GCSE Options - Please Help

[wloi]

I am an overseas parent and my DD will study Y10 this September in UK. The school has sent us GCSE subject choices and I have no idea on some of the subjects on the list and welcome any comments.

My DD loves all the science subjects and does not have any interests nor talents in artistic / performing arts.

Her core subjects are:
Bio, Chem, Phy, Math, Eng , Eng Lit, MFL (will take French), Humanities (will take History)

I need to choose two from the optional subjects. Since she hates and is not talented in music, PE and performing arts. subjects that involve any personal talents are out of the way. She also has no interest to start another language.

We will definitely choose Geography, as it is also one of her favorite subjects.

Then we are left with:-
Computing
ICT
Home Economics - Food and Nutrition
Philosophy and Religious studies

My questions:-
For HE, does the course assessment including actual food cooking ? My daughter is interested in the subject but she cannot and is not interested to cook. If cooking is part of the assessment, then she will not take it.

For Phil and RS, what is this subject about ? Is it hard to tackle ? Though we are Catholics, my DD is not religious at all. Moreover, she has never studied any subject close to Philosophy so far.

For computing and ICT, I cannot really figure out the difference and which one will be easier to tackle. Again, my DD loves YT , FB and internet browsing, but that's all.

Any comments will be appreciated.

The main difference between computing and ICT is that computing is leading on to coding and some electronics, it can be quite maths and science based and ICT is about using the software packages for an office type environment with an element of business focus.

At least that is how the teachers explained it to us but dd is only in Y7 so I was just curious rather than making a decision.

Is there more info on the school website? Ours has curriculum pages which highlight what topics are covered in each year and the exam syllabus. RS tends to be topic-based using examples of opinion from differing religious and moral perspectives on modern issues such as abortion, human relationships, medical ethics, equality, peace and justice, science.

Oddboots is correct about the difference between Computing and ICT. Computing will cover programming in one or more languages, problem solving, logic, binary/hexadecimal number systems, algorithms, the internal workings of a computer system (eg how the CPU works, memory, etc).

ICT is about using the computer to create something using software packages. It suits students who are able to work independently, methodically, and perhaps creatively as often the assessments involve creating video/sound/graphics/multimedia etc. It can include more technical topics but it can depend on which exam board and which units are chosen. It will also include using common office programs like spreadsheets, databases, presentations etc.

Sometimes ICT isn't a GCSE, if that bothers you, it can be things like OCR nationals instead.

I imagine Home-Ec would include some cooking, but if you know the exam board (Ed Excel or whatever) then you can google the exact syllabus.

Computing is computer programming (Python!) & ICT is using computer packages. Computing is more academic & very useful if your DD likes sciences.

Oh, and Food & Nutrition will involve practical cookery, so she would have to be prepared for that.

Which of the remaining subjects does she feel she is most interested in? Can you read through the prospectus/brochure with her and talk each subject through? The prospectus should also tell you the exam board for each subject. You can go to their websites and look at the kind of exams and assessments that will be done for each course.

Computing and Philosophy/RE are 'facilitating subjects'. This means that they are academically rigorous subjects that lead on to many different disciplines.

P/RE will complement History, Computing will complement Maths.

If she is interested in stretching herself academically, either is a good choice.

If she finds Maths challenging, then Computing may not be the best choice.

ICT is more about how to be a good user of technology, whereas Computing is more about creating technology.

As your dd has already made a good selection of academic GCSEs, I see nothing wrong in choosing a less academic option. It's probably better to get consistently higher grades across a range of subjects, than to take a subject which does not appeal to you, purely brcausr it is academic, and have it pull your grade average down.

Fraid I know nothing about Food Tech, as it's not a subject my Y9 considered.

Thanks everyone for the input.

HE seems quite fun to study but I don't think she will like it.

Thanks for explaining the difference btw Computer and ICT.

It seems Philosophy and RS is not really that much about religions but more like a subject that requires the student to think and present their ideas and views.

We do the home ec course at my school and it involves a large amount of practical cooking.

My dd is an atheist but loves philosophy & RS for pretty much the reasons you have said.

yeah, philosophy is mostly about ethics, and the logic behind ethical systems.
I suppose compulsory RE is why most British people think religion is about ethics.
(Whereas I think religion is mostly about fear of death).

My dd is in Y10 and taking RS it's fairly interesting and basically involves discussion of issues from the perspective of 2 different religions. It doesn't require much prior knowledge so should be fine if moving from abroad.
I would recommend looking at the syllabus details for History and Geography as it's possible that these may be a different type of subject to what she has studied and whether having been abroad wouldn't be a disadvantage.

DD lives RS and hates ICT. RS has some challenging ethical subjects which can be interesting to teenagers.

This might give you an more of an idea about RS.

RS is compulsory so your DD will still have some sort of RS lessons, whether she takes the GCSE or not.
Any idea of what she will do after GCSEs, does she know what subjects she fancies? Does that give any pointer to which final GCSE to choose?
She has a fine set of options already, this final one won't matter too much in the grand scheme of things.

Senua - My DD does not have a concrete idea yet about what she wants to do in university. Right now, she tends to choose pharmacy, Bio medical science or dentistry. She has no interest in engineering, Law, pure Arts nor pure Science.

I have showed her this thread and she now probably will choose RS as her last GCSE option.

OP I can't help but notice that you've said I have to.choose.

Not sure if its a typo but your DD has a robust set of 'core' subjects so I think it's better for her to pick something she likes. If the plan is for her to stay in.education for a while longer then her GCSEs will gradually become less relevant over time so I'd go with what she enjoys. HE and geography sounds like a good combination, is there the option to do another language or is it really limited to the subjects you mentioned (seems like a narrow list compared to my day)

lastnightiwenttomanderley - sorry for my typo. Actually the whole family is helping her to make the decision, since she is the first child to study in UK. I have suggested her to choose HE or drama or Spanish, to try out some subjects that are not offered in her current school.

In her current school, she did badly for HE, PE, Mandarin, Arts and Musics. She is only strong in the academic subjects.

She wants to try out drama, sports and dance as co-curricular subjects, but definitely not for GCSE.

I'm not sure now would be the time to try out drama or art for the first time. Both involve a degree of commitment beyond fun. Maybe just keep those for co-curricular. At dc school you can't take up a new language in year 10.

You said that she has no "interests nor talents in artistic / performing arts". You haven't mentioned technical subjects, which also do not appear to be available options at GCSE.
Dentistry is quite a dexterous subject with all those fillings and crowns and other fiddly bits. How will she demonstrate her adroitness to Admissions staff? See here for Sheffield's comments.

How about getting involved back-stage in drama, in prop making. That covers technical and teamwork in one go and is not so time consuming as learning lines and attending rehearsals.

Senua, thanks for your link. She better has a second thought about Dentistry then.