I am a secondary teacher. One of my colleagues has emailed to say that she intends to push a group of current yr 9s through their English GCSE in one year. This will involve after school lessons as well as extra homework. I can't really understand why she wants to do so. As far as I can see, the DC will gain nothing from it other than the fact that GCSE English is already done. Apparently she is thinking that they could then do Media Studies in Yr 11 as English will still be on their timetable. I teach Drama, and almost all of the DC on her list do extra-curricular Drama with me. I knows that they all do other activities both in and out of school and don't think that it's necessary for her to put this amount of pressure on them for no good reason. She asked for opinions in her email, and I have given mine, but she has essentially said "thanks for your advice but I'm going ahead anyway". So, as a parent, would you be happy for your Yr10 DC to give up extra curricular activities (this is not just about drama - the DC on this list are the ones who enjoy Art, are in band/choir or sports teams in school, on top of what they do out of school) to take GCSE English early?