Year 9 Options Advice desperately needed!

[angelcake03]

My DS has been given his options booklet. In the first column he has chosen to do Geography, in the second, he wants to do Spanish as he has been predicted an A* at GCSE. In his current year group only two sets do Spanish, the remaining six sets do French. We have now been told he can't do Spanish as there isn't enough interest but he is unable to do French as he hasn't studied it so his only 'option' in the second column is History which he is doing ok at, but isn't excelling at. He is so disappointed that he isn't allowed to take a Modern Foreign Language. In the third column he has to choose between PE and RE, both he is excelling at, so isn't sure what to take, and in the fourth column he has to choose between Media, Graphics, Art, Resistant Materials and Design and Technology, all of which he struggles with. I am really at a loss as to how to best guide him. I fully understand that the School cannot accommodate every pupil, but feel a bit disheartened as he is losing subjects he's good at and having to take things he isn't too good at. Does anyone please have some practical advice on how best to help him choose the correct path. He ultimately wants to teach at Secondary level, and is very interested in both PE and RE. Thanks in advance!

He wasn't given a choice about learning Spanish, but he was on a 'gifted and talented' programme at Primary in Spanish. I can't understand why only two sets have done Spanish and the remainder French. Ironically, their Spanish teacher is French, and is incredibly encouraging, but her hands are tied with regards the schools curriculum, but she did say he shouldn't give it up as he is a natural linguist. Maybe we should look into doing it privately if that is possible.

Should read his Spanish teacher is also the French teacher!

I'd do Spanish privately or at the local 6th form college. He might be able to join in with another local school to take the exams.

Apply for the Spanish anyway. I would argue that they have discouraged pupils from applying for Spanish because the teacher is going around saying that it will not run due to lack of interest. If they thought it was unlikely to get enough numbers why did they put the option in two option boxes rather than one? Then try to find out who the other pupils are that wish to take spanish and see if you can try a joint complaint. It worked at DDs school last year when they claimed there would not be enough pupils to take Art.

Is the school really only 400 pupils? Is this a small private school or just a very small school in a village? It really is smaller than the smallest secondary school I know (there is one local to us that is 6-700 pupils; my school is 1200 and this is much more typical round here (East Mids).

I do wonder I must admit about a school that gets 20 students to study Spanish at KS3 and then merrily says that half of them have to opt for it for it to run at GCSE. Why didn't they set it for half the year instead? I agree that you need to complain - esp as MFL is so vital, especially for anyone who is at all good at it. I teach it so I would say that but it's also the view of most head teachers etc.

Each set has only about 11 pupils in it? Are class sizes all = 11, too?

I am amazed that your school is not offering all students MFL as the EBacc is now a government measure of school performance and requires a language at GCSE . Also some universities will not accept students without a language at GCSE so this is really important. I would kick up a fuss.

UCL is the only university that asks for an MFL at GCSE, and even they take students without as long as they study one while there. Having said that, this is a bloody stupid way to run MFL and an awkward set of options. It's more common to have a top set doing a 2nd language than to have two sets do a totally separate language and then give them no GCSE language option.

Those option blocks don't give much room for either those students that struggle with more technical/practical subjects or those whose strengths lie in technical/practical subjects to play to their strengths. If everyone else has handed their choices in though, I'm not sure you will get the school to change their mind.

The average class size in the other sets is about 25, and there are six other sets which means the year 9 is roughly 170 pupils. They decided on who did Spanish and French based on their IT and Art scores in Year 7 and as my son struggled in these he was given Spanish. He has really excelled and is predicted an A* if he was to take it at GCSE. Looking back, I can see how naive I was in accepting this and the options never occurred to me. One of his ambitions is to teach abroad, either the USA or Spain, so I think Spanish GCSE would be good. I think I'll speak to school again, and mention the Ebacc. Wish me luck!

Hang on. So they put all the people who were poor at IT and Art into a set to do Spanish? And now in the option blocks they have to do a tech subject, but because they are poor at tech kind of stuff they are also unable to continue with their MFL??

That's bananas!

In hindsight I've been quite blinkered and wish I'd been more savvy about options etc. When I read the options and what I've written about the reasons why he had to take Spanish I realise I should have thought about the consequences. My DS had a tough time at Primary and we were so worried about Secondary and how he would be, that all 'education' issues were secondary. He loves his school and has really blossomed, thanks especially to a couple of teachers, and he makes me so proud of the person he is becoming. If necessary, I will look into him taking Spanish privately, and encourage him to try hard at the Tech subject. I am going to speak again to the school today, and fight his corner. Thanks so much for the time people have taken to help, and some points made will help with my arguments!

wanting to be a teacher at year 9

heaven help him

Armpitt, he's wanted to teach for years! And wants to teach secondary school age with an emphasis on sen pupils. I admire anyone who teaches these days, especially as I believe so much 'power' has been taken from the teacher and given to the children. But maybe I'm old fashioned :(

dont believe all oyu read

I would certainly speak to the school. Those in the top set at my DD's school who do two languages have been told if they continue doing two languages, they can take six GCSEs and they will automatically get all six choices - they do no need to put a spare/back up choice down - so they are really encouraging them to carry on with languages, so the fact your son can't do one isn't acceptable. Why do the school think there will be a low take up rate for Spanish? If this usual, if so why do they teach a subject they're unlikely to continue with after Year 9?

This is all very strange, especially as the Spanish teacher is French (see above) so they could have just taught the whole year group French in the first place!

I agree TeenandTween, the previous year 9 had three children wanting to do Spanish so it was removed from the option list. The current year 9 is in a similar position. It would have been so much easier for all sets to do French and then we wouldn't be in this position, especially as the Spanish teacher is French!

I would recommend RE, it is a relatively easy course and is likely to be regarded more highly than a PE GCSE I would also recommend Art for the other column. DD took Art because she enjoyed it but wasn't particularly good at it. The first term is generally based on building up basic skills and "relearning" how to draw! :) Could someone also please clarify what the point of these blocks are? DD got to choose from a completely free range of subjects and the teachers have to work out timetables to fit their selected options.

DD1's school managed to hold Spanish classes with 6 pupils.
Could you see if more would like the Spanish option?

So there are two sets of 20 people in total doing Spanish, then 150 others in the year doing French? Have I got the maths right?

That's bonkers, frankly. How could they seriously expect a group of 20 kids to come up with 10 who chose the language? We typically have about 35-40 year 9s opting for each language we do, out of 120 - so fewer than a third. In fact 40 would be a good year. Last yrs yr 11 only had 24 doing French (out of 115).

Anyway, that doesn't help you much OP but they should either have insisted on most able students doing Spanish or let it run with a smaller class size, anything else is unfair and unreasonable.

Go for it with your complaint - power of MN is behind you!

Think it's to make timetabling easier, Lolapopflower. When I was at school we were asked to list the subjects in the order of preference. The school then worked out 3 option blocks that allowed most people to get what they wanted, with a couple of things appearing in more than one block, and a couple of things not appearing at all. Then they can just timetable it as option 1, 2 or 3 without having to worry about clashes.

I think some schools also tend to block things so pupils take a broad range of subjects. So humanities in an option block, languages in another, then tech/creative subjects in another. Not convinced there's much benefit to that.

What's more bonkers is they picked those 20 on the basis of IT and Art skills, or lack of them. What's the reasoning behind that?