short and sweet. DS' GCSE options

[MadameDefarge]

Mandatory

Eng lit
Eng Lang
Double Science
History
MFL
Maths
Stats

Optional choices he has made
Drama
Art/Music
Latin as an additional study

All good? Yeah?

One of DD's compulsory subjects is PSE. I think it is a waste of time and would rather the school replaced that with a language.

PSE? as a mandatory GCSE? jeeps!

Sure, that sounds like a good plan MD. I remember I started music as an extra subject but dropped it fairly early on to no ill effect

I think PSE can be important for some children Bunbaker? Other families do well at covering most things at home?
I quite like schools doing a bit of "Learning for Life"

I might question this at the next governor's meeting.

They do citizenship in years 7, 8 and 9 anyway. Do universities take PSE seriously?

I suppose I am looking at the other mandatory subjects that don't lead to a gcse, like PE and the like...

when you see poor old ds twat around at pe doing his best and never doing well because of dyspraxia, and the hypermobility and hypertonia he has it does my head in slightly...

I know its good for him, but he has missed several days of school because the PE teachers treat him as an NT and the next day he literally can't walk/move his arms...which I then have to justify...

I think that is a good idea bunbaker. ask them if it is a facilitating subject in the way an MFL is...

If not, then the options are deliberately limiting children regarding their access to higher education.

School must require Ebacc, I guess, for history & MFL to be mandatory?

But why is stats mandatory? He only has 2 real choices.
They seem fine to me, but then so do most lists.

Oh god, Juggling, don't encourage him to do all three of art, drama and music! The coursework would be a nightmare (and everything will need to be done at the same time).

Art takes up about the same time as every other subject put together, in our bitter experience.
Drama is great fun but requires extra time for rehearsals, tech runs, midnight raids on costume cupboards, major fallouts with anyone who starts being a prima donna...
Music composition is another interestingly unlimited time-suck, because it's never 'finished'.

At the parents evening for options the school pointed out that some of the students might have to switch courses half way through if the government make the Ebacc compulsory. This sounds bonkers to me. What will happen to all the non Ebacc courses available now if this haooens? Will they be dropped from the curriculum?

sorry, stats is an additional subject to be done in one year (this) its a top set core thing.

At DD's school the students who take maths a year early (the really bright ones) take stats in year 11.

so why the fuck is ds doing it in year ( Grrrh!)

year 9. he wont even be 14 when they take it!

Thanks for your thoughts Bird, will certainly bear them in mind.
Know what art can be like (as dd is doing this - and enjoying it too so far)
But haven't tried Music or Drama yet

A cautionary word about Drama. DS1 who was very hardworking did GCSE Drama. They had to act a short play/scene and the bouys in his group who were very outgoing grabbed the bigger parts and he got a very small one, which he acted very well. Most of the boys with the biggerparts lost enthuisasm and didn't learn their words etc. this brought down the score for teh whole group, he was lucky to get a good pass as a result of this.

DD is doing:
Mandatory-
English lit
English Lang
Maths
Statistics
RS full course
PE leadership
Functional Skills (spreadsheets etc)

Options-
Triple science
Graphics
History
ICT

higgle, that sounds so shit. I do hope this doesn't happen with ds. I think the school is so hot on good results they will be ruthless about lazy attention seekers.

If not, I will be!

how the hell is it supposed to be a level playing field when the options are all over the place?

Just so confusing.

Pretty much the same as my daughter. She did music as she is musical but many people who did art really regretted it because there was ridiculous amounts of really time consuming course work. Only the seriously arty were happy with their choice-those who spent a lot of their spare time drawing/painting for fun. Her language was Spanish but instead of Latin and statistics (which weren't offered), she did compulsory RE and IT. We thought it was a good mix but I think it is v important to choose subjects they can get their best grades in, over everything else.

I agree with Coconutty they are trying to scare you into choosing Ebacc combinations. My DS school also tried scaremongering saying Russell Group Universities need it. They don't!! Governments fault (Gove idiot) for judging schools on a ridiculous measure.

So, what would count as EBacc if it were to be introduced, especially arts and humanities wise ?

Ebacc

Eng lit
Eng lang
Maths
Double/triple science
MFL
Humanity (history/geography maybe others?)