GCSE choices - can I disagree with school?

[NLatlarge]

I'm not totally up to speed on this yet - dd1 going in to year 9 - but I'm a bit about the choices she thinks she will have for GCSE.
Afaik it goes something like this:

Maths
English
One language
History or Geography
Music, Drama or Art
ICT
One from Graphic design, textiles etc
Double award science
RE
One other thing = 11
or triple science and no other thing =11

Now my problem is this - dd1 is very bright. She has an aptitude for languages, she loves drama, is very strong on art and is also doing well in science.

I am struggling to see the value in the ICT GCSE tbh. She really wants to do textiles and she likes RE a lot so that's ok (though why it's obligatory I have no idea). I think given the choice she would just do double science and have an extra choice (that's assuming she can do 11 - if it's 10 then there's no extra one at all) However at parents evening her science teacher told us that school pick the children for triple award. I didn't think to ask then but I don't know how 'optional' that is.

So my question is - has anybody argued with the school about the options. Is there any flexibility? It is a comprehensive school with decent results btw.

[NLsupportsawomensrighttochoose]

THanks to all for the very interesting insights. I am girding my loins!

[CardyMow]

DD is starting her RE GCSE a year early (her school does this for ALL pupils). Having spoken to my Dbro, now at Uni, RE is MOST DEFINATELY NOT the soft choice GCSE people think it is.

She is just about to start Y9. When do the schools generally start the options choices thing? As DD has SN and is not very academic, I want to be forewarned as to what choices she will have. She will be lucky to scrape a 'D' in maths IF she works very hard- but would easily get an A/B in Cookery, textiles and DT. Do schools make non-academic pupils take GCSE's they have no hope of passing to fit in with timetabling issues, and can a pupil do all 3 technology subjuects when they are the exams they are likely to PASS?

[GnomeDePlume]

DD1 has done ICT & RE GCSEs. I had a bit of a flap, worrying about precious timetable time being wasted. Any road, it turned out that these two stocking fillers were covered during tutor time and were in fact only foundation GCSEs. DD1 did not bat an eyelid at these and they didnt waste any time.

OP if your DD is hot on science then she should really be looking at individual GCSEs for these. IME question staff closely. DD1 was worried about not being able to do two languages (she is a natural linguist) but when the school realised she was serious there was a bit of timetable shuffling and lo! DD1 is doing two languages.

[ravenAK]

ICT tends to have thumping great positive residuals. Our lot all do ICT & they all get A/A*, so it's good for the school's results.

I've had a quick look at the course & my 7 year old could tackle it quite easily tbh - total waste of time.

However, if those are the option blocks, about all you can do is challenge the school's policy.

I have had a very bright tutee & his family challenge the ICT requirement, not to mention compulsary BTEC Work Skills (don't ask...) on the grounds that they were a derisory waste of his time, but so long as a whole cohort subject gets ostensibly excellent results, the response is usually to suck it up I'm afraid.

If your dd is able at Science, though, & keen, it's highly unlikely that anyone would stand in the way of her doing triple award.

[seeker]

At my dd's school the rs requirement for those not taking it as a option is fulfilled by spending an hour a week watching a vaguely relevant film or having a discussion on a vaguely relevant topic. And ther is no specific ICT taught to those hwho don't choose it as a option- the assumption being that they will learn what they need to know "in the margins" of other subjects.

[malinois]

The problem with ICT is that it is actually a backward step from what we did in computer science at school in the 80s. Thanks to the BBC programmes and BBC micros, we actually learned how to program at school. Just about every boy, and many of the girls at my school could and did program their BBCs, Acorns and Spectrums in LOGO, BASIC, FORTH and Assembler. Now we teach kids how to use Microsoft Office. How is that progress?

Eric Schmidt (chairman of Google) made this exact point in the MacTaggart lecture last week, that ICT as it is currently taught is shortchanging children. We've gone from equipping our children to be the next generation of engineers and scientists to expecting them to be the next generation of receptionists and office juniors.

[Talker2010]

Since RS and ICT are compulsory components of the KS4 curriculum (legal requirement) they will take time on the timetable ... so why not do an exam ... at my school they give 0.5 a GCSE each

From your list your daughter would get
Maths, English Language, English Lit, 3xScience, Drama, 1xlanguage, hist or geog, and then a practical subject plus RS and ICT

Seems like a good selection to me and I am not sure what extra you would want for her

[spiderpig8]

My DC go to a grammar school and don't offer ICT as a GCSE option.They do some kind of 0.5 gcse in it taught in one period(40 mins) a week for a term.
I think computer literacy is taken as read in teenagers nowadays, no need to do a GCSE in it.

