Another what GCSE thread?

[18yearstooold]

Dd had a meeting with head of year yesterday to discuss options

She was thinking Spanish, he's trying to talk her into doing Latin instead -doing both is not an option

She currently does Spanish and German, picks up languages very easily does not get that from me

Would it be silly to drop modern languages and replace with Latin or not?

I have degrees in Spanish, have studied German. Dd has studied Latin. I understand half her Latin having studied Spanish and often wish I'd done German instead of French. Go for Spanish & German, no brainer.

Agree Spanish, but why on earth can't she do both. Latin is not difficult and needs nowhere near as much contact time. And if she's a natural linguist she should be given the opportunity to do two languages.

Because she's doing triple science, has to do a language, it only leaves her with 2 choices

She really wants to do history and religious studies so no room for a 2nd language

I would stick with the Spanish, which she knows she likes. If she hasn't done any Latin, it is a big ask to get to GCSE level in two years.

Could you speak with him to get an understanding of why he is recommending Latin?

I think Latin is very useful to have, but if she's not studied it, it's a bit of an unknown, whereas she knows she likes Spanish, it would seem sensible to go with that.
Would it be likely HoY is trying to drum up enough people to allow the Latin to go ahead ?

Possibly -you have to be 'invited' to do Latin

She doesn't like one of the Spanish teachers, does like the Latin teacher but I've told her that's not a basis to make the decision

What year is she in? Starting Latin from scratch and getting it up to GCSE level may not be achievable in 2 or 3 years, unless she is very gifted at remembering new vocabulary and understanding grammar and word endings (which she may be if she picked German up quickly).

She's yr 8 but will start Latin at the start of yr9 if she chooses it

Currently working at level 7 in English and high level 5 in Spanish
German is new this year

DS1 has been doing Latin since Year 7, and will be sitting the GCSE in May of Year 10, so will have had three years and two terms of lessons. He got a level 7 in the Year 9 internal exam, but since the beginning of Year 10 the pace of learning has increased. Of the seventeen students taking the GCSE exam in May, fifteen of them started learning Latin in prep school (DS1 went to a state primary where it wasn't taught) so he constantly feels as though he is struggling to keep up. However, he is not a natural linguist, and it sounds as though your daughter is.

Are you sure it's a full Latin GCSE? Don't some schools do some sort of Latin Lite GCSE if they start in Year 9? (No evidence for this, just what some other mum was telling me, as the Latin her daughter was doing was an option, but wasn't like the Latin she studied at school.).

Yes it's the full GCSE