Small disaster with GCSE options for next year

[JoanCallamezzo]

DD (yr 9) was told yesterday that school can’t accommodate her GCSE options now that they have worked out the timetable – she can’t do Geography, History and Art together and has to drop one. She loves (and is pretty good at) all 3 but is most committed to Art and Geography, so it looks like she’ll have to drop History. However, the only alternatives she’s been offered are Music (she doesn’t even play an instrument), Photography (not allowed in combination with Art), 3 vocational non-GCSE courses (Hospitality, Child Development, Health - none of which are right for DD) and Sociology (which is the only viable option but DD has zero interest in it and I feel it is quite limiting as a subject compared to the breadth and scope offered by History).

We are deeply disappointed and feel that DD, who works hard, and was on track for good grades in all three of her choices, is being let down quite badly by the school. She's really upset and stressed. It is being presented as a fait accompli and DD was told she had to decide by today (we have asked for more time and for a meeting to discuss.)

Has anybody managed to resolve a situation like this or do we just have to suck it up and find a way to help DD feel happy about Sociology and less sad about dropping History?! Any ammunition for our meeting next week would be great, as would opinions on Sociology over History at GCSE!

Mistigri The thing is that Geography is her strongest subject - she's consistently getting 8s and 9s in assessments, plus she's really, really interested in it.

I'm taking on board the comments about Art being such a time-eater, and while this is definitely a concern I do think it's important for DD to choose a subject that she really loves. The art room at school is a real sanctuary for her and I can see that being really good for her over the next couple of years.

EatsFarts (best name) That's such a good idea about looking at the text book. I'm thinking I might try and get her to have a chat with the Sociology teacher too, although he really didn't seem all that inspiring at the options evening so it might not encourage her much!

Meredith12 Great to hear your daughter is finding Sociology so interesting, thanks!

Someoneonlyyouknow 'If the school are unable to change what they have offered then try to be positive going forward and make the best of it for your DD's sake. Don't dwell on what might have been.' - Wise words and exactly what I will try to do, thank you!

But at this stage, the OP's DD is only taking Geography for GCSE - plenty of time yet to decide to take / not to take any of her GCSE subjects at degree level. Or to find that she is actually a lot better at Maths than she thinks (friend's DD is currently half way through a Maths degree, certainly having given no inkling that this was ever likely to happen at any point in KS3).

Another vote for Sociology as a substitute for History here, btw.

I think the big problem is only 8 GCSEs. This isn’t allowing any wriggle room. She should be able to do the subjects she wants and no decent academic candidate should have to put up with BTecs instead of History. Sociology isn’t a substitute for History. History A level is far more useful than Sociology for all sorts of courses. Schools that narrow down aspiration suck! They need a policy rethink! I would make an appointment to see a senior member of staff. This choice just isn’t good enough. If she might want History A level, as she’s not science oriented, she’s shouting herself in the foot and the school has provided the gun! It’s not good enough.

shooting obviously!

Bubbles
a) She is doing French as well, so 9.
b) She could do History if she were willing to drop Art.

I would steer her away from art if you possibly can.
DD (now Yr 12) loves art (still does and she is good at it) but 'time eater' is probably an under statement. It took so much of her time that she says if she could chose again she would steer well clear. She still sketches and paints in her down time - but no way would she do it for A Level.
This sentiment was shared by all of her peers with the exception of 2 who decided not to do A Levels but went directly to art school and do an art foundation course - they realised that art and 2 other A Levels would be hard.
So my advice- keep it as a hobby!

For balance, we've actually got a DS who spends a lot of his free time producing artwork and has just completed his GCSE (and, barring a totally unexpected 5 or below, will be doing it for A level) and is predicted none of his other 10 GCSE subjects below a grade 7 / A. So yes, Art GCSE does take up a fair amount of time - it is one of the curriculum subjects with the most lunchtime sessions provided at his school - but how much it impacts on anything else does, to some extent, depend upon the individual.

Playing Devil's advocate here, one might argue that no-one actually has to be able to dissect poems and novels (and I'm willing to bet it's not what an awful lot of authors had in mind when they wrote them), so why not make Eng. Lit. an optional subject, given how much time all that reading can take up?

Bubbles Yes, Teen is correct, she's doing 9 - but all the other subjects are compulsory/core ones, including a MFL and dual science - and even if there was an option to drop one of those it still wouldn't help with freeing up an optional subject.

Your post sums up my instant reaction when I found out the news, but actually having read the many posts on here advocating for Sociology, I'm feeling a lot better about it as an option for DD - whether she will be talked around to feeling the same is another story! I'm still going to push back and point out how limiting the alternative options are though.

MarchingFrogs Agreed about English Lit – DD's school actually take it a year early, at the end of Y10, because it's such a huge workload – so she's already half-way through the curriculum and I've been stunned at how much more work it is than in my day! Can't believe how much they are expected to learn off by heart - I'm sure we were allowed to take our texts in with us back in the 90s!

Bpisok Noted - although I still don't think it would be fair to steer her away from Art. I'm definitely preparing for it to be a slog after the advice on this thread though!

History A level is far more useful than Sociology for all sorts of courses.

