number of GCSEs

[Nicola63]

Hi. This may seem like a stupid/obvious question to people who have grown up here/know the British school system. But I didn't, I grew up in South Africa and have only lived here as an adult. I have however recently jumped into the deep end by having my 13 year old stepdaughter come from S Africa to live with us and go to school here. So I am on a fast learning curve.

She now has to choose GCSE subjects. The school seems, in the letter they sent, to recommend doing about 7, although they say some people do 8 or 9. I am concerned about overburdening her; although she is pretty bright she has just come into the middle of Year 9 in a totally new country and of course has a lot to catch up on. Also I am keen that she keeps up with other things apart from schoolwork (she is doing Duke of Edinburgh award and keeps pretty busy).

What do other people recommend in terms of number of GCSEs? I have no idea what the real norm is.

Thanks very much.

I would say that 7-9 would be about right generally. Most of my friends in other schools did around this number but because I went to a catholic school I had to sit 11 . I did pass them all but it was really hard going. Hope this helps but someone with GCSE aged kids should be around to better advise you.

my son is doing 10 but only got to pick 3 ! Whats all that about?

I remember your post when she was about to come and stay with you. Hope she has settled in OK and you're all managing!

She's doing great, but I get worried some times about not being able to give her the best advice as I don't really know the school system here so well. It's very different from S Africa.

yes, I went the other way (from UK to SA at 14) so saw it from the other perspective. It is very different!

Have to get kids now so I can't post much but I'm glad all is going well. Hope others can help you out a bit more!

i did 10,

my sis is only doing about 5 though, shes a bit of a ... ummm.. lets just say when she does make it to school, she doesnt do the work

I did 10, which wasn't unusual in my comprehensive.

I teach in an average state secondary in England and our kids tend to do 9. if they start to have problems, they may from down, but the vast majority will sit 9.

Of these two will be English and maths (maybe english lit as well if the kids are up to it) two will be science (maybe 3 will be science if the kids do separate sciences)

At my children's secondary school, most people end up doing 10-11, a few do 12. Some of the less academic will do 5 GCSEs plus 2 vocational courses.

So, nearly everyone will do Eng Lang, Eng Lit, Maths (some do statistics as well), double science, one DT subject, one foreign language, humanities and one arts subject. They then get to pick another subject from a list. Some do IT as an additional GCSE, after-school.

This seems pretty normal these days I think - this is a totally non-selective comprehensive.

i did 11, but two (art and drama) were after after school options. so normally you would have done 9. music was also an after school option. there wasn't a huge amount of choice, it was more a case of here are your 5 compulsory subjects (maths, double science, eng lit, eng lang) now pick 4 from the rest (PE, languages, RE, IT, history, geography..)

my niece is now doing her options and it seems she's picking dance, hairdressing, and a BTEC in business that counts for 4 GCSEs

In the 7, some things may actually count as 2 eg English may be language and literature, Science may be a "double" ie worth 2 GCSE passes or triple which is the 3 separate sciences. I think so anyway - still trying to get my head round it myself.

ds2 is currently doing

Maths
Eng Lang
Eng Lit
Double Science
Geography
PE
BTEC Media (equiv of 4 GCSE's)
CiDA (IT Cert equiv to 2 GCSE's)

So the equivalent of 13 but his workload is definitely less then someone doing 13 'standard' GCSE's. I'm not sure that the BTEC is really the 'equivalent' to 4 GCSE's, certainly it's not as much work.

If you count half courses DD will have about 12/13 subjects so I dread to think what the exam timetable will be like in June will she be in two places at once

I have a DS doing 10 (and his elder brother also did 10). DS2 is doing Maths, Double Science (counts as 2), English Language, English Literature, French, Geography, History, Resistant Materials (technology) and PE. He does Duke of Edinburgh, plays in rugby, football and cricket teams outside school and plays a lot of tennis including club matches. It keeps him very busy - especially now in Y11 when he is finishing his course work. If she is new to the UK system you need to ensure that she is concentrating on the core subjects and isn't overburdened with work for other subjects. Core - at least one English, Science (preferably at least double), Maths and a humanity.

10 was compulsory in my school.

I just want to add that in my previous post I didn't put a foreign language down as a core subject because Nicola63's step daughter has been in school in SA and may not have done French, German or Spanish before. If she has done, I would recommend that she continues a language to GCSE!

Message withdrawn

dd is doing

maths
double science
eng lang
eng lit
french
spanish
music
geog
hist
it

11 or 12 ?

If your dsd is bright I'm not sure 7 GCSE's is enough. All the kids in my school do 9, and the really clever ones do 10.

DSS did 8 which is about right. I think 7 is too few for a bright child

Thnaks so much for all the helpful replies! At her school she has to do English lang, English Lit, double science and maths. You can then choose the rest.

She has not done a European language before but has done Afrikaans up to this point, so she was thinking of doing Dutch GCSE as an extracurricular activity (you can do it by correspondance through the Dutch school in Oxford). The German teacher has also said that she would be fine to do German GCSE if she wants, despite only starting German this term. We have to give this some more thought.

She wants to do, in addition to the compulsory subjects, art, music, geography and ICT. That would take her to nine. I think that is what me might do (and also think about the Dutch or German in addition). We are going to have a careful think about it this weekend.

Thnaks everyone. I have a much better idea of the whole thing now.

Why are 10 GCSEs necessary when the entry requirements for entry to most colleges or sixth forms is 5? Just curious.

Why would 7 be too few for a bright child?

Maybe I should add that dsd would like to go to university and is interested in either medicine (which is what I did) or vetinerary medicine, so obviously I want to give her the best possible grounding for this. Her school goes up to the 6th form so she will be staying there right up to then.

In that case she should do (if possible) three separate sciences. She will have to do courses for (say) 10 GCSEs - I think that the problem is whether she should try and give equal weight to all the courses she takes.
Veterinary Science is the most difficult course to get on to in the UK. She needs extremely good exam results and plenty of personal attributes - Duke of Edinburgh, experience in looking after animals, sheer brilliance!

DS's grammar school: 10.5 or 11.5 (DS may also do Greek at lunchtime).