Need help in subjects choices in Y9

[StarDust14]

Greetings to all super mums here!
Your topics and advises have been very helpful and I was following you anonymously for quite some time. Here comes the day however when I had to register in order to get somewhat personal advise from you. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Here it goes.
I have twin girls in Y9. One of them wants to be an artist therefore her subject choices were Spanish, Art and Design and Textile. Her core subjects are Maths, English, PE, RE and ICT. My question is Isn't it better to choose Creative iMedia or Graphics instead of Textile? And probably Applied History instead of Spanish?

My other daughter is still indecisive about her subjects :( All her life she wanted to an athlete, she is also interested in science. She likes art as well. Because she is very competitive and not very patient I believe that PE GCSE is a good choice for her. From what I've read this subject covers the PE and science aspect of her wishes. Adding Spanish and Geography to that seems just right to me. What do you think? Or should we choose art?

I am attaching the subject choices in case you wish to see them.

Thank you very much for your time and any answer/advice you can give me.

There seem to be 2 main options for history (from what I've seen here, and from revision guides in Smiths) , the options my DD is doing, and the ones for your school. The school decides which syllabus to follow.

No knowledge on BTEC drama.

Mainly I would say

• do at least double science, if capable
• do one foreign language, if capable
• do one essay subject e.g. RE, History or Geography, if capable
• if 'academic' try for only one/two less traditional subjects so as not to close off too many options.

Following the above don't get too fussed about the details, make sure your DC has information and let them decide.

Stardust school should provide information about specific syllabus followed (as others say, it is up to the school).

I agree, let your DC choose eg between geography and history; my older 2 both prefer geography - not what I did but it's them that's got to get inspired by it IYSWIM.

Does your school not do an options evening in Jan/Feb with more info? That's the place to ask some of your questions which will be specific to the school.

To go into a creative career it's not essential to have creative and often less well respected GCSEs - it might be better to take these up at alevel. I'd advised to take facilitating academic subjects at GCSE incase she changes her mind later. Geography, history and MFL would be a good combination

"There seem to be 2 main options for history....... The school decides which syllabus to follow."

You are probably right, TeenAndTween
I thought it is only one national syllabus, because if they are more and different, how can the grades represent the true value of knowledge?

My DDs have spoken to Y11 students in regards to History and Geography. Both decided they will take Geography :)

"Does your school not do an options evening in Jan/Feb with more info"

We have to state our decision by Dec 18th
I did attend presentation and did talk to some of the teachers, but it was 5 min per teacher.

Thank you, chumaniward1
I believe one will go with Art and Design and the other one with Drama

Stardust, wrt syllabuses (syllabi?) there will be a range of topic to be studied but the school/department/teachers chooses the detail.

For example, in MFL (my area) there are eight topic areas, but four controlled assessments are done d they can be done on any of the eight topics. S0within my department, on class may be doing a written ask n relationships with family and future plans, while another may be doing a speaking task on that and a written one on school and education. There is standardisation in the mark scheme and the things that need to be done (eg range of tenses etc) but there needs to be some teacher discretion eg to cater for specific strengths/interests of a class or a teacher etc.

Sorry to hear you have to decide by Dec 18, that's v soon. DD is in yr 9 and we have a lot more time.

Thanks Clary. It's clearer now on how the school chooses what to offer.

I was hoping to have at least until March-April to make our decision, but I guess the school wants to make the classes and prepare for the year ahead (Y10).

how can the grades represent the true value of knowledge

Ahh. They don't.

For maths and science you can broadly assume certain topics will be covered. But there are differences.

But for history, it is more about understanding something about the world we are in now based on what's happened in the past. Either how conflicts have occurred and developed, or how settlers displace indigenous populations etc. It is about building skills and general understanding rather than a specific set of facts. I would expect geography to be similar in various areas.

Similarly English Lit. It's not the specific books and poems and plays that really matter, it's the exposure to them, and the gaining understanding on how to look deeper than the basic plot.

Again modern languages. You expect a certain amount of core grammar and basic vocab, but topic specific vocab may vary.

So GCSEs aren't just about knowledge, they are about building skills too.

Sounds reasonable, TeenAndTween

Well, we filled and submitted our forms.
We also had to pick a reserve subject

There is an option to take any GCSE, IGCSE or A-level course, which is not on offer at your school, through a respectable online school: www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk/?gclid=CIbNnKfd2sICFQiWtAodMQEAEA#