How many GCSEs?

[m0therofdragons]

Dd goes to secondary next year. She's very academic. We have 2 school options but one has £1000 a year transportation cost and she's not certain if gaining a space.

School one: can walk but only allows dc to take 8 GCSEs

School two: needs bus and allows up to 11 GCSEs

I took 11 but I went to a grammar school which isn't an option here. Can anyone advise if it matters? Seems a big difference to me.

If someone wants to do triple science then it comes out of one of their option blocks.

I hope that's the case at my DD's school, because I agree that 11-13 GCSEs are too much... my DD is bright, but lazy. So, I need her to be able to use her time wisely. Quality over quantity.

If RE is compulsory as a GCSE you could always use your right to withdraw. Schools have to teach RE nothing to say how often or that it has to be examined.

Is this true...? How do I go about withdrawing?
My DD's school just presented a list of mandatory subjects (Maths, Eng Lit, Eng Lang, Sci x 2, RE, PSHE, RE, Info tech, 1 x humanities, 1 x MFL), plus 2 option blocks.
No info was given on the possibility of withdrawing from RE - this was only available for PE

FYI - we chose options were chosen in Year 8 - my DD has just started year 9

I always think end your child where they will be happy.

School is about more than GCSEs. Also with the changes the numbers taken may go up or down at any school as the teachers get used to new grades and predicting grades.

Also how long will it take her to get to each school? If it's an hour a day on transport that's an hour she could be using for sleep, study or clubs.

Students can also, sometimes take a GCSE with another provider eg an FE college. Where I am the local girls' school teaches Japanese, boys who want to learn attend evening classes.

Yes, some children who do more art subjects will take double science instead of triple. But it would be good not to be restricted to, or pushed towards, double science from the very start. Best for the student to make up their own mind.

I know many DC who comfortably took 10 or 11 GCSEs this year and achieved good grades, moving on to take A levels in the subjects they excel at. I also know of some DC who took 8 GCSEs in a different school and many did not achieve good grades. Those students were "advised" by the school which subjects to take at BTEC and A level. It really depends on the school, the quality of and the retention of teachers.

If you remove your DC from RE they may not be given another subject in place. They may just be given study time. It is not hard to get a reasonable grade in RE.

I think 9 or 10 is about right. DS will be doing 11 as he’s doing triple science (they do it in the same amount of time as double award science)

I don’t mind my DD going to RE lessons, I just want to reduce the number of exams she has to take... especially in a woolly subject like RE (and PSHE).

Can I just say that RE is most definately not a wooly subject. Dd took it at GCSE and achieved Grade 9 and is taking it at A level. It is a challenging course requiring good essay skills to be able to construct philosphical arguments.

Dd excels in it. There is no way on earth ds would ever pass it.

My DD won't excel in it - she isn't that great at essay writing, which is why it would've been dropped it as a subject if she was able to do so.

It's also why she switched her choice of History GCSE (loves the subject) to Geography, on advice of her History teacher - as she said Geography is more factual writing.

Dd is taking 9, double science, maths, English x 2, Spanish, RE, classics and drama.

She's aiming for good grades, a levels and a good uni.

RE is not woolly. Its really interesting. Think of as philosophy and ethics!

Gosh RS is really vigorous subject. One of the best for learning to develop an argument.

maz99. Pity she had to change to Geography from History if she loves History.

RE is not woolly, it is a good subject in its own right, but with a reasonable amount of work you can get a decent grade, as I said before. To get a 9 in it you would have to work very hard. Just as with all subjects in the reformed GCSEs.

A lot of schools take the short course in RE.

From Dept of Ed website:

"Religious education
Schools have to teach RE but parents can withdraw their children for all or part of the lessons. Pupils can choose to withdraw themselves once they’re 18.
Local councils are responsible for deciding the RE syllabus, but faith schools and academies can set their own."

Depends if the extra 3 subjects give real choice. Not necessarily the case if compulsory RE, science x3 and Further Maths make up the difference.

Triple science is far more useful than RE and PHSE

Not necessarily. RS or RE is a great subject, really makes them think and combines History, Philosophy, even bits of Geography.

My oldest dd was in the top set for Science and was due to take triple. She decided in January to drop to the dual award so she ended up with 9 GCSEs instead of 10, which is plenty in my opinion. Her reasoning - she wasn't doing Science A Levels, the triple course ended much later in the year leaving little time for revision and she thought it better to go for quality rather than quantity. It was definitely the right choice for her - she got AA for the dual award

My middle dd is at a different school where they all do triple. She also isn't doing Science A Levels and doesn't see the point in triple. Everyone does 11 subjects and dd is stressed.

9 or 10 is enough IMO.

It's true about RE, they don't have to do it, you can withdraw.
Some schools don't teach it at all, mine has never done it, apart from primary.

RE is s great course, including lots of philosophy.

It's no problem to include Triple Science as well as RE within 10 GCSEs:

3 Sciences
2 English
Maths
Foreign Language
Humanity (eg RE)
Art/Music
Another option (eg Computer Science or History)

RE isn't a facilitating or an Ebac subject though, whereas History and Geography are.

So what? Universities accept it for pretty much anything essay based.

Ebacc only matter for government measures, so not an issue.
Facilitating only matters for A levels, so not an issue.

Some schools (e.g one of the schools in my town) play fast and loose with the 'withdraw from RE', basically enabling parents to sign to withdraw on the GCSE options form.
Others continue with RE but not giving it the hours a full GCSE gets, so withdrawing from it doesn't enable an additional GCSE.

Our school used to do short course RE end y10 as a 'taster'. I don't know if it still does (awaiting options evening in Jan).

So what? The choices are already narrow for a 14 year old and the broader the range of fac subjects the more options are left open for as long as possible. If a student is capable of doing 11 just for the fun of it, including RE, then all well and good. If they are limited to 8 either by school dictat or of necessity to maximise grades then RE would not be my priority.
(I studied Theology at Uni. Having GCSE RE would have made absolutely no difference to getting onto the course or performance once there).

Facilitating only matters for A levels

I agree, but if the GCSE facilitating choices are too narrow and / or there has been a change in direction then the facilitating choices left available for A level may well be sub-optimal.

GCSEs aren't all about getting to university though.
For the 50% that aren't heading that way, dual science is plenty of science, and RE (at least the short course DD1 did) gets you to learn and think about the beliefs of others, how to be tolerant etc. Actually, for anyone off to university but not doing science, dual science is plenty too.

So for general life RE is arguably way 'more useful' than the extra bit between dual & triple science, and just as useful as History or Geography.

One of mine is much more interested in RE than History so she chose it instead. She's still allowed to do history a level at her school as the topics they cover are completely different from gcse to a level but RE asks for similar essay skills. She's doing RE, History and one other for A level