How many gcse options does your school offer?

[Milicentbystander72]

I'm a School Governor (only been in place since April so still learning).

Our school currently offer 4 GCSE options to our students (as well as the normal Eng Lang & Lit, Maths and triple Science etc)
We normally manage to offer all the students all their choices. We don't force them into the Ebacc I.e don't insist on them choosing History/Geography and a language, although we do weight the options to encourage this. Our Ebacc uptake and success is fairly good but could be much better.
Overall, our attainment is around 70% of pupils achieving grade 5-9 in English, Maths. However our Progress 8 is below average.

We are a 'leafy' comp, very strong in the Arts serving a fairly MC/affluent area, however we border areas with lots more disadvantaged families. These students make up about a 1/4 of our student body.

Our Governing Body and SLT are currently discussing the possibility of reducing our number of GCSE options.
It's very early days (yet to have a full meeting about it).

However, in order to go with some gauge on how others do it, can I ask -

How many options does your school offer?
Do they weight the options to Ebacc?
Did the Arts options suffered and not taken as much or not encouraged?
If they changed from 8 to 7 (or less) Did it improve your academic results?
How do they present the options? Which subjects in which blocks/boxes.

Thanks.

Dc ( now year 12) did 11 but did one gcse in yr 9, 2 in year 10 and 8 in year 11.

They had to do a mfl
Then 6 core gcses
Then they had 4 choices of their own .

If anything, I would say the arts subjects benefitted from the early entry/ spread out system.
The school is a poorly performing state.

Between them the dc have attended 3 different schools. All three schools offer 9 GCSE's with 1 school offering 10 to top set maths as thy do Further Maths

School 1
Maths, English Lang, English Lit, Double Science (compulsory)
History, Geography or French (option column 1)
3 further option columns including the option to do triple science The take up of music, art & drama is very high as it's a specialist performing arts school.

School 2
Maths, English Lang, English Lit, Double Science (compulsory)
At least 1 option from History, Geography, German, Computer Science
3 free choice options including the option to do triple science and/or a Btec. Options are not organised into columns, its a completely free choice. Strong take up of art/technology subjects, small music department, no drama. Dance btec is offered as an alternative to Core PE.

School 3
Maths, English Lang, English Lit, Double Science, a Language (compulsory)
3 further option columns with the option to take triple science, a 2nd language or ebacc subjects.

This school is academically selective. It has a good take up of music and art atGCSE but has a strong extra curricular.

Remembering back dd's option columns (school 1) were

1. History; Geography; French
2. R.S.; Music; Drama; Food & Nutrition;
3. Music; Food & Nutrition; French; Business Studies; Art
4. Triple Science; Drama

Did the Arts options suffered and not taken as much or not encouraged?

This "suffering of the arts" agenda is frustrating. Our country needs more scientists and engineers, so generally speaking more students are being encouraged by government and industry to take STEM subjects. Obviously that means they will be taking fewer arts options, but it's addressing a long-standing imbalance that needs to be addressed. Next time your school struggles to recruit science/maths teachers, join the dots .... more students need to take STEM subjects so that we create more STEM teachers too.

At the school where I'm a governor we have no problem recruiting teachers for creative subjects, and no problem with students wanting to do their subjects, but in STEM there is a vicious circle ... difficulties getting good teachers leads to difficulties in inspiring students to take those subjects, which in turn leads to fewer potential STEM workers, including teachers. The arts subjects have profited from this in the past, and now they're having a disingenuous moan about Givernment/industry/schools trying to redress the balance just a little bit.

I've been shocked at how limited many schools are e.g. can' take Geography and History. Can't take two languages. Horrible that kids will have options cut off (or have to go back and catch up) because the schools don't have the resources to provide choice.

We have 8 (or 9 for triple science pupils) GCSEs at our school, this can still give a balance - for example if you want to do the EBacc.

English Language
English Literature
Maths
Geography
French
PE/Sports Science
Science 1
Science 2
(or physics/chemistry/biology if doing triple)

or if you don't you can replace the French with something different and do music, art, engineering, dance or a vocational course.

Unless you do triple science you get a choice from a range of enrichment activities - D of E is one, I don't know the others off the top of my head.

I've been shocked at how limited many schools are e.g. can' take Geography and History. Can't take two languages. Horrible that kids will have options cut off (or have to go back and catch up) because the schools don't have the resources to provide choice.
The ability to do history and geography is quite common. The only schools I've known who don't offer both are ones that have a much narrower curriculum at KS3 too or they're smaller schools with a humanities department rather than separate subjects because they don't have the scale to run two larger departments.

