Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

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

46 replies

Didthatreallyhappen2 · 30/01/2020 17:58

DD is Y9 - currently choosing GCSEs. It's the norm at her school (independent, if that's relevant?) to choose 10.

Back in the mists of time I did 9 O levels. Friends with children in different schools (both state and private) have said their DCs are doing 9 GCSEs.

Is there a norm? 10 seems an awful lot to me. Thank you.

OP posts:
Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 30/01/2020 18:26

DS1 took 11 last year (local state school). 10 as school standard but they allowed him to take music (partly self taught) as an extra.
I understand they have now moved from 10 as standard to 9.

doritosdip · 30/01/2020 18:33

If she's doing triple science, maths, English Lit, English Lang, foreign language and History or Geography then that's already 8 subjects

My Ds is doing 9 at his comprehensive school. His sister did 10 but the extra one was an extra maths qualification for able mathematicians

RedskyAtnight · 30/01/2020 18:55

DC's school now has 10 as standard.
In DS's year (he's now Year 11) 11 was standard and some take FM and/or PE as well. The school have now realised that this is too many with the new harder GCSEs!

Seeline · 30/01/2020 19:06

I think it often depends on whether they are doing double or triple science. Both my DCs Indies aim for 10 with triple. Both allow students to drop down to double depending on exam results during the 2 years.

Musmerian · 30/01/2020 19:08

Our school do 11. They all have to do triple science and a language. It’s very academic but I think it’s too many. GCSEs are more about organisation than academic ability IMO. If I had my way we would bin them entirely.

Pipandmum · 30/01/2020 19:16

Our school used to do 10 (11 if taking a second language- usually their native tongue). But some kids did 8 (non selective private school).
My daughter had ten picked out but now they've changed it to 9 plus an extra (art award, global perspectives- business- and such). Its timetabled as much as a tenth.
If you have concerns speak to the head. But does your child want to be different to everyone else? I don't see the advantage of taking more than 10 and 9 seems plenty.

acocadochocolate · 30/01/2020 19:29

Normal at my DCs state comp is 9. DD did Further Maths after school so did 10.

BubblesBuddy · 30/01/2020 19:45

Many do 9 but if a second language, FM or RE is taken this ups it to 10. An Arts subject is often included too.

KoalasandRabbit · 30/01/2020 20:10

At our comprehensive it's everyone does English x 2, Maths
Then top set are very strongly encouraged to do triple science, rest do double then its 4 options plus 0.5 RE. The Stats option comes with Level 3 Additional Maths which top of maths are encouraged to do.

So it's between 9.5 and 11.5 at their school, which I think is too much. DDs old grammar did 10, we looked at a selective independent that was also 10. She will do 11.5 in theory though trying to get it down to 11. Ebacc for majority but opt out possible.

Comp in old area do 9.5 with triple as and option and ebacc compulsory for top set so not much choice as top set expected to do triple science.

KoalasandRabbit · 30/01/2020 20:12

I did 10 but in my day most did 9 or even 8.

cologne4711 · 30/01/2020 20:16

I did 8 at a grammar school, those who did Maths a year early did 9.

DS did 8 at his comprehensive, those who did triple science did 9.

Rollergirl11 · 30/01/2020 20:19

DD in Year 9 at a catholic state school. RE is compulsory. With the triple sciences it makes 10 GCSE’s, dropping to 9 if you take Combined Science.

Oblomov20 · 30/01/2020 20:40

Our school do 11. I thought that was the norm?

hibiscuswater · 30/01/2020 20:46

Year 10 here, they do 9 if they are doing Triple Science, otherwise it's 8.
They choose their GCSEs in years 8 and 9, mainly in year 9 - they can drop things like Art and Music if they know they don't want to do them at GCSE.

clary · 30/01/2020 22:22

At my Dcs' they did 10 if they did triple science, nine if double.

Other local schools do the same, or nine if triple, eight if not.

One school has triple as an option but somehow squeezes in 10 options so everyone does 10.

10 is fine, nine is fine, eight is fine. Ds2 did his last year so all new soec and did really well.

All of these references are to state schools btw.

raspberryrippleicecream · 30/01/2020 23:55

DS2 took 10 last year which is the norm in his school. My older ones did 11 and 12, but that was oldstyle GCSEs.

Hellohah · 31/01/2020 08:17

DS is doing 8 + a different qualification in Sports Studies.

TeenPlusTwenties · 31/01/2020 08:30

Comp in all comp area here.
Standard is 9.5, 10.5 if doing triple, can also do Latin I think as a 'twilight' subject.
(My DD is doing 9, and may drop to 8.)

estherfrewen · 31/01/2020 09:24

State RE comp so compulsory RE. 11 as standard

Original poster
Didthatreallyhappen2 · 31/01/2020 09:30

Thank you so much to everyone for replying. I think it'd make my DD's eyes water (and mine), if she had to do 11 (some at her school would manage, but she wouldn't).

She has to do 2 x English, Maths, and then a choice of double or triple science (triple for her). After that the choice is hers, although they encourage a language, a humanity, a practical subject and an additional one. We've been told to focus on those subjects she enjoys = being better at, which is what we're doing.

OP posts:
Comefromaway · 31/01/2020 10:18

10 is a lot.

The selective independent school ds used to go to (he's in state now) do 9 as standard except for top set maths who take Further Maths as a 10th option.

Both ds's current school and dd's school offer 9.

crazycrofter · 31/01/2020 10:45

Dd's selective independent do 10, with flexibility to drop down to 8 or 9 at some point if need be. She's doing 9 now (year 11) and it feels the right number.

Ds will have to do 11 (grammar school) unless he's in bottom science set by the end of this year (year 9), in which case he'll get to do combined science, so 10 GCSEs. I'm torn between hoping he drops down to set 5 (he's in set 4 now!) so he can do combined, and thinking he might actually like to do a science or two for A Level, so better if he stays where he is!

Rollergirl11 · 31/01/2020 10:53

@Didthatreallyhappen2 Does your DD know what she’s going to take? We have an Options evening next week but DD thinks she’s going to take History, Geography and Spanish on top of the 2 English, triple science, maths and RE. It depends what her teachers say as I understand both Geography and History are very content heavy.

GU24Mum · 31/01/2020 10:58

I'd definitely start with 10 if that's the school standard then you've got some flexibility to drop one if necessary. Mine does double science and 10 initially - she dropped one in the summer but if she'd started with 9 she would absolutely have started with the one subject she loved with a passion - which is the one she has dropped!!

MilkRunningOutAgain · 31/01/2020 22:22

DCs state school offers 10 as standard ( maths, English Lang and lit, RE, MFL, two science , humanity and 2 options. ) Kids who take triple science take 11. I’d be very happy for the school to reduce the number of exams taken, I think it’s too many at the moment. Back many decades ago I did 8 o levels. With so many academic subjects being compulsory I’m more than happy for my DD to take whatever she likes for the 2 options, she thinks she’ll opt for art and food & nutrition. I had far more choice in what I did even though I took just 8 exams, as far as I remember the only compulsory ones back at my school were maths and eng Lang.