Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

GCSE options School saying DS HAS to take Spanish - he hates it!

80 replies

Jungfraujoch · 11/02/2019 19:28

So DS Yr 9 choosing options. OPTION being the key word here!

Top 2 sets in Spanish have to take it as an option. Sets below can choose whether they do or dont.

He is in the second set, hates it, doesn’t think he should be in that set anyway as he struggles.

He has chosen Product Design, Business and Geography. Instead of Spanish he’d like to do a Level 2 BTECH in Creative Digital Media but has been told not possible alongside Product Design as too much coursework!

My thinking is he will work much harder at Digital Media than Spanish.

We are waiting for the school to respond further but am interested to hear other people’s thoughts and experiences. Thank you

OP posts:
Alarae · 11/02/2019 19:36

When I was at school they made us do French or German at GCSE. We did both up to Y9. No getting out of it unfortunately, so I envy the lower sets at your sons school!

Bloody hated it as well although I can still remember how to tell someone I like football (and I don't...)

Bestseller · 11/02/2019 19:43

My DS was forced to take a language and now (in year 11) the school want him to withdraw for the sake of their results to give him more time to work on English. Honestly, why would you force a child who's going to struggle to pass English to take another language?

Anyway, given my time again, I would definitely fight harder for DS, at the time I felt duty bound to support the school but I have since realised that almost all the advice they give is in their interests, not the child's. Not their fault, it's the system they have to work in but I wouldn't blindly follow it again.

youarenotkiddingme · 11/02/2019 19:48

My son was allowed to drop languages.
He has 1:1 in English!

I don't think they should be forced as many will not 'use it' but will use another subject because it's a field they will study beyond school.

However - schools have timetables for GCSE. So sometimes they do have to follow a subject they aren't keen on to fit into a timetable. It has to be that way. They can't have 1-200 students all on individual timetables!

Oliversmumsarmy · 11/02/2019 20:01

I was made to do 2 languages and a load of other O Levels I didn’t want to do and had no interest in and failed the lot

clary · 11/02/2019 20:32

I taught MFL and utterly love my subject but I would much rather teach a, weaker student who was keen than one with more ability who wanted to be elsewhere.

Options is not relevant really tho, there are a number of non-optional subjects at any school. A mate of DS2's only had one choice after compulsory Eng, maths, science, French and humanity.

My Ds2 had two choices so yours is doing pretty we with three. But yes, I would push it with school if he feels that strongly, tho MFL GCSE is more worthwhile than media BTEC IMHO.

spinn · 11/02/2019 20:40

It's all about the statistics. Taking a Language will mean the Ebacc is achieved which is part of school rankings for league tables.

That's why they are forcing top two sets.

Original poster
Jungfraujoch · 11/02/2019 20:59

Thank you all for your comments. I completely get that there are timetables/ targets etc to be met but for my DS to endure 2 years of a subject he hates and for the sake of being in the ‘wrong’ set just seems ridiculous.

They may let him do History alongside Geography but not ideal as Geography is his first choice there.

Anyone got experience of how big the coursework load is for the BTECH Digital Media and Product Design? Is it manageable?

OP posts:
TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince · 11/02/2019 21:07

Product Design is 50% coursework.

It is easily doable. The issue with coursework is this:

If your ds keeps up with deadlines and is good with time management then he will be fine.

If he leaves it all to the end he won’t be fine. Coursework takes place from June in Y10 to March of Y11. So quite a long time.

Can’t help with digital media but Btec are all coursework based. If he’s organised he should be fine. If he is a procrastinator then again he will struggle. Coursework sadly isn’t always about ability. It’s about time management and organisation.

Dermymc · 11/02/2019 21:11

I think you will struggle to get school to agree unless it works with their option blocks.

If your son is unmotivated then BTECs won't be great for him. Students have to be self motivated to complete the coursework and often students aren't. An MFL option may turn out to be "easier" depending on your sons strengths.

alldayeveryday86 · 11/02/2019 21:12

It's because of progress 8. Only certain subjects fit into the 'buckets', he will likely be made to do either history or geography too.

In reality, you only get to choose 2 maybe 3 subjects depending on your school. Most schools make it so that students have limited choice but have to do a gcse that would satisfy each bucket. If they have multiple GCSEs that qualify for the bucket, the one with the best grade gets used.

