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Secondary education

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Original poster

Help - DD having doubts about GCSE Choices

16 replies

MuminBerkshire · 08/09/2016 14:17

Hi All,

Need urgent feedback and advice please. DD is doing 10 GCSE's. These are:- Maths, 2 English, Triple science, Spanish, RS, Geography and ICT. She is having doubts about ICT and is thinking whether it would be better for her to do Food and Nutrition or Art Textiles instead of ICT. I know that these subjects do not necessarily offer an easier option since there is still a lot of work involved. I just wanted to get some feedback on your thoughts about these subjects and whether they look like softer choices compared to ICT or not.

OP posts:
Balletgirlmum · 08/09/2016 14:22

If it's ICT rather than Computer Science that is definatly seen as a soft option & your dd will be the last cohort allowed to take that exam before it is scrapped completely.

My dd loves ICT but didn't choose it for that reason.

mumsneedwine · 08/09/2016 14:52

I'm going to be brutally honest and tell you no one cares what GCSEs are in, as long as the core ones are there. So do what she enjoys - all valid subjects that give useful life skills. One of mine did textiles and is now at Cambridge studying maths. Still asks me to sew a button on though.

Balletgirlmum · 08/09/2016 14:54

Yes that is true asking as the core ones are there as your dd's are OP.

In my dds case doing ICT would have meant dropping a humanities or triple science (which she wanted to do)

Original poster
MuminBerkshire · 08/09/2016 15:59

Thanks for your replies so far. The dilemma is that she is concerned about how much help and support she will get from the teachers in ICT since she said that they tend to want to let the students figure out problems themselves (not a bad thing). However, this concerns DD because she likes there to be some backup help and doesn't want to feel on her own in the subject.

If she were to opt for Food and Nutrition, she is not keen on the times practical, which involves concocting five dishes in 2.5 hours fitting an allocated brief.

Art Textiles seems to include all the things she would enjoy but she says that people have told her that creating the portfolio is very time consuming so may create too much of an additional workload along with her more academic subjects.

Help - so confused!!!!

OP posts:
AChickenCalledKorma · 08/09/2016 16:53

Is it even an option to change subjects at this stage? What does her school say? We had a year 10 curriculum meeting last night and the head of year said any doubts about option choices had to be expressed now, because in the very near future it will not be possible to change. Also I know that those taking Art were expected to get going on creating some art over the holidays, to get started on their portfolio. No idea whether the same would also have applied to other practical subjects.

titchy · 08/09/2016 17:22

Stick with ICT - you've answered your own question really if she doesn't want to do the times cooking stuff and Textiles is very time consuming. ICT doesn't really need much teacher input tbh....

Original poster
MuminBerkshire · 08/09/2016 17:39

She is still allowed to change her GCSE choices but the changes have to be in pretty quickly. I have just spoken to her and she is thinking of doing \Art Textiles as one of her options but this still leaves a decision to be made as to whether to do History,Geography or ICT as the final option. Once again, her GCSE's so far are:- 2 English, Maths, 3 Science, Spanish, RS, Art Textiles. So, do you think it is important to have another solid academic subject such as History or Geography in there or do you think ICT will be acceptable. As earlier posters commented, does GCSE choice for those final two options really matter? Would universities take GCSE choices into account if presented with candidates with similar A level Grades? Any information/advice would be welcome since the decision has to be finalised pretty soon.

Thanks in advance.

OP posts:
mumsneedwine · 08/09/2016 19:52

No, universities will not look at the GCSE subjects once the core ones have been achieved. Even for medicine they just care about the core ones. So do what she wants - just make sure if she might want to carry on to A level that she does history etc as they wont let her otherwise.

bojorojo · 08/09/2016 22:20

History or Geography are the main two humanities and regardless of what some universities do, others make it clear that they look at GCSE results and give them considerable weighting. Medicine is not the only choosy degree! So, doing an Art is great and either Geography or History is perfect. Just choose the one she likes best then her subjects will get her more or less anywhere. My DDs independent school always advocated Maths, English, Sciences, MFL, a Humanity and an Art. All boxes ticked so she cannot go wrong.

Yes, art can be a bit time consuming, but plenty of pupils manage it! If it is enjoyable, then no problem. My DD didn't do anything in the holidays or before Art and Photography A levels and certainly not before Art in y10. No need to worry!

sashh · 09/09/2016 01:57

She's got the sciences English a foreign language and Maths covered. If she wants the ebac then she needs a humanity, RS doesn't count.

But she has all the core subjects so why not pick an 'easy' option for the final one?

crazycatguy · 09/09/2016 02:03

Universities only care about the core ones. Only the Government care about the rest. The day you get your A Levels your GCSEs pale into relative insignificance.

Let her do as she pleases :)

senua · 09/09/2016 08:45

The dilemma is that she is concerned about how much help and support she will get from the teachers in ICT since she said that they tend to want to let the students figure out problems themselves (not a bad thing). However, this concerns DD because she likes there to be some backup help and doesn't want to feel on her own in the subject.

I agree with you. Learning how to learn is no bad thing. She will have peer support too. And I'm guessing that there might be ICT tutorials out there somewhere on the interweb.Wink
I think that Eng x2, Maths, science x3, a language and a humanity (is Geog still there? it dropped off your second list) is a solid set of 8 subjects. What she does for the other two options isn't world-changing (unless her heart was set on being an Olympic class baker or artist or whatever, but if that was the case then you wouldn't be asking the question).

Original poster
MuminBerkshire · 09/09/2016 09:22

Thanks again everyone. Your replies have been really helpful. So, to summarise, she has:-
2 English, Maths, 3 Science, Spanish, RS, Geography, ICT. She is now thinking of swapping out Geography for Art Textiles. This would mean that RS is her only humanity and she would be doing two less academic subjects with Art Trxtiles and ICT. Alternatively, do you think opting for history instead of Textiles would be better?

OP posts:
senua · 09/09/2016 09:31

So she's thinking of dropping ICT or Geography and taking up Food or Art or History?Hmm

It's one thing to be unsure about one subject. It's totally another thing to be thrashing about in all directions, uncertain of where to go. I think a firm hand is required: make her sit down and make rational decisions.

t4nut · 09/09/2016 10:54

It really really doesn't matter, unless there are A levels she specifically wants to do. Let her choose what she will enjoy! As long as its not PE - now that is a worthless GCSE.......

catslife · 09/09/2016 12:21

I would have thought that your dd would need a very good reason for changing courses at this late stage. She has a good range of academic subjects so there is plenty of room for one that isn't.
Timetable constraints and class sizes may mean changing isn't possible though.

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