Choosing GCSE options - PE?

[bigTillyMint]

DD has to choose some GCSE options as her school starts KS4 in Y9. I think there's 13 in total.

She is considering PE for one as she does sport both in and out of school. But how useful/relaxing(compared to more academic subjects!)/difficult/time-consuming would it be?

Any advice / experience would be great, thanks.

ds is doing PE GCSE as a bit of light relief amongst all the rest of his academic subjects

The final mark relies a lot on the practicals so they need to be at a reasonably high level in at least two sports

For kids who're already doing sports seriously the written side isn't hard as they know most of it already. The exam board ds is doing doesn't have any course work so it's just a couple of exams and the practical assessments so not too time-consuming

dd chose PE and has enjoyed it. There is one exam (I think worth about 40%) which has a bit of overlap with biology and is also about how sport is organised and the benefits of sport. Then they do 4 sports as participant, official or coach (I think) - so you could do 4 different sports as participant or 3 as participant and you might officiate as well in one of the same three. You need to be reasonably sporty to get high marks as a participant which is the most popular option of the 4 and lots of children just do participation. And you do some analysis of one of your sports and a personal exercise program.

That is for the full course, there is also a short course option where you do half of the above (ie 2 sports + I assume a shorter exam).

Things to watch are whether the school expects the whole group to choose from a limited number of sports (easier for them) or if they can support everyone doing different things from a much wider choice. As a swimming club coach I sometimes assess children for swimming when their school doesn't offer that option, so using a sport done outside of school is sometimes possible. Also, sometimes schools don't timetable many/any theory lessons for the exam part of the course which means children aren't well prepared for the exam.

Thank you!

glaurung that sounds like the one DD's school is running. She is at a high level in one sport outside of school and plays another (for the school team, though that's not saying much!) She already does a theory lesson a week, so she would be fine for the exam, I think.

However, she may want to give up her top sport before GCSE's as it takes up a lot of her free time...

I think I need to speak to /email the school!

DD has just come in and expressed the same concerns as me/you! She is now thinking about Art - textile design

DS regrets choosing PE. The theory is easy, a lot of anatomy but the practical side is tougher than he expected. He is fit and active and represents his county at Athletics but that isn't enough. They have to really excel at 5 different sports.
He is very academic and is gutted that he is unlikely to be able to get an A* simply because he is not super talented at the physical side.

Secretsquirrels, thanks for that - another nail in the coffin for PE. Sorry to hear that your DS is regretting it

It's true they do need to be getting 8s, 9s and 10s for their sports to achieve the highest grades as it is very practically biased and this can be a problem if you perform badly on the assessment day perhaps because you are off colour. Dd is having 3 of her 4 sports assessed the day after tomorrow, so I'm feeling a bit anxious about that!

I do know children who have got all As and As and then a B in PE - Dd took the view that a good mark would look good and be lumped in with the other high grades (eg: if 8 As was a threshold for a medical school, then an A* in PE would count to that) but a poor grade would probably be dismissed as it was 'only PE' and so wouldn't count against her too much. How true that is I don't know.

There are a very wide range of sports and they include things like 'fitness' (where an easily achievable score on a coopers test gives an automatic 10 I think) and a whole host of other things that your dd may be able to do very well at but that you may not have thought of.

glaurung, thanks for that - DD is very fit because her out-of-school sport includes 2hrs of heavy circuit training a week, so I guess fitness could be one. Which sports does your DD do and how do you find out how they are scored? What is the coopers test?

bigTillyMint the coopers test is how far you can run in 12 minutes, but there are circuit training and lots of other options in 'fitness' as well.

The details for the different sports criteria for Edexcel is here.

I'll pm you the details about dd, she might not appreciate me sharing to the world!

Thanks for the link and PM glaurung! There's plenty to choose from!

Coconutty, DD said they can do skiing which would be great as she is a competent skier, (though only on snow and they take them to an artificial slope to test?) but she said it would be no good as she couldn't practise for the exam! However, if you could video it.... DH would have to do a LOT better than his previous attempts

See if you can get hold of previous years' results. DS did really well in the theory exam but was let down by the physical side. He is a good sportsman - county standard - but his PE teacher is a clichéd nasty, bullying b**d and marked everyone down. Hope yours isn't the same.

Just a warning if she is thinking about Art as an alternative - it is massively time consuming. She should only take it if she loves it and is really creative and ready to spend lots of her own time on it. (and you are prepared for her bedroom to look like a total tip for two years creative area.