Too IT heavy? GCSE's

[pansycake]

DD wants to do the following GCSE's;

Compulsory
Maths
English Language
English Literature
Combined Science
RE

Then her additional choices would be;
Citizenship
Computer Science
IT
Business

Using PE OR Media as a back up in case she can't get a place on one of her choices.

Wants to study politics & law at A level and college confirmed she doesn't need history for this.

God fit!?Meant good fit....

GCSE PE is done by all the naughty boys (and some naughty girls) at my school and at DS's school. I am sure Citizenship is done by open minded, thoughtful and reflective people

Really judgey!! Alternatively the school / teachers has failed to engage these pupils and then dumped them all out of the way in PE?

PE (both GCSE and A level) at my children’s school is taken by students who go on to very challenging subjects at elite universities. There is a strong science element to the course.

I did say at my school!! And at my DS's school.

These boys were definitely not dumped there : they chose it. We don't do dumping at my school.

I know it sounds judgy but as a parent I would look into those things (about ANY subject). I wish I had known just how bad things were in sociology before I let DS1 take it at GCSE. He dropped it within a term and that had consequences.

I know I'd rather my children do PE than citizenship. RS has an ethics component if that's what's she's into

and I am aware of the strong science element, as that is what some students struggle with, or get bored with depending on what their expectations have been on the subject before they took it. I definitely don't think there is anything wrong with the SUBJECT. I have taught tow 'dumping ground' A level subjects myself and love both of them.

ChoudeBruxelles
Who said they were an easy option?

I said our more disengaged students tend to do DT and BTECs. It's an observation about the trend at my school.

BTECs work better for those students in my school because it is assessed as they go and are more practical. With GCSEs that cohort have a tendancy to try and piss around because in their eyes none of the lessons "count" and then they end up underperforming, struggle witu terminal exams because they have pissed around for years and then in y11 end up in intervention left, right and centre trying to drag them through maths abd english. Oh and then at March of y11 when they are STILL under in almost all their subjects they start panicing because 'i need a C/5 for my apprenticeship/College place' and start talking aboit how 'if i don't get into college it's because this school is shit'. Thrn they tend to get pulled from PE, pulled from tutorial, intervention during registration, even pulled from some options in a high resourced push to drag them through.
So yes, we steer them to BTECs because that particular cohort are a monumental drain on school resources which (in my opinion) should be spent on hardworking students who with a bit of extra could real excel (think gettijg a C gradr student a B or a disadvantaged student the extra help yo get an A*)

I think that swapping ICT for Geography was s good idea. A lot of human geography knowledge can be used for politics/economics etc later

RE Short Course was compulsory at my kids school before the new curriculum started. The m

Going back to Government and Politics A Level- the entry requirements to take it at my children’s school is 7-9 in History and / or English so, at tge risk of sounding very much like a stuck record any / all subjects which develop writing / analytical skills at GCSE are to be encouraged.

That must be a grammar school / very high achieving surely??

That entry requirement exceeds any at my school! For politics it is a 4 in English . Hums subject preferred but not required.

Thanks all. The Citizenship is a non negotiable, it's the one thing she really loves and given she is now doing geography (phew) I am happy with that.

Her sister is doing Geography, MFL and PE at GCSE, she has found PE is full of really irritating boys that took it as they thought it was easy and then had a reality check, unlike her who has a genuine interest in the subject.

Yes it’s a Grammar but I thought it was interesting that they viewed Politics very much on the humanities side (it is taught by 2 of the history teachers) with the entry requirements whereas Economics and Business ask for (7-9 in Maths) so very much not in the humanities camp. (To gain entry to 6th form students need a minimum average grade of 6.5 across all GCSEs taken).

I did Politics at a red brick uni. Just looked online and they require AAB now to do the course.

At GCSE I did the usual core subjects, music, geography, latin, drama and German. Alevels I did German, geography and English literature.

As a teacher I try to dissuade students from being too heavy on anything unless they definitely want to go down that career path. Does your dd want to work in IT? With regards to Politics, they like a mix of subjects according to the uni I went to.

Namechange: you had two facilitating subjects though and one was an MFL which the op’s DD isn’t doing at GCSE. Lots of Politics students have History A level and plenty will have Politics A level these days. Both are essay subjects and if you have not done History GCSE, you are on the back foot. The A levels leading on from these GCSEs do not scream a degree in Law or Politics at a competitive university due to A level choices being compromised.

As there are no AS levels, many universities are now placing some weighting on GCSEs. It’s the only exam results they have.

@Piggywaspushed
I wish I had known just how bad things were in sociology before I let DS1 take it at GCSE
Do you mean the behaviour is bad in Sociology? Dd is interested in doing it as well as 9 more traditional subjects.

No typically, no : there were just big problems at DS school with a teacher who never turned up and a HOD who didn't give a shit. He swapped to French and got an A so that bit turned out OK in the end! I think sociology teachers often only teach that and are either very committed and expert or are not really cut out for secondary school kids!

I would have really liked to have done sociology myself!

Thanks Piggy. So would I

At DCs school GCSE PE is usually taken by students that participate a lot in school sports teams and also do a lot of extra curricular stuff. It’s not generally an option for the ‘naughty kids’ who haven’t bothered to bring in their PE kit for the last 2 years.