GCSE Options - opinions and experiences please.

[CompleteMadness]

Looking for opinions, experiences and thoughts on choosing, the subjects themselves and which combinations are good or even which are don’t go there combinations.

Narrowed down to the following and he has to choose 3. (Deadline is 17th April so we have a few weeks).

GCSE Music
GCSE DT: Product Design
BTEC Engineering
GCSE Food and Nutrition
GCSE History^
GCSE Geography^

Will also do:
English x2, Maths, Science x2/3*.

^Must choose at least one of these, he’s leaning towards geography.
*Top set will do triple, the rest do double and it’s decided by the Y9 exams (he’s bounced between set 1 and 2 throughout Y8 and Y9 so it could go either way).

I don’t really mind what he does.

He’s really into music, spends a lot of time each day playing the piano or tinkering with it. Has achieved; grade 6 piano, grade 5 theory and grade 2 composition. All of which he asked to do and wanted to do. He pushes himself in his music.

He’s also into fixing things. He’s always tinkered with cars, some electronics and things around the house. He wanted to try and have a go at fixing pianos so we bought him a cheep £40 battered one that we found in a charity shop about 2 years ago and he’s half way through restoring it.

He likes food at school because he gets to make a lot of different foods he isn’t exposed to at home. Due to several different allergies in the house we have a very restrictive diet so I like the idea of him continuing with food.

He likes geography because he just does. He liked outdoors education which he’s done in Y8 and Y9 so geography seems to be the closest.

Histories on the list because he seems to think he should do history because he likes music and he likes music history.

Unfortunately, he can’t do them all and we need to figure out how to get it down to only 3.

@TheWonderfulThingAboutTiggers I also think it’s brilliant. It’s one of the reasons we chose the school even though it isn’t “the best”. The option to choose languages or do the EBacc is there if he wanted to do it, but it’s not for him. Great to hear your school is flexible with these things too. It’s nice to hear in todays rigid education market.

@Lottsbiffandsmudge fantastic to hear that. Thank you. Well done to your DS2. I’m feeling very reassured about music now. I was always going to let him do music if he wanted, I think it was just how it was written in the options book that had me silently questioning it to myself (DS has no clue I had any worried about it!). Great to know he’s going to be absolutely fine and not bored and will be challenged in some areas if he does choose it.

It's not about how flexible the school is, it's that all the "DT:something" subjects share a core curriculum. He's only got one on his list so it's all good.

Engineering, Food Tech and the various DTs all had NEA deadline around the same time last month at our school. I guess other boards may vary but it might be a busy time if he were doing 2. But on the other hand it's nice to get some out of the way and have one less exam.

Doing history because people who do music do it would seem a strange choice to me. I would be surprised if that is causative. I think it's more likely that academic kids are disproportionately likely to choose both subjects.

Ah, ok, I didn’t realise that. Thanks for the clarity on the DT @DandledASandle. School only offer DT: Product Design out of the “DT: Something” subjects, probably why it’s never been mentioned and there’s no restriction.

Great heads up about the deadlines. Will keep in mind about the deadlines all being at the same time.

I think I would suggest he does geography, music and food. The first two are clearly his favourites and I think food is likely to be more useful than product design or engineering.

@OccasionalHope Food doesn’t lead to engineering or tech jobs. The other options are better for A levels if he wants an engineering degree. Food isn’t as well paid or a shortage employment area.

For food gcse he will have to practice his dishes a fair few times at home to perfect his skills and timing. This could be an issue if there’s allergies as your original post stated. For the higher marks they learn how to debone chicken, fillet fish etc. Is this something he’s interested in? The theory is around nutrition. A career in the food/nutrition industry requires sciences. Nowhere will ask for GCSE ‘food & nutrition’ and there is no longer an A level, although there’s varying catering/hospitality quals. My DD has chosen F&N as she enjoys cooking and understanding nutrition (and she’s no affinity for the other tech subjects).
Geography and Music seem to be obvious choices. DT: Product design is worth considering given he enjoys ‘tinkering’. It’s also an A level choice so he can take it further if he wishes. Is there an opportunity to chat to the DT teacher and other students about what’s involved?

