Which GCSE/KS4 curriculum would you think offered the best choices/flexibility/breadth?

[AlderAppleAsh]

Looked at lots of schools, been in them, spoke to teachers and pupils and parents, looked at websites and prospectuses, looked at data and curriculum. Looked at extra-curricular, pastoral care and policies. Looked at all sorts of other things. You name it, we’ve probably looked at it. It’s been narrowed down to 3. All very similar. Roughly same time to get to each of them, primary will feed all of them. We got the point earlier today of just saying to DD, which do you want to go to. She said she doesn’t mind and no form favourite.

The only thing that really differentiates the schools is the GCSE/KS4 curriculum. It’s roughly the same across them all but wondering whether asking you all which is maybe the best approach might help us decide an order for them.

CN - Compulsory non-negotiable subject
CO - Compulsory option from a set list
FO - Free choice option

School A - 8/9 GCSEs
CN English language
CN English lit
CN Maths
CN Science x2/3 (set dependent)
CO Humanity
CO Language
FO Open option

School B - 9 GCSEs
CN English language
CN English literature
CN Maths
CN Science x2
CO Language
CO Humanity
CO 3rd science or 2nd language or 2nd humanity
FO Open option

School C - 8/9 GCSEs
CN English language
CN English literature
CN Maths
CN Science x2/3 (set dependent)
CO Humanity or language
FO Open option x2

C.

(Because the others force a language and a humanity (which is possibly just History or Geography) which is fine for academic kids, not so good for dyslexics).

Agree with Teen; I don’t personally think it’s a good idea to insist that every student takes MFL. And I speak as an MFL teacher. I would rather teach students who chose my subject than those forced to do it.
otoh a humanity OR a language as compulsory seems like a good balance.

With A and B the schools are preventing kids from choosing say PE & Drama as options.
I think if they are grammar schools then the restriction is fine (after all parents have chosen an academic focused school) but a comp should enable a range for those kids for who it benefits.

I like the sound of school B offering the choice between triple science, languages and humanities. That’s unusual but also allows for flexibility in whether they want to do sciences or not. Most schools push triple science at the deferment of languages so this sounds good. In some cases those interested in languages can’t do a second but those interested in science can always do a third. That’s why this approach is quite fresh in my opinion. Although, as others have said, looks like they are a bit rigid and inflexible in making all children do the EBacc - it doesn’t suite everyone.

I like school C because it offers 2 free choices. Would question whether this is the case or whether higher ability are ‘encouraged’ to do EBacc which means only one choice? Also not a fan of schools choosing who does triple science as it means those who like science can sometimes not access it because those who are more academics but maybe hate science who get the places.

School A, see some previously made comments about science and EBacc. But they seem very rigid and inflexible in their approach.

I’d choose B or C as first depending on whether I wanted them to definitely have the EBacc subjects and/or able to have a choice in whether they pursue sciences, languages or humanities (school B), or, whether I thought they needed a bit more flexibility to do maybe technical or creative subjects (school C).

I agree I'd choose C as more free options/less compulsory.

OP may be overthinking though- this may all have changed by the time her DC picks options.

Agree. As far as i could work out my DDs school changed how they did options every year.

Forgot to mention, and as @sheepdogdelight mentioned, probably a bit of overthinking. But I am 100% aware that for my DD, GCSEs are a few years away and things can change a lot between now and then.

For a bit of further information that I think might be beneficial

School B
The science, language and humanities choice:
Science can be triple science, computer science, psychology or sports science
Languages - French or German (same as the other language option)
Humanities - same as humanities option but could also choose RE.

They also have a route where, they say ‘a small number of pupils, for a variety of reasons, may have an adapted curriculum. Some pupils will be identified for this route, others may request to follow this route’ and go on to say they can choose between a language or a humanity and will get either another free option or additional help with English/maths. - This is suggesting to me there is some flexibility if you ask for it?

They also have a languages for all policy. Which says that if pupils want to do languages, even if they don’t think they will manage the GCSE, they shouldn’t think they can’t, the school will enter then for entry level languages.

School C
Like most of you, I like how school C is very flexible with the 2 options. They also have variety of options which are academic and vocational. Probably more vocational options than the other 2 schools and offer a wider variety of technical subjects, e.g electronics (which DS probably isn’t interested in but it’s unusual and something not offered anywhere else). They also offer adapted/alternative options to those who need it (no mention about those who want it - possibly not needed though as it’s already flexible?)

As it’s been mentioned, school A is very inflexible. No mention of adapting curriculums.

Leaning towards B or C 1st and A as 3rd

All schools are comprehensives.

DD not DS!
DS isn’t going to secondary for another 5 years aha

Wow they’re all quite rigid

state schools near me all offer

6 compulsory - eng x 2, maths, RE, Science x 2

then four free options - you can choose any 4 and would inc the extra science if doing triple science

Assuming all else is equal.

