GCSE Options

[GCSE2024]

My DD is Y8 at a selective school. She has to choose her options in next week or so which is quite difficult for her as her school experience has been quite disrupted!

He school insist the following as core:

English Language
English Lit
Maths
Biology
Physics
Chemistry
Religious Studies
1 MFL - she is choosing French
1 Humanity - she is choosing History

She then has two options but can't choose between Geography, Business Studies and Drama.

I'm worried that Geography and History will be too much and/or Business Studies isn't academic enough for her. I support the Drama choice as she enjoys it.

She has no idea what she wants to do at A Level/degree (she's 12!) so no clear path she needs to follow.

I'm just concerned she's going from homeschooling for most of her secondary schooling to KS4 very quickly; she's not really matured in lockdown so seems v.bizarre!

(for 4 yrs running) I interviewed applicants to med school.
DoE sometimes gave kids something to talk about.
"Did you ever have to lead a group" "Did you ever have to think quickly to solve an emergency" "Did you ever feel like giving up but continued, how did you find a way to keep going" - DoE can be the event that leads to having some answers to those questions.

DoE is neither essential or important, but it's a chance to be challenged and talking about challenges you've overcome is what many interviews can be about.

DS will start & finish one GCSE in each of yr9 & yr10. The rest GCSEs finish in yr11. Many local schools operate like that. It''s been good for DC to be in this system.

it seems odd to be forced to choose GCSEs in yr8 if they don't even start until yr10.

How can school make DofE compulsory? They can't control what the students choose to do in their spare time!

My view is that DofE benefits some. Medics is one group who might well benefit. They get into settings to further their application. It makes no difference to History or English applicants for example. I wouldn’t want my DC being forced to do it with the new GCSEs. I would prefer my DC to be able to choose their hobbies and interests.

When DD was considering medicine (back in 2017) the admissions tutors at every subject talk we attended said that they didn't take D of E into account because a) Not all schools offer it and b) They were far more interested in the prospective student having work experience.

Work experience can flow from DofE volunteering. That’s the point.

But yes, the yomping and sleeping out are pointless.

Although it is exercise of course so a good idea for some.

I'd argue that the expedition is the most valuable part of DofE - in that it's the only part that's really hard for the young people to set up themselves unless they have parents who are into hiking/camping (in which case they are doing it anyway).
Volunteering/skills/physical activity can be done as activities in their own right and don't really need the DofE umbrella.

Exactly. DD was a young leader at Brownies for 3 years, so she wasn't just paying lip service for her volunteering.

Expedition was one of the easiest bits for DS (he camped in & walked out of the Grand Canyon age 9 & we still walk few hours, often, for leisure). On DoE He got to show leadership skills in sorting out squabbles between & wibbles among the others. He had wildly more experience reading OS maps, too. He was made expedition leader coz he was only one with clue how to walk facing traffic on roads at the induction.

DD (miss Princess BossyBoots) wasn't as fit as the others so struggled a bit with expedition. Useful wakeup call for her. She was good at plotting the route.

I think DS got a lot out of the volunteering & least out of the 'skills'. But all good self-organisation activity.

Yes but none of that is needed for university and it shouldn’t be compulsory. My DDs found it pretty easy but who cares about it now? No one.

@PresentingPercy

Yes but none of that is needed for university and it shouldn’t be compulsory. My DDs found it pretty easy but who cares about it now? No one.

I agree it shouldn't be compulsory but you do lots of things at GCSE level that aren't needed for university and no one cares about later ... They shouldn't be the sole reasons for doing something.

As it happens the DofE expedition was my first experience of hiking/camping and gave me a new interest that I still enjoy as an adult. That was more valuable (to me) than getting the qualification.