I would second the concerns about prep for the NEA at home my DD’s Food Tech teacher sent a notice out telling parents not go away for February half-term and to essentially clear the kitchen most days in that time as well. I also swear I can still smell the raw fish some days - it is certainly not for the squeamish type.

The thing with food is you don't do a lot of actual cooking its all theory. For cooking you had to pick catering which is what my daughter does.
Music sounds like a good choice for him so that with history or geography(we had to make the same choice, I'm not into history so leaned toward geography but both kids picked history!)
Has he had a meeting at school with predicted grades for each subject?
I think the engineering sounds good, something different.
My DD, 13 went for food, animal care and history. My DD, 14 picked history, catering and film studies.
Its a hard choice to make at that age, some subjects are easier to drop(art/drama) than others. Good luck on deciding 🙂

I meant food would be a useful life skill. Sorry not to make that clear :)

He also needs to choose what he thinks he’d get the best grades at, which is often what they enjoy the most.

I always vote for BTEC and threads like this because they are mostly course work and they are usually completed before the GCSE exams so it opens up more time for revision.

Have they given any information about the actual syllabus?

History can be really different depending on the syllabus.

Also the food and nutrition isn't always 'cooking' it can be designing packaging or can be more science based.

BTecs are ok if you want what they teach and lead into. If, for example, DS wanted Engineering at university, a BTec makes no difference. Maths and Physics are required at A level.

@OccasionalHope This is also why I was leaning towards food. It’s a good life skill and he enjoys it. The fact he enjoys it is one of the reasons it’s made it to his short list in the first place.

However, @NotDonna makes an excellent point. I don’t know how this never occurred to me. Feeling a bit like an idiot right now for not even thinking about that. I don’t know why, but stupidly I just assumed he would make food at school. I’m really glad you’ve raised this point, it puts a whole different perspective on things.

@sashh Yes. They’ve provided links to the syllabi for all of them as well as overview information in the options booklet. We (DS and I, and probably DH) are going to have a look at them, and discuss, later today.

@Jas5mum In terms of predicted grades of the compulsorily subjects and the ones he’s picked out, he’s looking at 6/7 across the board, possibly some 8s, with 8/9 for music and English 5/6. School haven’t been “these are definitely what he’s going to get” they’ve made it very clear these are loose predictions which are subject to change based on a lot of factors. Based on current performance and ability, this is maybe the grades he will get, he could do a lot better, he could do worse.

@TizerorFizz thank you for highlighting career opportunities and skill shortages. Will bare that in mind. That’s a good point.

I am going to make the point that BTECs can lead to engineering at university and maths and physics aren’t actually required, especially when the degree is done as a mature student who has completed an apprenticeship and has a lot of practical engineering skills to provide the foundations. Been there, done it, got more than the T-shirt.

However, I do completely agree with you that maths and physics should be taken because they provide a much better foundation. If DS did want to take this route when we get to A Levels I would be 100% encouraging these subjects.

At GCSE level, I can’t see the harm in the BTEC, especially when all other subjects will be GCSEs. Neither Engineering or DT are essential for careers in engineering, although they are helpful to have. I personally think the DT offers him more variety/exposure to different disciplines of engineering and technology. I also think he would enjoy it more, but ultimately, I’m going to leave the final decision on this one up to him.

I don't think he'll find music easy. My DS found it one of his hardest subjects! He really enjoyed it though.

Ds is now doing music at conservatoire and didn’t find GCSE ‘too easy’. The study and analysis of musical styles / history is separate from the ‘performing’ (which he was good at, though getting group performances recorded was something of a logistical challenge) and ‘composing’, and is not ‘easy’ even for very good performance musicians.

I’d do DT Prod Design from the 3 ‘tech’options - Food is, Iirc, DT Food / nutrition and has a common DT content with all others in the family, like Textiles, just because it is most wide ranging. Beware that DT and Music coursework will make the workload rather lumpy and at times stressful over the GCSE course, though they lessen the final exam liad.

@CompleteMadness
Well he’s not a mature student and for many engineering degrees you do need maths and physics A level. I’m assuming he would take a standard route into engineering and have qualifications such as incorporated engineer at the end of his post degree training. That doesn’t mean mature students are not valued but getting on the ladder after school via university is a better career path. Apprenticeships are now hugely competitive and not easy to get. I’ve seen very few engineering degrees that don’t want maths A level. Often in addition to BTec.

