Yr 10 DS wants to change one of his options! Anyone else experienced this??

[friendlymum67]

I have approached the school regarding his request and altho they haven't said an outright no, they are clearly not very keen.

Has anyone else had a DC do this??

Change what to what, and has he just started them in year 10, or did he start them last year?

Sorry - yes just started them this term. Wants to drop Geography for Sports GCSE. He is considering a career in the Fire Service.

I don't think he'd need PE GCSE to do it at A level, I'd stick with Geography unless he really, really hates it.
He will need to be fit to join fire service, but it is highly competitive and he should keep his options as open as possible.

A couple of boys have done this at ds's school but it had to fit in with the timetable.
Maybe school not keen as they are 3 weeks into term now, rather than the first few days.

Ds is yr 10 and made noises about not wanting to do a language (they don,t have to).....he wanted to do Pe. However a quiet word from his HOY dissuaded him..his target grade is A*. I think he looked at some of the boys out on the playing fields while he was doing grammar, and thought wtf.

They won't be keen because Geography is an EBacc subject and PE isn't. Unless he does History too?

He is doing History, but he's not following the EBacc route.

Thanks for your replies everyone. He has to write a letter explaining his reasons - which will be challenge enough but I think he needs to prepare himself for disappointment.

DS swapped one language for another, school were fine about it as it was an easy timetable swap and the HofMFL agreed that he was stronger in one language than the other

At my DC's school they let pretty much anyone change, up until January of year 10..

everything - I wouldn't be happy if a student joined my class after a full term - they have already missed a large proportion of the course. My school as do others I have worked at/have knowledge of say a definite no to swapping after the 3rd week

*Cricket, that's what worries me - tho I have no idea how hard it would be to catch up in PE? We asked a a week ago so just 2 weeks into the term clutching at straws here

is your your DS strong at practical sports? From my limited knowledge of PE it is a mix of practical (in a team and individual sport) and theory, therefore if he is strong then he would have only missed about 1.5 weeks of theory and 1.5 weeks of practical therefore easier to catch up at this point. If he isn't strong, then he needs to reconsider

Yes I think he is cricket. Ironically he almost chose PE over Geography but we both thought Geography was the better one to choose - with hindsight that wasn't the case!!

If he has already got a good balance of subjects then PE a good addition. If he enjoys it and it will provide a welcome break from more academic subjects then it may contribute to him getting better grades all round. See this with lots of able kids.

Charity - that's it exactly. He's pretty average academically, tolerates school (because the law says he has to!) and the school's choice of options was limited - just not sure the school will see it like that!!