Does my child really need to choose French as an option?

[user1493494748]

My child is in year 9 and has already chose her options. However, she hates French and is bad at it too. She is Gifted and Talented but French is her worst lesson. The teacher and her doesn't have a good relationship and her friends describe it as the teacher bullying her. I have heard a video of what he has said and I support what they say. So, should my child change that option into something she enjoys or carry on doing French. Also, how would this support/conflict with her future?

This idea you should do a 3 year course for a GCSE is rubbish. Picking options in year 8 is ridiculous as it leads to children picking things they don't want to do. A GCSE course is 2 years long not 3. A thorough grounding on basics in key stage 3 should be done before the leap to GCSE. The 3 year course us only for the schools benefit not your child's. And changing a subject in year 9 is easy to do as you have 2 years to do GCSE which is sufficient time to achieve them. I also think that children should learn that school is a place to learn, not to sit and chat with your mates. If I was a teacher chatty kids who disrupted others concentration would be having detention every day till they learned that one valuable lesson.

Actually, for languages a 3yr course is much better as the new course has so much content, doing it in 2yrs is a rush. Currently we are choosing between covering all the material or doing it thoroughly.
Most kids in Y8 know what they enjoy and what they are good at.

Yeah she does sound like a gobby brat. A colleague of mine was filmed on a mobile phone by a pupil, without her permission. She contacted the LA's Legal and Admin team who sent a letter to the parents saying that action would be taken if the video wasn't deleted straight away and an apology given. The school will have an Acceptable Use policy which pupils and parents will have had to have signed before a pupil will be allowed to use mobile phones in class, making a video of a teacher without permission will have been one of they things forbidden.
They sound like a group of wee mares tbh. She needs to suck up the French, start knuckling down and showing a bit of respect to staff and realising the world doesn't revolve around her or her mates.
Oh, and the 'popular' ones are often the ones staff find to be the biggest PITAs in class. 'Popular' is not a label I'd like for my DD.

Totally disagree matchstick. A 3 year course only benefits the school as they want good results. My gdds class in year 10 just sat one paper from last year as practise. All the class completed in 15 minutes, admittedly it was a foundation paper and the lowest score was 98%. Yes they are doing the higher paper but they did not start GCSE coursework till year 10. It seems that they all have a thorough grounding on the basics which enabled all to achieve a level 5/C on one paper in a quarter of the time.

Totally agree MSL

New course has no coursework anymore. Feel free to disagree. It will, however, be interesting to see results in 2018 for the new cohort who have been rushed through compared to my 2019 results as I unofficially started the GCSE course in Sept before they opted. They will have done a third of the course at the end of the year. But hey, I've only been teaching 12 years. What do I know!

"Oh, and the 'popular' ones are often the ones staff find to be the biggest PITAs in class."

So true. They like to show off in front of their friends.

I can think of several 'popular' (=disruptive) students like your DD that I teach. Bright, lively, but resent the subject so try to amuse themselves each lesson and drag others into it.
I regularly keep them behind as a sanction for their behaviour. Doesn't make me a bully.

Sorry matchstick meant syllabus not coursework. My gdds school leading school in maths and MFL and they have never, not even in the old system of entering children early for exams so the A-C figures looked good, felt the need to do a 2 year course in 3 years. Last years results for her school was 98% A-C including maths and English. Says it all really but am not doubting what you say matchstick all schools are different.

Iamastonish
Depends. I've taught many lovely kids who are genuinely popular because they are lovely. Even quite popular lad lads are alright and knuckle down.

It's the "popular" girls (read- girly group, closed friendship group, giggly, always some drama or gossip that MUST BE discussed, often the ones who claim it's soooo unfair that teachers tell them off for talking) who are massive pains.

Funnily enough, the rest of the class don't think they're "popular" or cool. They just wish they'd shut the hell up (as I've had many a student tell me. They just inwardly roll their eyes at said girls).

You told the deputy head that the teacher had shouted at your dd and the deputy told the teacher off....(presumably then telling you they had done so, or how would you know?)
Really?

To be perfectly honest I don't know how teachers put up with it. For a wonder teachers have breakdowns. How can parents think it's OK to video teachers (like to see their reaction if teachers recorded their previous little darlings) and its OK to chat while teacher is trying to teach? I mean would you as an adult butt in while someone was talking to someone else? Don't the kids nowadays learn about manners and respect anymore from their parents? In my day you didn't breathe unless the teacher said you could or else you were likely to get a blackboard rubber thrown at you or the cane.

Sostenueto
We manage because the vast majority of students are lovely and the vast majority of parents are supportive. When we do parents evenings you realise how the vast majority of parents value you what we do and want the same as us: to help their children do well.
I always think of it as 10% of students/parents end up having a disproportionate amount of my time spent on them. Within that, I often find that some parents of challenging kids are lovely, very supportive and want home and school to work together.
Sadly, there's a proportion of kids who have a bad attitude and then get their "I'm unique and rules don't apply to me" world view reinforced by parents at home. They are the ones where home end up 'well known' in the staff room..

Sostenueto and Matchstick

I'm old, very old.

Way back in the days of O Levels options were taken in third year, but for science and maths we started O Level work at the start of third year.

The courses were two years, but the work started before the 2 year course.

To be honest sos the vast majority of kids and their parents are BRILLIANT. There is a minority though who think the rules don't apply to them and are entitled arseholes, whose children are precious snowflakes who should be allowed to call the shots and be pandered to at every turn. We usually find that entitled kids have entitled parents who will back them to the hilt against a teacher.

It's a bloody hard job nowadays - the reason I keep doing what I'm doing lies in my first sentence. These kids and their parents get sooooo pissed of with the entitled, disruptive arses both young and old enough to know better.

MaisyPops X post with almost exactly the same content!!!! 😃 great minds think alike 😃

My mum made me do French. I hated it. I was useless at it. I haven't used it since I left school 26 years ago ( I've only been to France a handful of times since leaving school).
Do a subject she enjoys and will get a good grade in. That will be more useful

We started in year 4 in the 60s for our 0'levels and EVERYONE sat the 11+ as standard to decide on your future, rich or poor. We went comprehensive in year 4 with the local secondary next door so positive O level work started then because both pupils from each school sat O levels but bottom streams sat CSEs.

Year 4 equals year 10.

Agree with the others. I love my job, I love the kids.. They energise me. At times they're quicksilver. They give me hope for the future.
Then there are the ones who think their kids can do no wrong, refuse self-responsabilty and lack self awareness. They do their kids a massive disservice tbh, because mammy can't go running and crying bully when they get to uni or work. It won't wash.

(Sorry for hijack- I'll scuttle off and mark my lovely teens' exam simulations.

Agree good and bad in all. And I will pin medal on all teachers anyway lol!

Absolutely hate hearing about teachers being recorded without their consent and videos of them being picked through.

It is interesting to know why a child who is supposed to be gifted and talented cannot do French. The truly gifted and talented nail all their subjects.

Lots of schools now do 3 year GCSEs due to not very bright children needing more teaching, schools needing better results and getting the not so interested out of lessons. Any school with 98% A-C is probably selective with no Middle or lower achievers. Not a fair comparison, but I do think very bright children might be bored with 9 subjects taken over 3 years and it is not a broad education.

"Any school with 98% A-C is probably selective with no Middle or lower achievers."

Of course it is. DD goes to a good comprehensive school with the vast majority of students having parents who are supportive of their education. Last year's pass rate was 82%.