How many GCSEs does your child's school allow them to take?

[ArcherQueen]

My son's non-selective independent school is restricting all pupils to 9 GCSEs. My son is very bright and while I do not have an issue with the number, it does mean he has to give up French, which is is really good at and is likely to get a top grade in. I don't want to list all the subjects he wants to take but French will have to go as it is the only one he is definitely not going to take at A'level. He has a pretty good idea what he wants to do but wants to keep his options open in case he changes his plans.My son takes his options at the end of this academic year (9) and is gutted at the prospect of not studying French after that. I know the GCSEs are going to be more rigorous and "harder" than in recent years but I also know he is more than capable of this type of study. I certainly don't think adding an extra one is necessarily going to adversely affect his grades.Basically his only option would be to take it outside of school which quite frankly is not going to appeal to him and I don't blame him.

I don't really want a debate on whether 9 is enough, that may or may not be the case for a very bright child, but what I would like to know from other parents is: does your child's secondary school restrict the number of GCSEs in the same way? Our school insists that all schools do this but I cannot find any information on websites. I guess with the changes they are all still deciding what to do.I feel the school may be doing this for their own convenience, i.e. timetabling, as it meets the needs of the majority of their students, and there are not enough outliers to justify having to accomodate them. I would really like to know if other schools are doing the same.

9 as standard with the option of an extra one in a specialist twilight subject. Maths, English, treble science, MFL, humanity and 2 free choices. Academically selective private.

DD went to an independent school and did 11. Some were allowed to drop a subject of they wanted. Most did!

DS did 11 at Grammar School. DD1 did 14 at Grammar School. This included further maths and twilight music. DD2(year 10) is doing 9 at non selective High School.

Ds in y11 has done 1 and is doing 12.5 more this year. (0.5 is RE short course)

Dd is in y9 at the same school and is doing 9.

Their school is a comp and only allows 1 foreign language unless you take the exam as an external candidate.

Under the new GCSEs our do 2 English, maths, combined or Sep science, ethics & beliefs and 3 options, so 9 or 10.

They also took an ICT thing in year 9 which wasn't really a GCSE.

I'm surprised they aren't encouraging a MFL as it forms part of the EBAC.

10. Highly selective independent school. Bilinguals can add their other native language.

8 is standard. 9 if you're in the top set for RS.

Sorry, forgot english Lit.

So 9 as standard. 10 if top set for RS.

DD is doing 10 - it would normally be 2 science, 2 English and Maths + 4 choices, but she is doing triple science and therefore an extra GCSE.

Ds is doing 14 (grammar school). He is doing 11 this year in Y11 but has already done one in Y9 and two in Y10. Completely unnecessary amount in my opinion. He is just starting to think about A level options and the school insist he does 4 which again I don't agree with so I am going to have a chat with someone and see if it is at all possible that he can do 3.

She's also doing an extra maths paper, but don't know if it's a GCSE.

I think anything historical doesn't really answer OPs question since she's concerned about how many subjects is the norm for the new GCSEs and the current Y10s will be the first to sit them. Lots of DC did 12 (full) GCSEs as standard in certain schools with the old GCSEs but the reformed ones are different creatures.

My DD4 will be doing 10 new GCSEs plus Additional Maths which is a separate qualification but the year group below hers will be doing 11 plus Additional Maths if they're in the higher sets. That's at a grammar. Her older siblings all did more.

Fair to say she's irritated that she can't do German so she's attempting to teach herself from internet resources but I think she'll struggle. She'd far rather be doing it properly at school.

9-12 total is typical. Ds did 9 , dd is doing 11 this year plus took maths last year.

7 isn't too low for progress 8 if it includes Maths as Maths is double weighted.

DS has just chosen his options. He's taking 10

10

Only exceptions are those who are sitting home languages (who usually do them in yr 10 to get them out of the way) and the very best mathematicians who also do double maths.

DS did 14 (Boys Grammar) but that's because he did 2 maths GCSEs a year yearly, and did further maths and statistics this year. Even he struggled to choose because RE was compulsory so he had to choose between history and geography.

DD (Girls Grammar) only does 9. She will really struggle as she won't be allowed to do both triple science and both languages. Hard, isn't it?

DS is in year 9 at a super selective grammar school and is doing 10 + a half GCSE in RE. They're not allowed to take more than that.

10 is the norm at my niece's grammar.

With about half also doing additional maths, and about 10% doing Latin or Ancient Greek on top of that.

So 10 is standard (doing triple award science), with the super-brainy doing 12.

Selective independent-9 plus extracurricular Latin.

DS at selective grammar. Did 12 however one was 100% course work.

The timetable fits 9 GCSE subjects.

Every pupil has to do Maths, English Lang, English Lit, an MFL, at least double Science and either History or Geography. They then have two subjects of their choice, which can include an extra MFL and the other one out of Geography and History.

75% of them do triple science in the timetable slots allocated for double, so they do 10.
40% do a further maths qualification that's equivalent to a GCSE, so they have 11.
Drama is also available as a twilight subject.

That's at a partially selective state school.

Thanks so much for all your replies, giving me a really good spectrum of different schools and their approaches. I don't really know what we will / can do, as the school ticks so many other boxes and we can't afford the selective independent nearby. But it is good to know other schools are not shying away from 10 GCSEs for children doing triple science for example. It is unfortunately an experimental year for our children and I really hope they get through it ok.