Lots of PPs saying history A level is not necessarily off the table. Also I'm not sure that is true for OP's DD. If she wanted to do a degree in English or History then I'd agree, but a lot of social science degrees are subjects that aren't necessarily studied at GCSE - economics, politics, international relations, philosophy, psychology. Sociology GCSE would be a reasonable dip of the toe in this kind of area which may well be an excellent fit for her. This is about choosing her 9th GCSE at the end of the day.

If she took history, geography she could drop art and take photography couldn't she?

Would she consider that with photography still being a creative subject?

Sociology is very interesting (and not dissimilar to RS which she was prepared to do.)

Marching, schools are reluctant to make English Literature optional due to the weighting it has in Progress 8 measures. (These affect how as school is perceived by the government as progressing.) Some colleges will also accept a 4 in Literature in lieu of a 4 in Language. This worked in favour of one of my pupils last year.

StationView

Yes, I'm fully aware of why a school would be reluctant to drop Eng. Lit, hence my Playing Devil's advocate... I was merely pointing put that it could be seen as an alternative to Art in the 'you don't want to take that, look how much time you have to devote to it, it's something you should just do as a hobby' stakes.

DecomposingComposers I'm definitely going to look more into the Photography/History combination as a possible solution although I don't think she'd buy it sadly. Photography seems to be a very separate subject to Art in the school – different location, different staff etc. Plus she's been really encouraged to choose Art over Photography at this stage by my sister who did an art foundation followed by Photography degree (not that DD will follow the same route necessarily, just that my sister says it's better to have an overall grounding in art at this stage rather than diversify, which I think is probably right).

If she is doing 2 science subjects already, why not pick Health?

julesanor Because she is not in the least bit interested in health and fitness. It’s offered as a vocational alternative to a GCSE course and not recommended if DD wants to study A-levels in the sixth form. So would definitely not be the right choice for her.

I did History A Level without the GCSE and it was fine - two completely different periods of history though check.

If she's not planning on taking Art further than GCSE I would encourage Geography, History, Photography - I did art GCSE and it was enjoyable but think photography would be good to learn to if she enjoys that. After that would go for Geography, Art, Sociology.

Because she is not in the least bit interested in health and fitness. It’s offered as a vocational alternative to a GCSE course and not recommended if DD wants to study A-levels in the sixth form

What a load of rubbish. It's a BTEC. If she's taking 8 other gcses she will be able to do whatever she wants at 6th form.

Health and social care BTEC is probably far more academic than photography GCSE!

Fazackerley I was actually paraphrasing the school's GCSE options booklet! It's also not a 'Health and Social Care BTEC'. Also, how on earth can it be a 'load of rubbish' that DD is simply not interested in it? Your post is not particularly constructive or helpful!

Thanks Penguinpandarabbit - will definitely check the option of doing History A level.

If she's not interested in it then of course don't do it. But to suggest doing one non GCSE subject would mean your dd wouldn't be prepared for 6th form IS rubbish.

She's currently not doing any essay based subjects except for English. So on that basis alone, if she wants to do history a level she should drop art and do history.

Dd2 is doing history a level having not done it at GCSE but her school would only let her do it as she is doing RS and Classical Civ GCSE so has the essay writing experience.

Sociology (which is the only viable option but DD has zero interest in it and I feel it is quite limiting as a subject compared to the breadth and scope offered by History).

I am scratching my head over what you could possibly mean by that.

I have degrees in both, took A-levels in both (if that's something your DD is likely to want to do, that does merit further discussion now), loved both for similar reasons and see lots of parallels.

Of course they're different subjects, with different content and methodology but I'm bemused by your "scope" comments.

We are deeply disappointed and feel that DD, who works hard, and was on track for good grades in all three of her choices, is being let down quite badly by the school. She's really upset and stressed. It is being presented as a fait accompli and DD was told she had to decide by today (we have asked for more time and for a meeting to discuss.)

She's not "being let down badly". It's annoying but it happens. You say that they've drawn up the blocks in response to demand, rather than ahead of time, which is evidence that they're trying to cater to preferences as much as possible. It's almost inevitable that someone is disappointed.

And it is disappointing, of course, but try to project a sense of proportion to your DD.

She should prioritise what she loves most and what she thinks she'll need and what to study at A level.

Sociology is quite a good subject, it really developed my DDs essay writing skills.

Photography (along with Graphics, and sometimes Textiles) can sometimes lead to exactly the same GCSE as Art. This is why it is often a forbidden combination.

If your DD really can't do History, then if her school has a Sixth Form then do try to get something in writing saying she can still do it at A'level. (Not that there is any reason that she shouldn't be able to, it's just worthwhile getting this laid out now as they are not allowing her her choices.)

But to suggest doing one non GCSE subject would mean your dd wouldn't be prepared for 6th form IS rubbish.

Again Fazackerley, not my suggestion, but based on what the school options booklet says - I was paraphrasing before but here is the direct quote:

‘These courses have a smaller exam component and there is a greater emphasis on projects and completing assignments that are based on real world industry situations. We recommend these courses to students who wish to enter our Sixth Form on the mixed or vocational pathway.’ (By ‘mixed or vocational pathway’ they mean primarily studying vocational BTEC and CTEC courses in the sixth form rather than A levels.)

Thanks for the point about essay writing, which is definitely a consideration, and something I'll ask about in our meeting.