How many GCSE's do they take these days?

[Mymumstillreadsmymail]

We have started looking at secondary schools (State and Independant) for sep 16 start.

I have asked this question at a few schools now and not got an answer. For the average child, how many gcse's do they take? I am also interested to know which generally are the compulsory/recommended subjects, and how many are options.

Obviously lots of the schools offer lots of exciting subjects that my dc are interested in, but how many of these will they really do by the time you take compulsory subjects out of the equation.

If any I could shed some light on this I'd be grateful!

[thehumanjam]

Apologies for the typos there.

[thehumanjam]

The RE course at our school is has a really interesting syllabus so I'm not sure why you would want to opt out of it any anyway. It covers topics such as euthanasia, crime and punishment, women's rights etc, the main religions covered are Christianity and Islam. I think it leads to a GCSE in Philosophy and Ethics although it's listed as RE.

[Mymumstillreadsmymail]

Interesting that the arty subjects are not as fun as you would think. Apart from textiles dd does drama/music/dance as extr c anyway so maybe that is the path to stick to.

[Needmoresleep]

Both were at academic private schools and did 10 including one "fun" subject if you can call GCSE art fun.

Could have been 9 if only double science, or 11 if DS had taken a MFL early or if DD had opted for Latin and Greek.

You really don't need more than 8 solid academic subjects, and even for medicine I don't think anyone takes more than 9 into consideration, most only 8. Achieving good grades is far more important.

So 2x English, 3x science, 1× maths, 1x "fun" compulsary. Mine then did 2x MFL, and 1x humanities. I can't recall whether either a humanities or MFL were required but they would have been strongly encouraged. (UCL, say, expects applicants for a range of degrees to have a MFL.) It probably would have been possible to have taken a second creative subject.

[BlueberryWafer]

Schools around here they generally take between 9 & 11, it also depends what sets you are in for stuff. Lower sets compulsory are English language, maths, science, ICT and R.E. The higher sets add on English literature and another science. Lower sets then choose any 4 subjects and higher sets choose 4 plus a language.

[celestialsquirrels]

My DS is choosing this year. Has to do English lit, lang, maths, double or triple sci, MFL, and either history or geog. 7 or 8.

Then can choose 2 or 3 from
History or geog
Latin
Ancient Greek
RE
Another MFL (German Spanish French Italian mandarin)
Drama
Art
DT
Music
ICT

He will probably do Geog, Ancient Greek and RE so 11 with triple sci

[Essexmum69]

But if you opt your child out of gcse RE (in a school that counts it as a compulsary gcse) the school does not have to offer an alternative subject. At our school, because it is not in an option block, the whole class do RE together so there is no other timetabled subject students could do instead. Children opting out have private study time.

[PeaceOfWildThings]

^DC1

[PeaceOfWildThings]

Actually...D1 must have done 12 GCSEs..the 7 compulsory ones, plus the third science, plus a humanity, one MFL, Music and another arty one.

[TalkinPeace]

Individuals can opt out and they do, there are a few Jehovah witnesses at ds's school who don't do it. However ordinary state comps can not opt out, they have to teach it.
BILGE
DCs State comp has always allowed KS 4 to opt out, as do many others

[thehumanjam]

Individuals can opt out and they do, there are a few Jehovah witnesses at ds's school who don't do it. However ordinary state comps can not opt out, they have to teach it.

[PeaceOfWildThings]

DCs schools:
School 1:
Maths
English lit.
English Lang
Double Science minimum
RE
some kind of computer tech course
at least one MFL but almost all took 2
then the preference was for an art/practical subject
and a humanities subject

DC took 10 GCSEs

School 2:

English Lang
English Lit
Maths
Double science (most do triple)

Then the choice of 5 more

DC is doing 11 GCSEs.

[roisin]

ds1 did 9, which was the policy at his school. He got straight As, which put him in a very strong position for University applications. ds2 - at least as able/capable - did 1 last year and will do 11 more this. He will get high grades, but probably not straight As, as he has more subjects to revise for; but he's had a wider/broader education. Which is better?

[lljkk]

Your DD would be very unlikely to get more than 2 arty subjects (dance textiles etc.) into her GCSE option list. But will do them some of the time until end of yr8 at least. Drama, dance & Music are good ones to go exC with rather than take at GCSE which can suck the fun out of them.

[TalkinPeace]

RE is part of the national curriculum and has to be taught in key stage 4 but not necessarily at GCSE level.
NO IT DOES NOT
You can opt out.
many sensible schools include the opt out form with the GCSE options list.

Save RE for those who want to study it.

[thehumanjam]

RE is part of the national curriculum and has to be taught in key stage 4 but not necessarily at GCSE level. Most schools follow the GCSE curriculum, they made it a compulsory GCSE at ds's school
a couple of years ago for that reason (they were doing it anyway so why not sit the exam?) and they have a 100% pass rate at grade C or above.

[Mymumstillreadsmymail]

I hadn't considered that RE would ever be a compulsory subject, something else to ask about.

[Mymumstillreadsmymail]

No of course I wouldn't choose a school based on the number of exams they take.

I asked because when we have looked around my dd has been swayed by all the dance, drama, textiles, music, art departments etc and I wondered how many of these subjects she will actually get to continue past the first couple of years...I think in her 10 yr old mind they will be all the sort of subjects she does at school, whereas in reality of course these will become options.

[furrymuff]

DS 2 is in year 9 now - he will be doing English Lang/Lit, Maths, Triple Science, RPSE, and then three further options - I think he's opting for History, Business Studies or Computing and PE. 10 is more than enough I think.

[ArcheryAnnie]

If your DC is in Y6 now, the number of GCSEs will not be anywhere near as big as it is for those now currently doing them.

[Ishouldbeweaving]

I would ask how many the child gets to choose, when it came to "options" last year mine could choose only 3 subjects. The school's core subjects were a wider core than they needed to be. The school's core included RE and a technology, three sciences, two english and an ICT thing (not a GCSE, something else that I immediately forgot). Personally I'd rather have dropped RE, ICT and the technology in favour of something that he found more interesting, I can see why the school elected to do what they did but it still restricted his choices.

(State secondary)

[TalkinPeace]

DD did 13 with one after school class per week.
DS is doing 11

BUT
its a comp
so different kids do different amounts
from 13 down to 5

[Pantah630]

Grammar 12.5-13.5 dependant on whether taking further maths, ICT is short course so 1/2gcse.
Maths, English Lit, English Lang, RS, Triple Science, ICT, one language are compulsory plus a choice of four others plus Further Maths if in top set.
Twilight language available as igcse too.

Lots of work, lots of pressure, some of them thrive on it, lots don't.

[BackforGood]

Surely it depends on how capable your dc is ?

Don't forget that MN is not a place to get a national "average" of any answer

It 'the number of GCSEs a child takes' really something that would affect your choice of secondary school ?