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.

I agree with others - if he's interested in opera singing specifically then both drama and European languages are something he'd need training in at some point. Definitely try to get advice from the school before finalising his subject choices, I'm sure it's in their interest to help you "get it right" (though several combinations would probably work fine). Good luck!

I totally agree with this. My kid's school is doing compulsory RE and I'm not happy about it at all. The school has chosen it because a lot of the kids are religious, so they will do well and it's good for their stats. My kids are aethists, so they are on a back foot already. I think it's fine to teach RE for 3yrs and then have occasional lessons in KS4, but to have to revise it for GCSE is not on. Don't need a GCSE in RE to gain understanding of the world and history, there's lots of ways to do this.

Thank you @DataColour - sometimes I wonder if the entire education system has been body snatched when it comes to the teaching of minority held beliefs at the expense of a broader, more inclusive perspective

I really hope GCSE RE turns out to be more philosophy, ethics type thing, like pp are saying for my kids sake. So far up till the end of year 9 all they've been learning is hard facts about religions (made up stories right?!), and they are boring as hell if you are a non-believer!!

Hi, OP, my daughter studied at a similar type of school except she was a dance specialist. The school had quite a few international students. We also know children who were music students.

She took 9 GCSE subjects then daily dance classes were scheduled into the timetable. She also took private singing and LAMDA (acting) classes in the school day.

The things I notice from your set up is:

You say double or triple science. Is triple science an extra timetable slot? Some schools schedule double and triple in the same timetable slot which means the triple students go at a very fast pace. If your child is not used to the English curriculum they may struggle with that as it is a LOT of content to learn.

Is drama a GCSE? Drama GCSE is great but it is very time consuming, the group performance element especially takes a lot of extra rehearsal time.

Incidentally my daughter is the biggest atheist I know but GCSE RE was one of her favourite subjects and she also chose to take RS for A level. A lot of the content is philosophy/ethics based.

I notice there is no language in those options. Is that because your son is a native speaker of another language perhaps?

You say it is a cathedral school. I have a friend with a music specialist child at a cathedral school beginning with W. If it's the same one I can ask her how it all works.

Also my husband trained as an opera singer at a conservatoire. He did not study a language at school. Italian classes at conservatoire consisted mostly of pronunciation guides.

If your son is already bilingual in English and Mandarin I wouldn't prioritise adding a language GCSE. (I'm a modern languages graduate by the way.)

Mandarin GCSE won't be massively useful in terms of CV / job / uni applications when he's actually a native speaker, which counts for a lot more!

Having said that if you're worried about his workload then if he has the option of doing Mandarin GCSE in place of another subject that might be worth considering as an easy option.

Drama GCSE is wonderful for public speaking and confidence. Schools like this should build in rehearsal time for drama. Mine loved it but their school was brilliant at it. So do check the quality of teaching but if other dc get high grades, it’s worth the effort. However bear in mind he has two arts subjects and no MFL. In his case, if he likes drama, stick with it for his future confidence and possible career.

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you so much for all the posts!
@PresentingPercy @Pythonesque We will definitely get advice from the school before finalizing the subjects. We do think drama is brilliant for public speaking and confidence, but if too much rehearsal is involved for Music and Drama, then he probably needs to drop drama at the start or later.
@sevenbyseven You are right, if he needs one easy A*, then GCSE Mandarin will be taken into account, otherwise native Mandarin will count.
@Comefromaway We don’t know if triple and double science in the same time slot and need to find out. The workload of Drama is one of our concerns. @DataColour @HopelessEstateAgents The REP course consists of two parts: 1. Beliefs and teaching: Christianity and Islam 2.Themes: Religion Peace and Conflict, relationships and families, not sure how much philosophy content it will be. @Comefromaway Yes, it’s the school you are thinking of. If you can give me some feedback from your friend’s child it will be very helpful. You are absolutely right, for opera singers, the phonics part will be enough. If my DS is younger, I think learning a new European language is great, but at this stage, it might take him a lot of time and effort.

Hi, @Comefromaway brought this to my attention as my DC is a specialist musician at the same school.

Music commitments will vary slightly by department but regardless are pretty full on and are prioritised even through exam season with minimal allowances made.
I don't disagree with this- just pointing it out for you to be aware of as they can be overloaded if choosing too many content heavy subjects.

My DC did music, drama, French, English (x2), double science and maths. This was enough. We negotiated out of RPE.

Double science gets less classroom time than triple. But doesn't stop them choosing science A Levels later.

Drama was actually a good option as only one exam, the rest was either coursework or assessed before the main exams started. So we found it lightened the load a lot.

I would strongly suggest 2 practice blocks as their music lessons are generally scheduled in these blocks to they can lose 3 hours worth of scheduled practice to actual music lessons which leaves limited time for independent practice. There is quite high demand for practice rooms in evenings / weekends - there is a booking system but your kid needs to be pretty organised and dedicated to regularly find time outside of their scheduled practice. Life is busy (and fun!). Not finding enough practice time was a frequent issue for my DC and they opted for 2 blocks...

Honestly, to get the most out of life as a specialist musician I would recommend not over doing the GCSE's.

One more note on drama - it's every bit as important to my DC as music (they will actually be a double scholar in 6th form). The standard of drama teaching and productions at the school are outstanding. It's a lovely department and my DC is as at home there as they are in the music department. If your DC loves performing arts / drama, then they won't find it a burden.

As others have said though, GCSE isn't all about acting. There is considerable amount of content and a lot of essay writing. My DC is an experienced and talented actor/performer but a top grade isn't guaranteed for them as they may not score so highly on some of the written elements.

I guess it depends on why your child wants to take the subject.

I don’t really think the rehearsal time for gcse drama is that onerous. What takes time is doing school plays and orchestra! The things that are not examined but accompany their choices. I would make sure he’s with a good group that are not messing about. Our school had amazing focussed drama. The DC wanted to do it. That makes a huge difference.

@PresentingPercy very true, the rehearsals will take a lot of time and focus, and also the drama group will make a big difference. Thank you for pointing them out. @doesanybodyhaveamap very useful information, from parents of the same school. I have had brief talk with my son about what he is going to do in the future, he might want more academic GCSEs, but as a specialist music student, he does need to consider the music related workload. We will definitely talk with the school at the start of the term to make adjustment. Thank you so much!

It's a long story. This school gave the most bursary compared to other offers my son has got. When the GCSE options came to us, it's already the end of the term and the school is closed, so we had to pick based on the GCSE guide, which doesn't give as much first-hand information as here in mumsnet. We will talk to the school at the start of next term to finalize the options.

Very practical advice, thank you! It's true, very hard for us to assess how the timetable is going to look like from overseas. When my son is in the school, he will have a better sense of what to stick to, and what to drop. We will also rethink the options picked and have a discuss with the school. Thank you again.

I think what Testina doesn’t perhaps realise is that this isn’t just a music scholarship at a normal private school but a government designated specialist music school centre of excellence (UK students would be funded by something called an MDS award). It’s one of the musical equivalents of the Royal Ballet School.

if you decide to go down this route you don’t choose the school, they choose you.

I am surprised they left gcse options this late. Has DS had a talk on choosing? Ours did. I know it’s difficult but were you not invited? Ours was just before Easter I think.