Secondary schools asking kids to drop GCSE subjects

[lililililililili]

I have heard about this happening in a girls’ school nearby, wondered if it’s a common thing for schools to ask children to drop a 10th GCSE subject. Or not letting them choose one if the school deems child will not achieve good enough results. A tutor I know was not fond of that particular school for that reason.

Which schools are notorious for doing this? Should I look carefully and closely at the number of pupils vs grades reported? I would not want my child to be blocked by the school because DC will only get a 7 that is not great for the school.

We are in SW London.

Apologies my child is not at a secondary yet so my assumptions or understandings of the process may sound very daft, which is true!

You are only allowed nine GCSEs plus an extra (not GCSE) like an Arts Award or Business thing at my daughter's (independent) school.
If they want to do more they either have to do it in their own (like a native language) or in Y10.

If a child is struggling then surely it is better to drop a subject and focus on the 'more important' ones. This does happen in schools sometimes. Usually as a coping mechanism. Don't criticise it until you've had a child who struggles.

A friends son dropped many to focus on Math, English and a couple of others. He had extra support at school during the lessons he had dropped.

Sounds like hearsay. Not uncommon to choose more subjects in year9 then reduce though. Taking 8/9 is the norm.

Taking 8 or 9 is the norm. 10 is a lot. GCSEs are difficult, why would you want your child to suffer through one for 2/3 years if they weren't up to par with it?

I have never heard of state schools doing this (or exactly this). My DCs' school would advise weaker DC to take fewer GCSEs so they could spend one option slot in learning support working on core skills and their CV (my ds did this) but that is not really the same thing at all.

Schools I have worked in will work hard to enable a student to take subjects they want, tho I have come across situations where a student was really struggling with my subject (MFL) and a mutual decision was taken for them to drop it. This was always led by the student tho (ie they or their parents asked).

Never heard of a school banning DC who won;t get a 7! Mind you in the world of London top-performing private schools who knows.

My younger two took 10 GCSEs btw - at their school anyone taking triple does 10.

No my point is not about doing many subjects but more focus on being asked to drop subjects that are not going to help the school’s performance. Probably not easy to tell but doing so for the child’s best interest vs for the school’s ranking is a different approach. To be honest I didn’t even know what number of GCSE subjects are recommended nowadays.. I didn’t grow up here.
I guess I just don’t want a situation where my child wants to do or try something and is discouraged because it may impact the school’s results negatively

Choosing 9-10 to reduce later voluntarily and being asked not to take the subject is a totally different thing in my opinion

I think what most of us are saying is that a student would only be advised to drop a subject if they were going to do so badly that it would be counter-productive tbh. Like, they were going to work and work but the best they would achieve was a 1 or 2. And even then - it's a PITA for schools as they have to accommodate that student elsewhere.

I never heard of anyoen being asked to drop as they were only going to get a 6! I think it's probs hearsay OP.

Helping the school performance is not a reason they'd be asked to drop a subject. That gets sorted at the point where choices are decided really. Schools who are trying to game the stats will be designing option blocks that severely limit choice in favour of forcing kids to do subjects that count the most in 'buckets'. This is really not as common as Mumsnet will have you think though.

Thanks for the inputs so far. I would be interested to know which schools tend to limit choices but good to hear it won’t be so common :)

I’ve never heard of a school limiting choices but I’ve had a couple of friends whose children have autism, and their children have been able to drop one or two after a time to give them extra maths or English tuition and core skills. Most schools offer nine as standard, ten if the child does triple science instead of double. Some might also encourage the top maths set to do further maths as an additional.

Schools’ websites will state either 9 GCSEs or more (schools do 10/11/12) and the options available. A levels: some want 8 in Maths or Triple sciences GCSEs to do A levels etc.

Not common at GCSE though it is at A-Level

Opposite at my DC's school - the school really don't want students to drop subjects as it causes gaps in their timetable which have to be filled by "something" - even if it's just finding someone to supervise them.

Schools often work the other way - they don't allow students to take subjects unless they are sure they will get a very good grade. Triple science is a very common one here - local school, for example, only allow the top 10% to take it, which means unsurprisingly that their results are very good.

Usually if they’re ‘limited’ it pertains to the choice of subjects, not the number of them. They are often put into options blocks but this is to do with timetabling. At A Level it is common to specify a certain grade requirement to be allowed to take the subject and schools might suggest 4 to some pupils and 3 to others (this can also be because of subject choices or ability/workload).

I would not want my child to be blocked by the school because DC will only get a 7 that is not great for the school.

Are you referring to private/selective schools? Most comprehensives would consider a 7 to be very good :)

sorry if misread this but in your original post you said example of her dropping if she’s only going to get a 7.
A 7 is amazing . It’s an A in old speak. No school would worry about that I reckon. It’s the grade 2s and 3s .

Not in London but a grammar school near me encourages kids to drop an "option" subject if they are predicted a 6 or lower.
Presumably it's so the school keeps its good results record.
I have only heard this anecdotally and the kids did drop the subject (in all cases it was a language), but I am not sure what would happen if they did want to keep doing it.

My son is taking 11 but I think he's going to drop further maths as he's finding it all too much and isn't planning to take maths A Level anyway. Around half of his set are likely to drop further maths at this point.

At his school children who are persistently absent, or not working at a level where it's likely they are going to pass maths and English by this time in year 11 are generally asked to drop less important subjects. A friend's daughter dropped GCSE PE as she was predicted a grade 3 in Maths and they wanted her to do additional lessons and this was the way they can fit it into the timetable. It worked, she got her maths grade 5.

They don't really need to do ten GCSEs. DD1 went to a super-selective girls grammar and did nine (their usual number). DD2 has been struggling with school attendance, anxiety and ADHD since Y7 and we/she requested to drop a GCSE so that she could have free periods at school and better manage anxiety, workload and homework, so she is doing seven.

I think generally, unless it means falling way below what they are capable of, dropping a subject is a blessing. But of course it should always be agreed and not just unilaterally ordered.

There are definitely situations where a choice if subject might be discussed and a child dissuaded from choosing it - triple science us the one that springs to mind the most.

And yes, if a child is struggling, and dropping a subject will free up space to focus on other subjects, I can see it being suggested.

However, a school that would do this for a grade 7 kid is probably not where I'd send my child. I'm thinking a child who is likely to fail a GCSE is best dropping it to focus on securing a 4 in English and maths.

London Grammars have more than 10 subjects entry per students on average, selective privates schools have entries from 9 to 11 subjects. The latest data should be available at school websites.

The less the subjects the better look overall result for the schools.

I went to a state grammar school (outside London) and this definitely happened when I was at school 30 something years ago. It wasn't allowed in the core subjects but might happen in say RE if someone was predicted an old GCSE grade D or E. Below a C and they didn't want it to show in their stats. Was pretty shocking at the time, no idea if still happens now.
Regarding the subject number, my daughter goes to a London comp and the standard number of GCSEs to take at her school is 10, though a fair few kids do a community language as well so end up with 11.