Do my DS' GCSE choices look reasonable timewise?

[Bruennetzh]

Dear all,

My DS is going to start Y10 in a private school as a music specialist in September this year. We read through the GCSE guide in the handbook and is close to the following decision.

Compulsory:
English
English literature
Maths
Triple science or double science
RPE (religion studies)
PSHE (not sure if it's a GCSE subject, but the kids will not be examined on the content of the course)
PE, Games (I don't think these are proper GCSE subjects, once a week as the handbook said)

Other options:
As to the handbook, most music specialist pupils take two academic options and two practice time (one practice time is 5 hours every two weeks), all pupils must take one practice.
my DS' choices:
History (critical thinking and essay writing skills)
Music (as a music specialist music is compulsory)
Drama (public speaking and public performing)
Music practice

Our questions are:

1. My DS comes from a non-English curriculum school, so the decision making is purely based on the GCSE handbook from the school. If he chooses three options (history, music and drama) plus the compulsory subjects, will he be super busy? We have no idea what his timetable will look like. If at the beginning of term the options can be adjusted slightly it will be great.
2. Does my DS' choices contain too much writing (English literature and history, probably drama as well, RPE also?) He is not a native English speaker, but he has interest in English literature and history, and he likes reading.
3. If his timetable is too full, we consider taking drama off.

We can also ask the school staff, but they are off for summer holidays we think.

Any comments or opinions will be greatly appreciated.

Same as my son except he swapped drama for another practical subject. - he does triple sciences.
He's end year 10 and finds time to practise his instrument, attend music groups and sports clubs. And has hopefully just done OK in end of year exams....so far one 9 and an 8 have been marked.

In my experience it sounds fairly standard for year 10 choices /GCSE. 8/9 subjects plus PHSE and PE done as compulsory but not examinable, unless specifically doing PE as a GCSE

It sounds fairly standard, with the music practice on top.

If it becomes too much, he can drop Drama later.

Late choice making?

Mine is doing triple science, ethics, design technology and history plus compulsory GCSEs

In my experience of several schools you seem to be missing one.
Many schools do this:
Compulsory -
Eng lang
Eng lit
Maths
Science (combined or triple)

Then 4 options -
Humanity (usually Geog or Hist, sometimes RE)
Language (often French, German, Spanish or Japanese it seems)
Free choice 1
Free choice 2

Then also PE and PSHE as non exam subjects.

The one I would query is drama. It can take up a lot of out of school time and is tricky to do very well in. A lot rests on the written papers rather than practical. A language (especially if native speaking or already familiar) might be a better choice. Is RPE compulsory as gcse , in many schools it would not be.

Is the practise time a 5 hour block in school or in their own time? My son practises an hour in own home so in 2 weeks he does 14 hours sometimes more. That's on top of his instrument lessons in school half an hour each week. He does similar subjects except drama, he does computer science instead and it's definitely doable.

See above my child also does Spanish.

How fluent is his spoken English? Drama includes performance.

His timetable will be full anyway @Bruennetzh , if you take out drama you will have to slot in something else. No frees as a rule in KS4.

My dd did similar (plus French not music practice) and it was fine. If drama is too much (is he a native English speaker?) then is there an MFL he has studied? If not I woukdnt suggest picking one up from scratch at this stage.

I too would query the value to your son of taking drama. A good friend’s daughter is a music and drama scholar so had to take both for GCSE. Performance wise she is truly brilliant in both but is not a natural essay writer. She found doing both subjects together a hard slog. My son is a drama scholar and adores performing and is also ok on the essay writing side of things, but the school strongly advised him not to take music as well because in his case there was no need and it would have been a huge amount of work for him.

Re public speaking and performing, there is a small element of this in DS’s English Language GCSE.

Can your son take a GCSE in your own language? Even if it has to be taken separately to what the school offers?

Similar to what DS chose, swapping music for a MFL and RE for geography. I was slightly dubious about drama, but he got a lot out of it and performing was good for his confidence - the teaching was great and they all achieved A* or A.

I wouldn't be paying fees for a school that forced religious study for GCSE, how invasive and weird - are you sure that's what they are doing?

Timetable looks fine though. In the age of AI, drama is an excellent choice as will teach presentation + self confidence, which are high value human skills

Drama is a strange one to add in that mix. DS did history and music and loved them, the critical thinking skills and content in History is huge. Music was a great relief kind of studying - almost like taking a break from studying and enjoying it.

Where’s Geography ? I would recommend Geography. RE is a bit unnecessary I feel. These days they can read a book about it and we live in a world with diverse enough people and cultures to have an awareness of it. No need to study it?

@HopelessEstateAgents it's not unusual for schools to timetable RS as a compulsory GCSE as schools have to have some element of it in the timetable anyway. It's not invasive and weird to learn about other religions (or your own). Many of us think it's useful to gain understanding of the world and its history. Plenty of non-believers take it.

Meant to say, my DD found drama GCSE a massive relief from the other subjects she took. she had a lovely group which helps for sure but she says it was like an oasis in her timetable on days she had it. It's not an odd choice at all.

Sounds a standard timetable to me.

You might want to work backwards and check there aren't any specific entry requirements for the A Level courses he is interested in.

Does he speak another language? I'd do a GCSE in that. Even if the school doesn't teach it, if you're fluent, it's a easy one to get under the belt and you can pay for the exam.

History, drama and RS are all quite content heavy.

Some state schools will have native speakers of other languages do a GCSE in their first language too, I know the one I worked at did and this was in a particularly deprived area so I'm sure it's something that a private school could arrange. I believe the students had minimal prep and it was not a timetabled option but they had to be fluent in reading and writing that language too.

@Clymene great minds!

Sorry, just read your OP again properly and see he has another language as his mother tongue. Definitely do a GCSE in that! I wonder if the school would let him do that a drop drama/a 10th GCSE in return for a more time practicing music and a guaranteed 8-9 in his language GCSE.

I was thinking the same thing. Nice to pick a subject just because you enjoy it.

DS did similar, replace music with PE and practise (competed at national level, so a lot of practise). Also did computer science, but not RE.

The practise requires timetabling and commitment but it should be do-able.

It's completely invasive, as the majority of kids are atheists. RE isn't the study of other cultures, it's the study of a limited section's of population's belief in gods.

A GCSE in other cultures would be absolutely wonderful but please don't dress the compulsory study of organised religion as this.