Please explain to me obligatory GCSEs in Yr 10

[Verbena37]

Hi,
DD just joined yr 9 from a middle school systemr today. Got an email from English HoY asking for spare magazines for GCSE Media course that our children will be studying.

Me......confused.
So I email her back asking if it's optional. She replies, all children will take a GCSE in Media in yr 10 then begin the GCSE Lit/Lang course in Yr 10 to take exam in yr 11.

Now, this school (changing to academy)m have also chosen to make the children take IT GCSE in year 9/10 and also I think, Ethics and Philosophy in yr 10. The HT says its to give them all extra GCSEs and choose more subjects for their yr 11 GCSEs.

My query though is if they're preparing for Yr 10 GCSE exams, surely that would take time off them swatting up for their final yr 11 exams?
How do they fit it all in? If she chooses 8 GCSEs for yr 11? Have I missed something?

Should I make my feelings known to the school and in a large secondary,coho is the best person? Deputy HT or HOD for English?

Or not bother saying anything and just let them bodge up my child's future?

Also the DfE strongly warns against early entry at GCSE which statistics show mean students end up with poorer results.

And that before the increased, or at the very least unknown, demand of the new schemes of work.

But they aren't being entered early for 'traditional' GCSE subjects like Maths and English but for 2 possibly 3 other 'extra' subjects. I agree that the building blocks of Maths and English are important and that yr9 the end of KS3 is very important for that. If no time is being 'stolen' from core GCSE subjects it may be fine. But yes Academies can do what they bloody well like.

It seems a very blunt tool everyone will take Media, it is not a core subject like maths or English. There will be pupils who are not suited to media, but yet they are being forced into a subject they may not do well in.
But then I am very much in the fewer of better quality camp, yes Universities are looking for the best eight taken together, but they are not the only ones and schools are not catching up to this.
I run apprenticeships I gave had multiple applications where the envelopes are franked by a school ( so they are involved in the application) where the student has no awareness of the basic entry requirements 5 GCSEs all taken at the same time to C grade including maths,English and a science.

But yes Academies can do what they bloody well like.

Over things like this, "academy" is a complete red herring. A school local to us which had very noisily refused to become an academy was doing early entry, module resits, multiple board entries, additional GCSEs of to put it mildly "limited applicability", etc, etc, until it dropped into special measures with catastrophic (close to floor standards, which given its middle-class intake was ludicrous) GCSE results. What makes you think that a local authority has control over any of this? The national curriculum is not relevant: very, very few state-funded schools vary from the NC in significant ways in KS4 (because if you deliver the usual GCSEs it's hard not to deliver the NC as a side-effect) and the NC has nothing to say about early entry, extra subjects, etc, etc. LEAs don't control exam scheduling, which is entirely a matter for the head in collaboration (possibly) with governors.

DD's school (local comp) all take GCSEs in Year 9. She took Classics, short course RE and short course ICT. She got a C in the first two (predicted A/A) and lord knows what her ICT result is. I despair. Having scraped DD off the floor after her results, knowing that an A/A result would be unlikely (dd is smart, but not a great one for exams) I wondered whether to complain to the school. And decided against it. What's the point? DD doesn't want anyone to say anything to her about it, so we are leaving sleeping dogs to lie. It has been far from successful in our own case, though I'm sure some people will have achieved great grades.

DD's friend has swapped schools this year. She's going to her leaving do tonight. Think it might have something to do with her D grade in RE. Wish we could swap dd to private school too :(

If we hadn't have left the military, we could have afforded to send DD to private school and blimey I wish we had now. Her new school is literally throwing common sense out of the window before waiting a year or two and seeing if grades improve with better teaching and management.

They've not updated their website so there's no detail about the year 9 curriculum, given us no details about how to contact their tutors.....nothing. I really don't want to have to wait until the first parents GCSE night before I know what the children are studying!

At our independent school an art type subject was expected too (music, drama, art, design technology, dance and business studies was offered too because students did not have to do Geogrsphy and History - just one of those. RE was compulsory though. Taking them all in year 11 is now seen as beneficial because some universities stipulate this and also stipulate they want A levels taught over 2 years, not 3. Therefore I agree with everyone that this school is not giving the best advice to its more academic students. I cannot see there is any advantage to gaining average results in a GCSE by taking it early. It cannot be erased from the academic record either. Why not wait and get more teaching in? Not to mention maturity!

Ok, so the attached is the copy of the curriculum from next September. I asked them to send me the year 9 curriculum overview but apparently, this yr 9 list isn't the same so not sure what's that's about. But they are defo doing GCSE Media at end of yr 10 she said.

To me, it all looks pretty awful. Stuff you have to choose in yr 9 but that you might want to choose, then dropping it in year 10 then picking up another subject in year 11..... I just don't get it. It's all so confusing!

What do people think looking at it?

Oops forgot to attach the picture...

I think it's awful. Kids can't take up History or a Language at the beginning of year 11 and expect to get a decent grade. Science is confusing too - they say either single, double or triple starts in year 10 which is fine, but then offer the final bit of triple as an extra in year 11. Bonkers. I'd be making my feelings known and at least make sure they don't enter her for anything in year 9.

It may be that I have misread the attachment, but is there only French available for an MFL? Heaven help any talented linguists if that is the case. I don't think I have ever seen such a confusing curriculum. It appears to suggest the school does not have lots of bright children who could do 10 GCSEs in years 10/11. What is the point of adding in media if children cannot study Spanish or another language? The curriculum is not balanced. It appears that they are offering easier subjects to get the GCSE passes to look better. Frankly, I cannot see how this serves bright children who deserve better and should be able to do 10 well regarded GCSEs if they have to academic ability to do them.

whilst I don't agree with the op's school's offer in terms of the MFL offer Milly it is down to the staff available; MFL is getting harder and harder to recruit so school's can only offer the languages that their current MFL teachers can offer

One MFL only is terrible though. Obviously recruiting IT and Media Studies teachers is easier but children are not well educated at this school if they are talented linguists. They manage triple science for the scientists! It's all about priorities (MFL obviously is not one) and how they can get better results in easier subjects. I would not want my children at this school and I feel sorry for these children and their parents. Presumably an alternative is not available. We fail our children by this dumbed down education.

They can do Spanish. He has dropped teaching German because he said not enough people were learning to employ a German teacher.....more like the results weren't good enough.

DH has just looked at the attachment and said how over complicated it is! He said why make it complex like that? Why not just let them pick their options to study for two years??