How is the school day organised?

[hogsback]

Disclaimer: DS is pre-school and I don't know anyone with school-age children so my knowledge of secondary schools ends in 1988.

Reading MN, I have been struck by how many things children DON'T do in school any more: separate sciences, multiple languages, sport etc.

I went to school in the 80s and did English (lang+lit), French, Latin, Geography, History, Math, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and at last 4-5 hours of sport and PE every week, all within the normal school day.

So if children in secondary school aren't doing all these things, what are they doing instead?

It depends hugely on the school and what year the children are in ... we still have separate sciences, languages are offered in many schools - most concentrate on French, but also Spanish, German etc...

Some schools offer newer subjects - Computer based things like Admin (Business/Secretarial skills etc), Graphics/Design and Computer programming... and also more music and musical production than I remember from my school days..

I guess the curriculum has to change with the times!

Entirely depends on the school.

My DC (year seven) do sport every day, French, Spanish and Latin most days. Sciences are taught seperately. Music, art, design and drama also feature, as does history, geography and RS.

My 6 have done everything on your list except latin.
There are more options at GCSE but I don't think it's a bad thing.

Mine have to be in school for 8.30 and finish at 3.30. On Tues, Wed and Thurs extra GCSEs are on offer after school.

Some DC spend one day a week with a major engineering firm. The bus leaves to school at 7.30 and arrives back in the villages around 5.30. Others do day release at the local college.

OP - apart from the sport being less (2.5 hours plus whatever clubs/teams the child opts for) and Latin(arguably a waste of time versus other subjects), your subjects are what my DDs school does as standard. They do a second MFL to start with (optionally continued), Tech subjects, music, drama.

MN threads tend to be biased to dissatisfied parents complaining of inadequacies so you get a biased picture.

It really does depend on the school and the length of lessons. Current school - grammar - has 8 x 35 min lessons per day, old school - comp - had 6 x 50 min lessons per day.

Certain tech subjects are often rotated during the school year ie - half a term of food tech, then resistant materials, art etc

Languages will depend on whether the pupils start with two modern foreign languages in Y7 or start with one in Y7 and a second in Y8.

Many schools start with "general science" in Y7 changing to individual sciences in Y9. To be honest I can't think of any subjects the current school doesn't cover... even compared to Indies.

Vague answer I know, but it really depends on the school.

Grimma I know Latin seems a daft thing to learn, what with dem romans being dead and all...but it is very good for all sorts of other reasons.

I do think not enough of our DC's education is spent on metacognition.
So much time is devoted to knowledge based subjects where they gather knowledge, then learn it.

Latin is one of those subjects that forces the brain to think about thinking.
Chess is another good example.

People who achieve well in their field often have excellent metacognitive abilities.

I'm not a latin teacher btw

Thanks for the reassuring comments all. DS is only 4mo so it will all have changed by the time it becomes a real concern

We're in the sticks so only have a choice of one school. It's supposed to be Outstanding but looking at the list of GCSE results it's really worrying that so few children opt for MFLs, separate sciences, history, geography etc. They all seem to do RE though despite it not being a church school.

Sportsmum: just to confirm:

Y7 = 3rd form
Y8 = 4th form
Y9 = 5th form (GCSE year)

is that correct?

Hogsback -

Y7 = 1st year secondary with Y11 being GCSE year

I am really only just getting my head round it all!!!!

Ah, so it's:

Y7 = 1st form
Y8 = 2nd form etc.

I feel old...

Me too - VERY!!!

Hogsback: when we were scrutinising GCSE results for schools DD might go to (DH loves doing stats ) it appeared that RE was considerably easier to get a good grade in than MFLs, history or geography. That might account for its popularity - whether through the childrens choice or being pushed into it by teachers wanting to improve the stats. Be interesting to see if the EBacc definition, if it remains as it is, alters this.

When you say 'so few children opt for ...' what sort of percentage do you mean? Don't forget that in the old days only around 25% would have been at grammar schools focusing mainly on these 'academic' subjects. And even then quite a lot only did one or two of the sciences, not all 3.

Grimma: 42% did French and 36% German, although no indication of how many did both. 16% did separate sciences, 42% geography and 40% history.

A whopping 98% did RE though!

Maybe this is really good, I just don't know.

When you say 'did' - is that attempted, or passed A-C or passed (any pass grade)?

Its quite normal in an unselective school for only the top set to do single sciences so if the school has 6 or 7 forms that'd be about right.

Grimma: sat. It appears that the school has 100% at A-G in all subjects. The A-C rates for the single sciences are 100% so I'm guessing they are very selective of which pupils are allowed to sit those exams. For the MFLs and humanities it seems to be around 80% A-C.

There are some very odd results, like 51% A* in Physics, but only 45% A-C in 'Health & Social Care' which one might assume would be easier than Physics.

I don't even know why I'm worrying about this yet. Too much reading horror stories here!

Ah! Worked out why all the kids get an RE GCSE. From the prospectus:

'At the end of Year 11 all pupils will sit a short course GCSE RE (Philosophy and Ethics) course which is equivalent to 1⁄2 GCSE.'

So I suspect they just shove all the kids on a 6 week RE course to get past the legal requirement to teach them RE and free up the rest of the time for other subjects.

Just to confuse you, many schools have a "specialism" with every pupil expected to take a GCSE in that subject. The one DS1 is starting in September is a Specialist Language school, so they have better language options than some schools. The other school in town has a "Business" specialism and they all have to take a GCSE in IT.

Yes, this schools is a specialist technology college and they all have to take one compulsory technology GCSE. Is "Resistant Materials" woodwork?

My DD did all the subjects on your list plus art , IT, design technology and a second modern foreign language until year 10 when she concentrated on her GCSE options. I think my daughter has a far more interesting range of subjects than I had way back in the sixties.

There are some very odd results, like 51% A* in Physics, but only 45% A-C in 'Health & Social Care' which one might assume would be easier than Physics.

No, that's not odd at all. If you've got just the top set doing single sciences, then you should expect good grades. 'Health and Social Care' simply won't be taken by many of the academically able children :'Edexcel?s GCSE in Health and Social Care is a work-related qualification designed to encourage learning in a vocational context and introduce students to career opportunities in the sector.
'

I think 'Resistant Materials' is (more or less) woodwork and metalwork. My DDs grammar school has specialism in language and tech so they have to do at least one MFL and a tech (plus the usual stuff and 3 sciences) but the tech subjects are Design, Electronics or Food - not RM. Girls school

• which is not to say it isn't a worthwhile qualification, goodness knows we need more people in these fields than physicists. Horses for courses.

my kids do separate sciences and multiple language (though rather than french and spanish it's mandarin now ) and loads of sport

Grimma ok, got it now. This is just a comp so I assumed it would not be setted or streamed in any way. For some reason I had it in my head that comps weren't allowed to stream.

Resistant materials in dd's school is woodwork, metalwork and plastic work (they do some pretty impressive things actually). Students choose whether to do separate sciences (triple science) or double science for their GCSEs. Apart from science, Maths, English lang., English lit., one MFL, RE, PE, IT and one technology are the compulsory GCSE subjects (it is a technology college), leaving room for two options. Prior to starting GCSEs they all have to do Geography and History as well, and there is a Latin club for those who want to take that up.

I don't think a comp could possibly work if they didnt 'set'.