[malinois]

I do find this timetabling issue to be a bit confusing. I did 11 O-levels including triple sciences, history and geography, an MFL and Latin. On top of that we had a minimum of 4 hours of sport and PE each week (one entire afternoon of games and two periods of PE).

All of this fitted into a normal secondary school week. So I really don't understand the argument that there is not enough time in the school week to fit in options.

[seeker]

RE is a very interesting, challenging and useful GCSE. Nobody is denying that. What I am questioning is hy it should be compulsory. History is also interesting, challenging and useful- but it is not compulsory.

[niceguy2]

Niceuy - I value the skills - just don't think my dd needs to do a GCSE in it. There is only so much time in the school day ... I want her to do GCSEs she is interested in and which will complement her future choices not gather a qualification which will have limited value.

I totally understand and I feel the exact same for RE. My daughter has zero interest in RE and i doubt she will need it in any job she will realistically do.

I'd imagine it's easier to teach IT within other subjects that it would be to teach RE.

Using that logic then we should forget English too since this will be used naturally in each lesson.

[NLatlarge]

Thanks yes I plan to ask more questions about that!

[PotteringAlong]

Sorry, X post there. That seems rubbish about the latin - the club is a great thing but if they can do that at school can they not do GCSE?! I'd query that.

For what it's worth, school can enter her for GCSE's even
If she does them herself - I've nit looked at them myself but know people who've done the Gcse Latin online and then sat it at school

[PotteringAlong]

Good point cat! :)

You should have an options evening just before Christmas and then the chance to speak to your DD's teachers etc about what the choices are and how it works.
There should be a decent amount of flexibility but I imagine school haven't sorted out things like option blocks etc yet so I wouldn't worry unduly until you get the options packages

[NLatlarge]

THanks cat - yes I know everything has to fit in to the timetable BUT I expect the school to make provision for my dd's needs as much as anybody else's. She should be making the choices that are right and needful for her NOT those which only fit in the right timetable box.

I guess I'm a bit grumpy with school already. The communication with parents is not good. Dd bought a letter home last term about an opportunity to do GCSE Latin at one of the local private schools. This was being made available as part of the G&T provision. Dd was quite intrigued. The letter said places were limited. We then heard nothing till after the end of term when we got a letter to say there were 3 places and 16 kids interested so they aren't selecting any child to go to the other school but instead running a Latin club after school. Now this is a good thing - but hardly the same opportunity and tbh almost makes a joke of the idea that there is extension provision at all.

[jgbmum]

Niceguy - my DSs have both sat both GCSEs. We certainly value ICT, but the GCSE was pretty poor.
The RE GCSE was much harder, and taught both boys much more and has helped their emotional maturity because of the subject matter raised.
I think that's a far more valuable life lesson.

[NLatlarge]

Niceuy - I value the skills - just don't think my dd needs to do a GCSE in it. There is only so much time in the school day (especially as every other week school closes an hour early so the teachers can do training and still leave at 4.30 (don't get me started!) ) I want her to do GCSEs she is interested in and which will complement her future choices not gather a qualification which will have limited value.

[jgbmum]

Questions from past GCSE RE Philosophy & Ethics Papers

'If God existed we would know it.'

'When people die that is the end'.

Every woman has the right to have a baby.'

'People must look after their family before they worry about the poor.


In this day and age I think these are very relevant questions which may not be discussed in all homes. Getting young people to think about these issues and helping them to make informed decisions, based on the evidence available is very valuable. (And the student has to present both sides of the argument to get the marks)

[JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar]

I'd imagine it's easier to teach IT within other subjects that it would be to teach RE.

Having said that I don't know what's in the ICT curriculum. Do they cover relation databases and the like, or is it all about using Office?

Doing both as GCSEs, seeing as they have to cover the subjects anyway, seems like a good idea to me.

[niceguy2]

I'm not arguing RE shouldn't be taught. I'm just a bit that in this day & age that parents place such little value on ICT

[PotteringAlong]

RE is a core GCSE along with English, mathsand science. It's written into the education act. It has to be taught.

It is most certaintly NOT a soft option...