GCSE

[Applejack87]

Hi my dd is in an independant school year 9 . I haven’t got a clue about GCSE but have been told that she’ll need to start preparing to pick her subjects in Jan
Can anyone explain to me how many subjects can she select and what are they based on please

At ours there was a booklet issued summarising the content of each and which board. It is normal to take English x 2, Maths, Science , plus a mfl, humanity such as History, RS etc plus another typically making 8 or 9 although independents may offer more or an early one. To an extent your choices are only a start and you may find you have to choose preferences from a number of lists to fit timetabling needs.

Almost everywhere will mandate

• Maths
• English Lang & English Lit
• Combined Science (2 GCSEs)

Some schools will mandate for at least some pupils

• Separate sciences (3 GCSEs) in place of Combined
• At least one of History & Geography
• An MFL

Then there will be some free options.
These might be pick what you fancy, or they might be 'blocked' as in pick 1 from Column A, one from B etc.

If you have no idea how it's done then it is best to try to keep an open mind. No point getting excited to be dropping French and then find out it is mandatory.

These days it is between 8-11 subjects. Our comp has 9 as standard, 10 if doing separate sciences.

Mainly the advice is to pick subjects they enjoy and are reasonably able at, as they will be more likely to work hard and succeed at them. You'd expect those subjects to tie in with interests and aspirations anyway.

Art is well known to be a bit of a time eater if you have a child with perfectionist tendencies.
Drama or Dance (and maybe Music?) have reliance on other pupils to rehearse and perform with so that should be factored in.
Both PE and Food have a fair bit of science in them.

'Ebacc' was the compulsory subjects I listed at the top plus Hist/Geog + MFL and that still might be considered a broad range, but it doesn't suit everyone.

I personally think that for GCSEs the DC should pick but be guided by you. As in make sure they understand the implications of their choices and they aren't picking PE when they hate exercise, or whatever.

We had some discussions here which might be useful for you
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3724937-How-many-GCSE-subjects-to-take

You'll need to wait for information from the school really.
Every school has different policies around

• how many subjects they have to pick
• which subjects are compulsory
• what degree of choice they have

As Teen says I would expect all schools to mandate at least Maths, Englishx2, a humanity and at least 2 science GCSEs, but some schools also insist on a MFL, some schools insist on triple science (might be the case if you are at a highly selective independent), some schools insist on a "creative" subject, some schools give total free choice, some have fairly rigid option blocks ...

At the moment your DD should probably think about what she enjoys and would like to study further and what (if anything ) she might need to support future career aspirations e.g. if she wants to be a translator, she probably should take at least 1 language!

@Applejack87, you really need to talk to the school or look on their website to start.

At ours, there is a GCSE booklet on the website which explains everything.
E.g. different to some schools - mandatory to take one of a Science, MFL and Humanities.

You'll probably need 6/7 mandatory (over which you may have some choice (which sounds strange!), and then 3/4 options.

E.g. at our school a pupil could choose only 1 science and then loads of arty options; or 3 sciences and DT/Tech options.