Y9 Options

[Bluebird23]

Hi,

My DD has selected the following options for GCSE

English Lang
English Lit
Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Biology

Spanish
Geography
History

She'll be starting Spanish from scratch in Y10 due the school making the ebacc pathway compulsory for her set. Unfortunately', she doesn't enjoy French, although she's currently predicted a grade 8 in the subject.

DD is considered bright and is hard working but I'm really concerned about the potential workload with two humanities, a new lamguage. and separate science.

I wondered if anyone could share any thoughts or experiences with a similar set of GCSE subjects and the likely Y10 Y11 workload. DD is our eldest child so it's all new to us.

Thanks in advance

My son has chosen Geography, English, English lit, Maths, Triple Science, computer science and food tech. Still waiting for school to confirm he was doing Spanish Y7 -Y9 so hopefully dropping it as did not enjoy it but was 1 set below top who have to do the EBACC so hopefully he is not forced to do it. Don’t really see how it’s options when in reality you only get to choose 1 subject.

I'm sure she will be fine. My school everyone sat 13 GCSEs so 9 will be fine!

My daughter is taking these GCSEs plus R.S and is in year 11. She has found it less work in lots of ways than her friends taking a practical subject like DT/ art. Obviously she has lots of exams coming up but seems be to coping and achieving well with working reasonably hard but not impossibly so! If your daughter is capable it should be fine.

My daughter is doing the same, except German and also psychology.

she has already done Eng Lit though as they do it in year 10.

She Is bright but possibly not exceptionally so ( feel a bit mean saying that - I think she is amazing but appreciate so are others!) and she has managed fine.

She wants to do English, Biology, history and core maths at A level.

This is one subject fewer than our school do and they all seem to manage very well. It sounds like your daughter is high ability if she’s doing separate sciences, so I’m sure she’ll be fine.

My son is in y10 doing the same subjects.
I was particularly worried about the history and the Spanish as he doesn't find Writing particularly easy, but is working hard and appears to be doing better than I would have expected.

My DTD will be doing English Language, Lit, Maths, Triple Science, Geography, Spanish and Music.
DTS doing the same but History instead of Geography and Drama instead of Music. Both have had Spanish since Y7 and are doing the EBacc.
They’re disappointed they can’t do Food Tech but I made a deal that I would teach them more recipes at home, which will be cool.

Hi,

Thank you for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it. It's reassuring to see that her subject choices seem to be pretty standard and your children are coping well with the same or similar subjects and workload.

DD is really happy in school and loves learning and I'm just eager for that to continue during Y10 / Y11 so I'm probably overthinking things.

Good luck to your children with their next steps

I think it’s mad to do Spanish “from scratch” if she’s already done french for 3 years unless there is some concrete reason why she will enjoy Spanish despite not enjoying french. Almost everyone else sitting the exam will have done 5 years of school Spanish as a minimum.

The subject combination is absolutely fine. Lots of people like something a bit more hands on like art or dt or pe or drama but that’s also a lot of peoples idea of a nightmare and not easier to cope with in terms of time management

They’re disappointed they can’t do Food Tech but I made a deal that I would teach them more recipes at home, which will be cool

ds did that and found it very dull. He likes the creative side of cooking and the eating delicious food element but ended up doing a piece of coursework on raising agents and everything he made had to have something worthy about it (diabetic cooking - cooking for athletes etc.) I honestly think you can learn more in 10 hours cooking at home than he did in the whole 2 year course. The upside was eating his exam practice food

I agree with others that this subject combo sounds fine. DS2 did similar but not geography and did two others so 10 in total (CS and PE). Nine GCSEs should be fine wrt workload; it sounds as tho she prefers subjects with more writing rather than practical subjects (PE, art, drama, DT) which is fine.

I agree with @SimpleShootingWeekend tho that it is an odd decision to take up Spanish ab initio in KS4 because she doesn't like French. Will she like Spanish any more? If not and she has to take an MFL (I don't agree with this btw and I speak as an MFL specialist but that;'s by the by), then it would be better IMHO to take French which she does not like but has done three years of, rather than Spanish which she may well also not like but has never studied. There is a massive amount to catch up, especially with the newer GCSE spec.

Why does she not like French? What makes her think Spanish will be better? The only thing I can think of is preferring the Spanish teacher, which is not invalid in a sense (I agree GCSE students need to have some kind of basic rapport with their teachers esp for MFL), except that is she sure she will have that teacher? And in any case they may leave (or the disliked fr teacher may). Just something to think about.

How long ago was that?
GCSEs were reformed in 2017 and have a lot more content. Schools these days do 9 or 10. There is no need to do any more. It doesn't give young people any more leverage for getting into university.

@SimpleShootingWeekend , I agree its probably a mistake to start Spanish in Y10 after already studying French for 3 years. The school suggested DD consider Spanish instead of French so she joined the Spanish club and after 8 weeks is adamant she prefers Spanish so we've said we'll support her decision.

In DD's school, all children learn French during Y7 - 9. Children with an appitude for language can then select Spanish for Y10 and this class is generally 15 or so pupils. Whilst its reassuring that DD won't necessarily be behind her classmates in September I'm conscious they'll all be studying French & Spanish whereas she'll only be studying Spanish.