@TizerorFizz I completely agree with you. As I mentioned above
“I do completely agree with you that maths and physics should be taken because they provide a much better foundation. If DS did want to take this route when we get to A Levels I would be 100% encouraging these subjects.”
Im all for encouraging the right subjects and for anyone wanting engineering at university I’m one of the first to mention maths and physics A Level. I 100% believe, for that route (school to university to professional engineer - IEng/CEng) they are the best way.
In fact, based on my own experiences, for anyone considering a degree apprenticeship and thinking about a BTEC at college/6th form I would still recommend maths and/or physics alongside the BTECs (ideally both).
I’d probably go as far as giving the advice for those considering a non degree apprenticeship which leads into HNC/HND/Top-Up degree or doing a degree as a mature student to consider maths and/or physics.
Maths and physics really are the essential ones for engineering, it prepares and provides so many essential foundations that without, you can get by, but it makes things so much harder and closes doors which needed have been closed.
Im loving that we are on the same page about this, because too often we see people who have been given such bad advice about A Level subjects for engineering and it’s just too late for them. It’s so annoying.
Anyways, side tracked a bit there, but I just needed to say it and wanted to say I agree with you and you're giving brilliant advice about what is needed for engineering. It’s refreshing.

So we’ve had a look over the syllabi this morning, we’ve discussed a lot of the points that have been made on this thread. They have been really useful. Especially points made about music. Thank you. I always thought this was a certainty but he threw 5 other subjects in the mix so it needed to be discussed equally.

We had a really good discussion about food. Come to the decision not to do food because of the NEA requirements and there’s some food which we couldn’t have in the house. He also wasn’t keen on some of the syllabus.

Discussed also the careers food, music, DT and Engineering can lead to as well as food could be picked up at college if he wanted a good career, where as other subjects (DT) will be needed for A Level if he wanted to continue with it and have an engineering related career.

Productive morning - DS has decided on geography and music at the minute.

Still need to decide between DT and Engineering. I still think he would be better off with DT but he’s not sure. Will give him a few days to think about it, talk to a few people on the year above and some of the 6th formers he knows and we will re-discuss it.

One of my friends teaches DT and is always a little annoyed that most of the best GCSE students, who want to be engineers, go on to do Maths, Physics, and then either Chemistry or Computer Science... so although the school has lots of students who want to be engineers, A-level DT is tiny! I do see both sides of that.

Out of those I would choose music, geography and product design.
We had a big discussion in our house about Food tech, and last second DS choose Business. Food Tech is one of the areas finding it most difficult to recruit teachers, our school currently only has half of a teacher and desperately recruiting 1.5 more.
DS1 is doing product design and that has been really busy the last month finishing the project. I assume music has deadlines now as well so worth being aware of that.

Engineering vs DT will be affected by both teachers and typical peer group, which are school - dependent. Definitely discussing with current and past students.

I would agree maths and physics are the obvious route for engineering but he's doing those anyway.

At GCSE it's good for most kids to do something a bit more practical, less bookwork-y. Engineering is quite popular at our school, not as a career move but to tick that "other" box for kids who don't want to do creative subjects. I would be very surprised if any of that, product design and food would close the door to doing any of the others post 16. Not least because not all schools will offer them at GCSE.

I've been quite disappointed by how little practical my DD has done in GCSE Physics. It's so much more book learning and videos than in my day. I would have thought engineering would fit well for a child who might be interested in Physics A Level, to give a little more relevant practical experience. But I don't know that much about it, just what I've heard second hand from DD's friends. I would put more importance on the power of him making his own choice and seeing it through.

I agree with most others, music, geography and DT sounds like the best options to me. Those are what he likes so all good.

DT A level is not feasible really without the GCSE, but engineering post-16 will not require an engineering BTEC IME as v relatively few schools offer it tbh.

But yy it's worth looking at exactly what it entails. DW too much about NEA for DT and music - yes there is a fair bit to do for DT but it sounds as tho the music will be an easy win for him.