If your DD is a keen scientist, I'd go for school B, as the others may exclude her from triple science if she just happens to not be in top set. And it sounds like there might be a small amount of flexibility in the options.

Otherwise, I'd go with school C. Especially so if she is into the arts or sport.

But do bear in mind things may change between all schools e.g. my school changed how many options students were allowed to pick, and choices around triple science last year- so the current Y9 expected one thing when they joined the school but were actually given more free choice.

Option C.

Our child loved primary school. At 10, I would have chosen school A and expected child to shine.

At 14, I am grateful we chose a school like C. After a pretty disastrous year 7 - 9, year 10 is going really well precisely because they have been able to choose subjects they enjoy.

Our school does
English x 2,
Maths,
Science X 2
One of history, geography, triple science or computer science
3 free choices from a list of 20 subjects including traditional academic, vocational and arts.

School A offers EBacc subjects. Schools get more points from the government the closer they are. By the time your DD does her GCSEs, it's likely all 3 schools will make them do the same core subjects.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-baccalaureate-ebacc/english-baccalaureate-ebacc

Thanks for sharing @ploed.
Thanks for the link @Clymene. Will have a read of it.

Although of all schools have to/will be forced to offer the EBacc then perhaps it’s best to go with the school offering 9 subjects as this is already set up to allow more options? Then again, maybe the others will allow more options (9 instead of 8) if they have to do this? We still haven’t heard what the impact of the new 32 hour schools week yet. I know one of the schools needs to extend the school day (by quite a bit!) and they are considering adding an extra lesson into the day so potentially adding another free choice? Who knows. Will just have to see how that one plays out.

What’s the 32 hour week OP?

Oh just googled

I imagine it won’t have any impact

surely most schools do the proposed 8:45-3:15 anyway?

@Watapalava it’s some thing the government has introduced. I got it slightly wrong, it’s actually 32.5. The government want all schools to offer this many hours in the week by 2023. Something to do with levelling up.

Heres a newspaper article about it (first one that came up in Google, there’s probably better information out there about it)
www.independent.co.uk/news/education/minimum-week-32-hours-schools-b2044185.html?amp

Thanks op but when I looked it said school day would be 8:45-3;15 to meet these bourse and that most if not all already do this or are within 10 mins of doing it

the hours inc breaks and lunch so majority of schools won’t see a change I imagine?

Sorry, cross posted.

For most it won’t matter.
One of the schools has a short day for pupils, the extra time in the day they use for teacher training and other teacher related things so under the new 32.5 hour week they need to make the day longer.

They do 0830-1430, with teachers doing teacher stuff til 1500, so need to find half hour from somewhere. The proposal is to add another lesson so they would finish at 15:30.

School C
Many kids want to study subjects that aren't a humanity, science, English or maths eg Art or Music.
One of my kids is dyslexic so being able to drop a language was great for him. He enjoyed his optional subjects.

Just to throw my 2p in - do any of them have sixth forms? That was the decider for us because of the trickle down effect of having teaching staff who are keen to develop those who might go on to A Levels. Two of our three local options don't have sixth forms so we went with the one that does, and so far so good

Good point @Neighneigh. Had thought about it, but reading other threads on head, and speaking to parents it seems the DC go into a mixture of post-16 options (school 6th form, different 6th form, college, apprenticeships) anyways so wasn’t considering it a major thing.

But for the record

B has a sixth form.

C feeds into a joint 6th form with another school in the same trust. C runs some of the more technical and creative subjects as well as english, maths and science where as the other school runs all the other subjects. 6th formers can go between the two sites and they are well coordinated with how they do this regarding timetables and transport. They have a plan to put the joint 6th form on one purpose built site in the next 3-5 years.

A doesn’t have a 6th form. They usually split between B, C and other 6th forms or colleges.

I'm sure I have read somewhere that the ebacc as a measure of schools is set to be quietly dropped. That link about it was last updated three years ago.

So by the time Yr dd does GCSEs op, the landscape may be different.

Am I the only person who finds it depressing how rigid the choice is? Yes, no one needs more than 8 GCSEs, but if you then are like school A, students only get to pick one choice for all of drama, music, art, DT, food tech, textiles, RE, computer science, PE, plus less common subjects like class civ, psychology, sociology, dance, creative media, sports science. Wow no wonder dt teachers are getting worried. At least my younger two dc were able to pick two rather than one from that list.

My DD2 had 3 completely free choices.
She had to do the 5 core GCSEs, then one of Hist/Geog, then 3 free

My DDs grammar school has 7 compulsory (3 science 2 eng 2 maths) and then 3 free choice. No compulsory ebacc. This worked well for my DD who really really hates speaking in languages classes and decided not to take a language! At our local comp she'd have had to do a language and a humanity. (She's chosen 2 humanities and music )