Not offering two MFL is fairly standard because even if all the soon to be MFL graduates went into teaching, there would still not be enough MFL teachers to ensure all students can study one language to GCSE, let alone two.
Schools have routine battles over MFL at options time with a substantial number of parents doing all they can to get their child out of doing a language.

Either way, one humanity or MFL and not two isn't going to make a difference to closing doors for students to be perfectly honest. You can take a new language up during first year of university without an A Level in it.

If people think 8/9 is bad, where we live in Scotland they can only take 6 subjects at Nat5’s! (Other “leafier” areas take up to 8.) I do worry that it must make applying to good unis (especially outwith) Scotland much more difficult, and widens the attainment gap. It also means that very few dc are able to take arts subjects, which has a knock on effect as to whether those courses are offered in subsequent years, and that would be my concern for you as well.

OP your existing plan seems fine. Lowering the options is letting down more able students. Do you really have to kow tow to league table metrics? I’m not convinced about the statistical rigour of P8 anyway. Ignoring the Ebacc is a good thing so your head is clearly enlightened enough to ignore that! Whether or not P8 makes any sense you could work instead on finding out how to Improve your value added without limiting the more able.

Bottle I've been shocked at how limited many schools are e.g. can' take Geography and History. Can't take two languages.

When people say have to pick one of History or geography and have to pick an MFL I think they generally don't mean only they just mean you pick one as you have to, but in your 'free' options you can often/generally pick the other as well.

@ColdTattyWaitingForSummer - just one of the educational reasons that we moved away from Scotland. The only way to do more than 6 in our area was to go private. The council dictated that no schools could offer more than 6, and the neighbouring councils did the same.

13 options I think.

Compulsory are 2 English, 3 science and maths.

Then another 4 from 13 including one modern language. Free choice and they arrange classes to make the combinations possible. Another maths also taken in higher sets.

Actually 4 from 14 with at least one foreign language.

Economics
Drama
Art
Latin
History
Greek
Ancient history
Music
Spanish
German
French
Computer science
Geography
Design technology

DS2's school were doing 10 GCSEs (6 core, 4 options) but have now gone down to 9 (3 options). DS2 was allowed to do an extra one (music) more or less self taught but with good support from the school so he actually took 11. No early GCSEs are taken.

DD's school do 9 within an option for certain pupils to do 10.

Mandatory English/lit/maths then double or triple science and then a free choice of 3 or 4 depending on which science they're doing (so all do 9 in the end)

Maths, the 2 english options, 3 sciences then they can choose:
history
computer science
Design tech
RE (optional)
Phys ed
geography
german
spanish
art
music

I teach in Wales.
They end up having GCSEs in

1. maths
2. numeracy
3. English Lang
4. English Lit
5. welsh
6. R.E (Catholic School)
7. Skills challenge (Welsh bac)

8&9 Double Science ( unless they choose triple, in which case they have one less option choice) Plus then free choice of 3 options (History, Geography, MFL, Music, Art etc etc.

12 GCSEs! It's crazy. Students are constantly stressed. Teachers are stressed as we never have enough curriculum time as they are squeezing so much in.

here are my schools subject options! there are no btecs offered (my school is a grammar school)
•

•part 2 of my message :3•
you do about 8-10 gcses
85% of kids do english literature
33% do further maths
teachers decide if you do english lit and further maths by using your december and june exam scores

here are the subjects!
compulsory
english language
maths (higher tier)
religious education
a language from spanish , latin , german and french (you can pick all 4 but you must do one!)
a science from biology, chemistry and physics (you can pick all three but you must do one)
then you can pick 4 of any of these subjects
art
biology
buisness studies
chemistry
computer science
drama
economics
french
geography
german
history
home economics
digital technology
latin
music
physical education
physics
spanish
technology
hope this helped •-•

My dc are at a selective independent. They take English x2, Maths, Science x3 (those who are struggling go to x2 in year 11 if required), modern foreign language and a free choice of 3 others.

@miaumiau - your list (and percentages of those doing Eng Lit & Further Maths) is scarily similar to the list at my DD’s school! Are you in Belfast by any chance?

Miaumiau, I am surprised that only 85% of pupils in a grammar school sit English Literature, and that only single science is compulsory. Especially considering Progress 8 if you are in England - though maybe you aren't given Dragons' post.

State selective
Compulsory
Triple science
2 Englishes
Maths (and fm for top half)
Mfl

Plus any 3 from
Art
Music
History
Geography
Astronomy
Second MFL
Classical civilisations
DT

Latin as a twilight additional subject

So minimum of 10 maximum 12