Choosing Options this year?

[gillybeanz]

Just thought I'd start a thread to share opinions and ask questions/ advice on option choices.
Hoping it gets more than the few responses that individuals get.

Mine has to choose hers in April, I believe and will take 8

Compulsory: Music, Maths, Eng x 2, single Science, German or French, and a choice of History/ Geography or Art/Drama/Citizenship

and an extra subject of either French, or Double Science.

[CottonGoods]

I'm all in favour of separate sciences (hated all of them pretty much equally, myself). DS likes Chemistry and Physics, but has no interest at all in Biology, so it suits him. DD has chosen Biology only.

[gillybeanz]

I can't believe the difference in the number of GCSE's if I've read correctly they go from 7/8 to 14, that's amazing.
It's also good to see schools offering fewer subjects and commitments to those who do struggle/ not in top set.

Are the Schools offering Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Economics private schools.
I ask as none of the high schools in our area offer these subjects.

[CottonGoods]

Private schools here.

[Taffeta]

I forgot to say Latin was an option. DS hates it so won’t be doing it.

State not private.

[crazycrofter]

Yes, private school here offering Greek and Latin. Ds at his grammar school will have to choose between French and German at the end of year 8 and they’re the only languages on offer! I don’t think it really matters... but it’s nice to have more choice

[gillybeanz]

Soursprout

Well done to your dd for the music result, that's brilliant. Not all those at dd school will achieve a 9 in Music, though most achieve 8/9 or equivalent.

I'm impressed by both Soursprout dd school and the pp who talked about ebac for the most able but not pushing the less able to do all the subjects.

[gillybeanz]

Honestly Soursprout it's very good.
It's my dd main thing too, but not being very bright means she's well behind with the academic music side.

I think it can be a good thing if you know what you want from a young age and if you aren't very bright a lot of the options aren't open to you so fewer headaches in choosing a path.
I know mine would never gain the results for a good uni, or even a poor one come to that
Does yours want a career in Music? With that result she's well on her way.

[Ollycat]

Dd chooses this year (year 8)

Compulsory:

Maths
2 x English
Triple Science
MFL (think she’ll do French)
3 others
She’s definitely doing history and drama and for the 3rd is wavering between music, art and Tech - art seems to be winning at tge moment.

My ds (year 10) is doing:

Maths
2 x English
Triple Science
French
History
Geography
Tech

[stressedoutfred]

I’ve just scanned through so apologies if this has already been covered but what’s others thoughts about the English bacc? Something about needing a pass in 5 different areas and it being very important if looking at top unis?

DS is not at all keen on doing a language ( his would be Spanish) but worried it’ll affect him in the future - he wants to study medicine.

The heads speech last night raved about it, the subsequent parents eve teacher meetings was quite contradictory !

[BubblesBuddy]

I think you need to look at how the different med schools rate GCSE passes. Some of the most competitive like a broad spectrum but I doubt missing a MFL would exclude him. However when so many very clever children apply, it’s just better to tick all the boxes. He will need 8/9 results at nearly everything so this is probably a better focus than the MFL.

[gillybeanz]

stressed

I think the English bac is a brilliant idea for those capable of passing one of each of the subjects and agree with Bubbles
I too heard they are the choice of top uni's but obviously this is because they cover a subject from each school.
I think if you chose a broad range including one from each school again, the fact it wasn't an English bac wouldn't hold them back.

I'm foxed now, mine came home today telling me she passed a previous igcse English paper with an A- and has the CGP study book for combined Science, Higher paper.
I'm sure it's just a have a look and see what you think, but very surprised they gave dd one.

[Lilyray89]

We had options evening yesterday and dd has to do
English lit + Lang , double science , maths , re , and then they get 3 options ( even though a few years ago they got 4 and had to do a MFL?) They also do a hour a week of pe and Psme.

Dd’s finding it really hard to pick as she wants to do More than she’s has options for . Definitely wants to do geography , pretty keen on triple science but might drop as you can still do it at a level doing double science , and then she wants to take art but I’m not sure .

She’s a bright girl ( mostlys 8/7s ) but has no clue what to do in the future so just trying to keep options spread out.She also wants to try graphics or french but again only 3 options.

Anyone else’s kids considering taking art ? Or has done as I’ve heard it’s plenty of coursework ?

[gillybeanz]

Mine is considering it as she is doing a project based foundation course at the moment.
I'm told it's very time consuming, lots needed outside the classroom, but I suppose the boards differ.
I can't get mine to think about hers and the school aren't pushing, so we have plenty of time yet.

[Littledrummergirl]

Dd(yr8) is choosing hers at the moment. She will be doing English x2, maths, triple science(double as standard plus one of her choices ). She is considering French, geography and either pe or food tech. She does a sport and has competed at national level, has been selected for the county for the last three years so pe should be a good subject for her except that her sport isn't on the curriculum and she is so serious about her sport that potentially it cause a huge amount of stress and do more harm than good.
Food tech will give her something to enjoy.

Her school also do a computing course and expect them to do RE. Dd isn't thrilled about that but I have said I will withdraw her in a couple of years if she likes but she has to try it first.

Ds1 took Latin gcse a couple of years ago.

[LoniceraJaponica]

Littledrummergirl you don't have to be county level at sport to do PE.
The spec for AQA GCSE PE here covers a lot of biology, and includes 2 written papers and a practical performance. The written work accounts for 60% of the marks.

When DD was considering her GCSE options the paragraph abut PE in the booklet that her school provided started of with "if you don't like writing essays then GCSE PE is not for you"

[Littledrummergirl]

Hi lonicera, [wave]. It's more to with her expectations, she has little confidence in her abilities, has been telling us she's rubbish at whichever subject we are chatting about only for us to find out at parents evening she's top set in every set subject!
It won't take much to knock her belief in her sporting abilities but I suspect that if she doesn't do as well as she feels she should in the subject then she may turn her back on it as she will believe she has failed. I want her to continue to get enjoyment from sport.
In the meantime if anyone has any suggestions on how to instill self confidence and belief in her that would be ace.

[KingscoteStaff]

Littledrummergirl are you sure that your DD's sport isn't accepted for GCSE PE?

My DD (year 9) is planning to take it and I was looking through the spec last night - the children have to offer one team sport, one individual sport and a third of their own choice. The list is very long and included a few I knew nothing about!

With regard to the confidence, team sports (and the support from her friends/coaches) has been the best confidence builder for DD. She sees girls around her playing at a higher level but at the same time she can see her own improvement within a training session or a season. I also think it is because she gets a regular endorphin high from her training, which helps with the usual teenage/puberty moods!

[Lilyray89]

Thanks soursprout

We do live in the village so she could stay after school easily. A lot of her friends are doing it aswell so she’d have sometime to work with.

[Littledrummergirl]

Kingscote, thank you. Yes I've signed the petition to have it reinstated, it's a shame for her but is what it is. It's a bit frustrating but she'll get over it.