Dismayed at dire set of option choices available

[danellasmum]

Am totally dismayed at the options available to DS's school. Beyond the core subjects only three choices available. He had decicided on sep. sciences, history, spanish, design Tech and PE so something will have to go. Depressingly though do not think he will even get three of these because subjects arranged in three groups with only one choice allowed from each. History, geography, and triple science all being in one group immediately rules out a humanity as he views the science as a must have (Cannot believe triple science is even being classed as an option rather than a core subject). Is this normal and am I alone in thinking three option choices to be very limited?

Roisin, my Y11 dd is not doing any ICT, so it can't be a compulsory core subject for Y10-11.

At her school (state selective school) GCSE in RE is compulsory. The school only offers double science to all, and as they seem to have plenty scoring top grades at science A-level it can't make that much difference. Quite a lot of very academic schools only offer double science, so I'm not really convinced that triple science adds much value, and it certainly reduces other options.

She is doing

Maths
Double science
Eng lang
Engl lit
French
German
Latin
History
Geography
RE

Which makes a total of 11 subjects. Of those she could have dropped one language and either history or geography in favour of eg Art/ICT/drama/DT/PE if she'd wanted a wider range of choices.

At ours, the core subjects are one MFL, double science, maths, both Englishes, IT, RS, one tech (choice of 4)- also compulsory BTech in PE, leaving 2 options. Am not too upset about this as it seems to me that dd is getting a fairly rounded education and, if she chooses sensible options, will still have enough "heavy" GCSEs to look ok in the case of later university applications.

Compulsory BTech in PE! My goodness me. That would have put a huge blot on my exam record, for a start.

Daughter's options (good comp):
Core: Eng * 2, Maths, Double science (triple not available - this was five years ago), RE, ICT (DIDA etc)

Options: 4, probably in groups. I think they had to do a Humanity in addition to RE (e.g. History, Geog, Sociology). It was possible to do two MFL + Latin + History, which was what she nearly did (made ill-advised decision to drop Spanish and do Art, in the end). She also dropped RE (which we had to write to school about, exercising our right as parents to withdraw her from religious education) and she used the time to study for Classical Greek GCSE, taught by her dear father out of school (she got an A - I was very proud of both of them).

Son's options 3 years ago (academically selective indy):
Core: Eng * 2, Maths, Science, one MFL, one out of History/Geography/RE.
Options: 3 other subjects.

School decided whether boys would do double or triple science - the triple sets had to work faster as they got no extra lesson time, hence it wasn't an option subject.

School also decided whether boys would do Maths at end of Year 10 - those who did did Additional Maths in Year 11.

School's final decision was who did their MFL at the end of Year 10 - those who did either did continuation course in that langauge in Year 11, or started Mandarin, or did a one-year GCSE in Italian.

I thought it was a very good balance in both cases.

Sorry, 2 other subjects (son). Lost count!

Double science is more normal that triple (although option to do triple is often available).

Don't forget that double science still covers Biology, Chem & physics and is still worth 2 GCSE's

Double science is not normally a pre-requist for any of the science A levels.

Personally I would say that he would be better off doing double science and a humanities subject if that is the only way he can do a humanities subject. At this age it is important to take a balanced range of subjects, and not polarise too much.

Sciences are core subjects aren't they? We don't yet know if DS1 can do triple science as yet - he will find out over the next year.

Science is a core subject, but it is not a core requirement to do 3 (or even 2)

Ahhh... thanks.

I think I will need to have a chat to his science teacher about all this. I am still hazy.

Many moons ago I did a couple of extra GCSEs at the local tech because I couldn't get the range of subjects I wanted. Did one the year before my main GCSEs and one the year after ending up with 11 (doing the subject in a year). Could something like this be worth looking into? Don't remember it being too much work.

New here - my y9 has chosen his options - and the choices are limited, in that, because they are doing the Eng Bac, they decide between Geography and History, an MFL and then a further 2 subjects. The core subjects are:

Eng Lang
Eng Lit
Maths
Double Science as a minimum - triple if you are Level 6
Geog/History
MFL

• 2 options (put down 2 further in case of time table clashes, or lack of take up)

You then have the compulsory non examined subjects on top

Triple science and Double Science are considered by most universities to be almost equal. Unless you DC is really wanting to take a science at university (in which case A levels will be looked at closer) choose double award science and take a humanity for a broader background. Geog and History are both considered favourable at Uni.

You can carry on to do A level science subjects from Double Science.

Just thought I'd add the list for my y9 DS.

Core: English x 2, Maths, Science x 2 and RE x 1/2. Also need to do PE and PHSE but these aren't examined though PE is among the options.

They are then given 5 choices and asked also to put down a reserve. Whilst there is mention of the EBAC and which subjects they need to acheive this there doesn't seem to be any push towards it.

DS has chosen History, Geography, German, ICT(OCR level2 equivalent to 2 GCSEs), Business Studies with French as the reserve.
That makes a total of 11.5 but the ICT is course work only part of which should be completed by the end of year 9. Also its not clear whether he will be given all of his options. I would imagine that the core subjects plus 5 options would be a struggle for some kids.

As for the science Dhs nephew didn't do separate sciences at GCSE and is currently in his second year of medicine at UCL - I'm not sure what his A levels were.

My eldest 3 now all in their mid 20s/30 all did dual science at gcse and went on to do A level sciences. Two went on to do science based subjects at university.

My youngest sons have been advised by school to do separate sciences at gcse if they plan to take science A levels.

Our school have told students it's fine to do double sciences even if you're planning for science A Levels.

But that triple science is for students who are very enthusiastic about science, as it will end up taking up a large % of their week.

However, apparently the sixth form college say that students who have just studied double award are at a disadvantage when it comes to A Level. They 'may' do science A Levels, but they will probably find it tougher than those who already have a wider background.

dannellasum: All state schools have a low ebacc score for this yr (benchmark- most indep sch only getting 40-50%!

Up until this year schools have been judged on % A*-C - so many have 'fiddled the books' (ie forced kids through meaningless BTEC courses (no exams, easy and worth 3 or 4 gsce)to up their figures to 80-90%. So, now with no time to change the curriculum the govt have calculated what the ebacc would have been based on last years data..unfair to say the least. My school goes from 90% a-c but that translates to 20% for ebacc!

Gives us until this time next year when the options available to the children change and the school have time to organise the curriculum & get staff in place..that figure will rise and the school can the be judged fairly.

Unless I'm missing something RBOTP I'm confused as to why your daughter won't get the EB??? I could be having a senior moment!!

"The new English Baccalaureate requires C grades or better in the following subjects: English
Language, Mathematics, two Sciences, a Modern Foreign Language and either History or Geography."

The EBacc does recognise iGCSE, but only the Cambridge iGCSE not the EDEXCEL one, or the new AQA one yet.

Ahhh - it was only a semi-senior moment then! The boys have plenty of friends at independent schools, so understand where you're coming from.

At the end of the day, IMHO, the whole exam system is a complete mess. It became even worse when it was decided that kids shouldn't be allowed to fail exams... Not all students are suited to the academic route, bring back the pride in being "good with your hands" and stop putting all youngsters in the same category and get rid of useless degrees. Mini rant over!

Ah... we do EDEXCEL, the others round here must do too.