy is (coursework and exams) and when the key hotspots are (modular exams, coursework deadlines, controlled assessments, etc.)

We had this for DS roisin, it was a bit of a scrum though! We also have a very nice booklet that outlines the course content and assessment strategy for all subjects including the core ones. I think that will be very handy over the next two years.

Yes, absolutely webwiz. Hold on to that and file it somewhere safely, so that you have a guide as to what SHOULD be going on!

Not sure xactly what form ours takes, Roisin.
Just that next week we talk to the teacher about the pupil. The options evening next mmonth is about the subjects.

Would be handy to have the booklet and know her pathway in advance of both though.

You have to decide if your school is putting on a Parents' Evening (to discuss progress thus far) or an Options Evening (to discuss future choices).

They are different events. Your school should provide two separate evenings for the two functions.

As for the teachers persuading your child to take their subject - well, how mean of them. I thought it was Options Evening, not Please the Teacher evening.

It's not mean, it's flattering. It means your child has every option open to him/her and is seen to be a good student.

Just found out won't be getting option books and pathways until after half term.
So seeing all except PE, Art and Techs.

We went through this last year and, to be honest, without the options booklet it's pretty much a waste of time doing anything but assessing where your child is in each subjec, the teachers advice as to wether your child has an aptitude which will allow them to thrive on a GCSE course, and your childs passions.

When the options come to be made, if you are looking at choosing from the main GCSE options (as opposed to Diplomas) they really are quite restrictive. Too much planning and children just seem to get disappointed when subjects don't fall into the right block.

The maximum choice we had was 4 GCSE choices. Not that many really.

Ours were set out in such a way it was quite easy to do all the normal academic subjects - languages, art, music, humanities and science turned up more than once. Any less common choices tended to only appear once and if you already had something in that block, well you'd had it really. That's the problem with making decisions too early.

If you child is being head hunted that is wrong. There are many children who are great across the curriculm and they must be allowed to choose for themselves. Guidance is one thing but head hunting is quite another.