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Secondary education

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

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Original poster

If your DC got a top grade in GCSE Physical Education ...

16 replies

randomnameforrandomQ · 03/09/2019 15:19

... do they play 2 sports at County level?

I'm asking because our school only does BTec PE, not GCSE. When I asked the reason why they said it was partly because the GCSE reforms had made it very difficult to get the higher grades, and that students would realistically need to play 2 sports at County level in order to be in with any chance of achieving an 8/9. (It's a small school so possibly they could only choose one or the other and decided to go for the one that would be more inclusive across the ability range).

OP posts:

berlinbabylon · 03/09/2019 15:27

Not sure about GCSE but I did hear it was like this for A level. To get an A* you'd need to be running as fast as Mo Farah.

cricketballs3 · 03/09/2019 16:24

From what our PE dept have said (they run OCR tech as well as GCSE) they have also reduced the list of acceptable sports as well as the theory being even more difficult scientifically than it was - it wasn't easy to begin with.

I know that the only 9 grade they have got since the new spec started was a county player in one sport and close to county in the other as well as being a very, very bright and hardworking student

cptartapp · 03/09/2019 16:28

My son's friend got an 8 this year, 4 marks off a 9. He doesn't play any sport at county level his mum is one of the SLT at the school though

Justgivemesomepeace · 03/09/2019 16:49

My dd got a 7 and plays sport to the same level as her friend who got a 9. Both got close to top marks for the physical aspect. Neither play for the county in any sport. They are both however excellent netballers. The school scored them based on a team sport and individual sport. In her case climbing which she has no experience in. Just a few lessons with school. Invigilators came in and confirmed the schools scores. You can submit a video but we didnt. The difference in her and her friends scores was due to the written exam. Her friend is very academic. Dd is reasonable.
She is now doing A level PE. All that is required is that they play a sport to club level. All lessons are theory. No practical at all. The physical element is 15% and taken from reports from club coaches and what college assess in them playing for the college teams.
So overall I would say that the academic/theory is far more important and the physical aspect, as long as you are reasonably able, doesn't carry too much weight.
College are advising that it is quite a tough choice but due to the science aspect, which people underestimate.

WhatHaveIFound · 03/09/2019 16:52

DS will be starting GCSE PE next week and doesn't play any sport at county level. The school doesn't think this will be a problem as he represents the school at two sports and will be adding a third next year.

Lougle · 03/09/2019 16:54

For GCSE PE at DD's school, they say they must be participating in competitive sport.

Runworkeatsleeprepeat · 03/09/2019 21:45

I've got twin sons in year 10 both doing GCSE PE neither play any sport at county level. They have been advised to pick more obscure sports for their practical e.g rock climbing, handball etc as it is easier to get higher marks in these. They are both doing well especially in the theory as they are good at science, the theory is very science based. One is on track for 7/8 other 6/7.

CasparBloomberg · 03/09/2019 21:47

We asked our school lots of questions about this as ds1 now doing GCSE PE. They are required to take 3 sports and each sport is worth a maximum 10% of total marks. The theory exam is then worth the remaining 70%.
Ds1 competes at national level in 1 sport and has little spare time due to the amount of training. He is just starting 2 other sports to meet the practical requirement. The school thought this would be okay as he's strong at science and it's weighted so heavily towards the exam now over the practical element.
I could only find 2018 Edexcel grade boundaries online and it appeared 67% was needed for a Grade 7.

BloodyhellMartha · 03/09/2019 21:55

Cptartapp - you do actually realise Exam papers are anonymously marked by the exam board, don't you? And that your son's friend got 4 marks off a 9 on his own merits? His mother being SLT had fuck all to do with it despite your sly suggestion. The exam board will neither know not care who his mother is.

clary · 04/09/2019 00:32

Ds got an 8 and does athletics at county level but not footy nor table tennis. In fact table tennis he only does at school. His mate a
do got an 8 and only does athletics outside school, so his other two sports were both done in school. He's a county level athlete too.

He's doing A level and was told his discus throws (in yr 11) were already at a good level, and he's no Sandra Perkovic (yes I know she's a woman, but she could certainly whip his ass!). No need to be Mo Farah.

Yy A level PE is basically science, DS is also doing biology so...

cptartapp · 04/09/2019 07:10

Who assesses the practical aspect?

Justgivemesomepeace · 04/09/2019 08:46

School assess it. Then examiners come in, watch the kids partaking in sport and moderate the teachers scores from that I think.

clary · 04/09/2019 09:30

It depends as well what sport. Ds's athletics results were externally verified and then that translated into a mark, based on the time or distance or height.

I agree, nowt to do with SLT

LoveGrowsWhere · 04/09/2019 12:04

DS took part in a session for moderators in yr10. Wasn't an actual assessment of him.

I think some of it depends on the sport. DS's school has a lot of good cricketers but they steer them away from that as difficult to score well for GCSE. Even the county playing son of a member of SLT!

Theflying19 · 04/09/2019 12:43

Club level not county. One of my daughters did Btech although she wanted to do PE gcse but school didn't offer it. She didn't find it a waste of time. And was quite glad to have the exam at a different time from the others.

CH103987 · 04/09/2019 20:21

You need three strong sports and willing to wrote learn a fairly basic syllabus

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