Good to see the subject combinations are fine in terms of workload.

Hmm ok but you don't say what she doesn't like about French. I mean if it is needing to learn past tense of irregular verbs and loads of vocab, well that will be there in Spanish too, obvs. Eight weeks of Spanish club sounds like something that probably will be a bit more fun than year 9 French lessons. I would probe it a bit more as she has set herself a tough task and if there is not a good reason for it, an easier win is available.

You wouldn't start maths in year 10 an expect as good a grade as someone who had been studying it since KS3.

What sort of grades do the ab initio students gain in Spanish? How do these compare to their French grades?

@clary thanks this is really helpful.

I think it is mainly the teacher situation. She hasn't clicked with her French teacher this year (which is unusual for her) and is aware this teacher will be taking her set for GCSE French. The Spanish teacher is her Y7 / 8 French teacher and whilst French has never been her favourite subject she really enjoyed her teaching style and has a good relationship with her.

I met with the Spanish and French teacher at options evening and their view is DD is on track for an 8 and capable of a 9 in French whereas with hard work they'd estimate a 7 in Spanish. DD is a hard worker and has already started doing a few hours Spanish a week at home to pick up the basics for September but it's not ideal and wouldn't be my choice for her.

I think I'll try and have another chat with DD and raise your point that either teacher could leave etc

@SimpleShootingWeekend thanks thsts really helpful. I'll have another chat with DD about how much more difficult it will be for likely a lower grade.

I think its primarily to do with teachers and a strong preference of the Spanish teacher and her teaching style. French has never been her favourite subject but this year she just hasn't clicked with the teacher and she's aware this teacher will be taking her set for GCSE French.

It's difficult to say re the grades..as far as I can see the last 2 years look strong in both but going back to 2019 the grades look much better in French.

I have sympathy, DS is taking Classical Civilisation over Latin simply because he absolutely loathes the Latin teacher. I’ve given up fighting it because I can’t see how 2 years with a teacher he can’t stand will end in a good outcome.

Don't underestimate how much work and revision there is for history. DC is Y11 and they pretty much have to memorise 3 huge text books. It's an enormous amount to learn.

My Y10 is pretty much doing identical options, only they are doing double science rather then three separate. The workload doesn’t seem too bad, much less than when I sat GCSEs. English Literature and History are the heaviest in terms of workload. I didn’t take history when I chose my options due to a clash with a teacher. That teacher would not have even taught me and I do regret it now.

I'm a language teacher. Normally I'd say it would be unwise to ditch French in favour of ab initio Spanish, especially on the basis of teacher preference. But... if she's potentially capable of a 9 in French and is sure to get the teacher she likes in Spanish, she'll be fine. Her knowledge of French will help with the Spanish, and having chosen to do it, plus the novelty of the new language, will make her keener!

I would say, that it’s a bit much. Ignore the oh my child is doing eleventy billion and is fine. The students I know who have followed such a pathway are currently wishing they hadn’t and that they had chosen at least one subject with some form of coursework in so they had some money in the bank as it were. DS has done DT and his coursework is 50% of his score and is happy it’s done

@Bluebird23
Is she likely to want to take Spanish/language at A-level/equivalent?
If not, and assuming she's not after all 9s and wanting to go to Oxbridge, then it won't matter.
DC/parents sometimes forget that GCSEs (and any qualification) are a means to get to the next level.
For example, if she wants to do CS/Maths/Engineering for a degree/career, then the language (and the grade in it) won't matter, just pick what you'd enjoy.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and advice. I've found it really helpful.

After a good chat yesterday my daughter said she would still prefer to select Spanish and understands this will mean more work for a lower grade than if she sticks with French. She spent last night researching the best apps for Spanish vocab and has asked me to order some KS3 Spanish books. Duolingo & menrise are accessible through her school account and she's started working through the Spanish lessons on those apps.

We also discussed the possibility of changing History to RS to reduce her workload but she really wants to study History.

I think we'll just have to support her decision and be there if things get too much for her over the next 2 years. I know she'll do her best and she has a fantastic work ethic, so I'm hoping she'll be OK and continue to enjoy school.

@stubiff It's unlikely she'll want to study a language ar A Level. Her current GCSE targets are all grade 9's but I think this is based on her Y6 test results.
DD has said she would like to achieve grade 7's or above but that's just her personal target. She's hoping to either go to university or apply for a apprenticeships. I don't think Oxbridge will be on her radar, so I suppose she can take a risk with Spanish if it means she'll be happier. Thanks for pointing this out.

We've just done Year 9 options, so talked to lots of parents who'd been through GCSE to help. Without exception, they said that the subjects which had caused their DC the most stress and angst were the coursework and group work subjects (drama, music, PE etc). Not saying they're not great options if you really want to do them, of course, but given that DS was already very much wavering anyway, we decided to plump for a second language instead as the easier option (also the one he's more likely to carry on post-GCSE).

Without exception, they said that the subjects which had caused their DC the most stress and angst were the coursework and group work subjects

I would avoid group work subjects. None of the drama group in DD's year did well in their GCSE, and DD only got a D in her Citizenship coursework because the other girl she was in a group with did no work. Luckily she aced the exam an brought her overall grade up to a B.