New GCSE curriculum

[kgal]

The school has sent out an email saying that due to the complexity of the new GCSE curriculum students will be choosing their options in yr 8 rather than yr 9 giving them 3ys to study the extra content and practice new skills. My ds is of course in yr 10 so doesn't have this option and he and his peers are the guinea pigs for this new system. I'm now slightly concerned that they may not do as well as they could have done if they were in a year below or above. Not sure what my question is really ... Just feeling a little frustrated with it all!

They are not really guinea pigs, kgal, that delight goes to the current year 9.

Your DS will do mostly old-curriculum GCSEs, with just English and maths in the new set.

It's June 2018 where it's all change for most subjects, goodbye controlled assessment etc. I think current year 9 are most to be pitied, tho your DS will have the joy of etters and numbers on his results sheet

My DD is in year 10 btw so I do sympathise.

put it that way I should probably be glad my ds isn't in the year below .. And yes his reports are coming out with numbers and letters which makes them even more confusing to understand!

My DD's school started preparing them in Year 9 for Science, English & Maths. They reinforced things like methods to be used for maths calculations and started them on their coursework. It may be that your DS's school were gently preparing them without you knowing, if not, why not?. As said before I suspect it'll be a problem for the present Year 9s.

Unfortunately, time will tell. My DD's school have admitted it's hard to give them an exact GCSE result prediction and therefore they're airing on the side of caution.

My DS is in year 9, I suddenly feel very depressed

DS2 is in Y9. He was asked to decide on his GCSE options in Y8, so the school could start teaching the GCSE courses at the beginning of Y9.

Great in theory, but in reality the school hasn't yet chosen which exam boards they'll be using, as many of the specifications haven't been finalised.

So he has spent the time since the beginning of Y9 being taught normal Y9 work. The only subjects in which they've started GCSE work are English language and English literature. They are also doing some GCSE science topics, based on the old AQA syllabus.

The silver lining is that he was happy to give up the subjects he didn't enjoy, and is working harder as a result.

I have dc in year 10 and 9 it's very worrying

I do think choosing options on yr 8 is a good thing anyway as they can focus more on what they like as you say TheSecond. I keep hearing how difficult these new GCSEs are going to be and how much more content there is so it is a bit worrying. Not necessarily a bad thing long term perhaps but hard for the children at the start of it all.

Lots of schools choose options in Y8, always have.

I think it's a good thing for lots of pupils. E.g in Y8 they have one hour a week of history and so learn very little. In Y9, if you choose it as an option, you have far more lessons so you are able to actually make progress.

It's not always used to start the GCSE syllabus - just a chance to narrow down the ridiculously 'broad and balanced' curriculum which means you're cramming too much into a week.

I'm not at all sad that DS is dropping dance / food tech / textiles / music / geography / RE / DT to concentrate on the eBac + 2 options.