Babygrey7 · 11/02/2019 22:19

My son is in y11, no languages, no geography or history either

He is doing 2 tech subjects (design and tech and food tech), music and computing as his options, and it IS a lot of coursework, so he is quite busy right now. But it does not seem unmanageable.

He also accepts it was his choice to do so many subject that require coursework, so he accepts it and just goes to the extra sessions after school for these subjects.

So far so good (fingers crossed)

I am all for letting kids choose the options they want, my DS would never have put in so much effort for a language as he does for design and tech!

Talk to the school again!

Babygrey7 · 11/02/2019 22:21

The progress 8 thing is funny, DS comp scored very high on that, yet is flexible about kids who do not fit the ebacc mould

cantkeepawayforever · 11/02/2019 22:24

In reality, you only get to choose 2 maybe 3 subjects depending on your school

DC's good comprehensive has 5 choices....

They are 'real' choices, too, not 'history or geography'. Most subjects appear in several option blocks so a huge range of combinations is possible. DS did 2 humanities, 2 languages and a practical subject; DD does 2 languages, 1 humanity and 2 art / Design Tech options.

youarenotkiddingme · 11/02/2019 22:32

Yes ds school are good at options. Think he had 4. Can't remember there being many stipulations - but he had 4 columns and had to choose 1 from each of those. Luckily he managed to work it so he choose 4 he liked - I'm sure others may have found it had limitations for them.

Iirc the only thing they had to do was choose a humanity.

So he's doing Eng, science and maths. (Compulsory) Computing, technical drama, statistics/FSMQ and geography.

GColdtimer · 11/02/2019 22:37

Can I just ask a question @spinn about the ebacc - dd is bring pushed to do a language do she will have the ebacc - she is being told it will help her get into a RG university. Is this true or is it just about their stats? She wants to do history, RE/ethics, psychology and drama but they are pressuring her to take Spanish as one of her options.

Would love some advice

clary · 11/02/2019 23:03

No the Ebacc is not required for any university. it's just a measure schools are judged by.

That said, I am in favour of a spread of subjects and all of mine have done a humanity and a language. A mate of DD's (at school elsewhere) did art, drama, sociology and dance as her options which I would not have been very happy about (and I am surprised the school allowed it -this is only two years ago!)

SnapesGreasyHair · 11/02/2019 23:13

A friend of mine had the same issue that the subjects her DD had the "option" of were not what she wanted to do. So they de-registered her and enrolled her at a college so she could do the subjects.

GColdtimer · 11/02/2019 23:24

Thanks clary that was my feeling. I think her choices are good and are all subjects she is predicted to do well in.

gleegeek · 11/02/2019 23:46

Don't do history if theyre not super keen!!!! It's so much work - I'm not sure if theyre actually goung to complete all the topics by gcse time. Dd works really hard, does all her h/w etc and is going to a 90min extra class after school each week. It is mega! For those who hate history it must be completely soul destroying.

ChangedMyName4This1 · 11/02/2019 23:57

Instead of Spanish he’d like to do a Level 2 BTECH in Creative Digital Media but has been told not possible alongside Product Design as too much coursework!
This is exactly what my dd has chosen expect she dropped French for it. The Btech is not heavy going at all , her school even told her it’s so she doesn’t get overwhelmed due to her asd. So she is doing Product design , creative media and Geography.

ChangedMyName4This1 · 11/02/2019 23:58

Dd is set one forgot to say.

WanderingDaffodil · 12/02/2019 00:04

Progress8 doesn't require MFL, but EBacc does.
Stand firm. If it's a big enough school they should be able to be flexible.

amidaiwas · 12/02/2019 08:30

You have two battles here

  1. your ds doesn't want to do spanish
  2. he wants to do a combination they're not keen on.

I'd seperate the two issues.

  • they should let him drop spanish considering they only make 2 sets do it anyway
  • it may not be possible timetable wise to do his preferred subjects. Find out if this is the case.
Oliversmumsarmy · 12/02/2019 22:51

A mate of DD's (at school elsewhere) did art, drama, sociology and dance as her options which I would not have been very happy about

I suppose it depends what the girl wants to do.

If she is trying for a dance school then History, Science or a MFL wouldn’t mean much

BarbarianMum · 13/02/2019 08:17

At the end of the day they cant make him take Spanish. You and he just have to keep saying "no". What they then offer him is a separate issue.