Last minute panic - number of GCSEs?

[Ilikecheeses]

I’m about to submit the secondary form and a friend of mine mentioned they weren’t putting ‘x’ school and ‘y’ school because they only do 8 GCSEs and have one free option. I’ll admit I had a look at what range was offered to make sure it was balanced between academic/practical/some vocational but I didn’t look in detail at the number of GCSEs they allow their pupils to do so it’s come as a bit of a shock to me that the nice ranges of subjects I looked at is completely pointless.

School 1 - 8 GCSEs
English x2, maths, Science x2, French, history or geography, one free choice.

School 2 - 9 GCSEs
English x2, maths, science x3, French or German, history or geography, one free choice.

School 3 - 8/9 GCSEs
English x2, maths, science x2/3, an EBacc subject from french, German, history, geography or computer science, 2 free choices.

There are some other schools which offer 9 and have 2 free options. But the ones on my list, which are the ones mentioned above, all seem pretty similar to me. School 3 is more flexible and doesn’t insist on EBacc, the other 2 insist on EBacc. Does it matter? Or is this pointless worry? Should I stick with what I originally planned which was chosen based on other factors?

I’d be concerned if school 1 doesn’t offer triple science tbh.

But eight like that with one choice is not unusual sadly. It’s so they can get better grades. I’m not a fan but it’s certainly not the only factor.

I mean it shouldn’t be the only factor in your preference if school! If 1 and 2 are better in other ways then that weighs in too.

Tbh it seems early to fret over it. If two schools seem equal it is perhaps a tie breaker, but things can change in a few years and much will be down to timetabling especially a "free" choice,

I would rule out school 1 because of the lack of triple science. Makes it much harder to do science at A Level and that cuts off lots of good career choices.

Many school are moving to dual science as results are better and there is a difference if about thirty mins of content that is relevant to A-level science.

I would prefer two options but presumably this is three years away? Any school could change in this time. My dh’s school returned this year to their pre pandemic offer but the sister school in the academy doesn’t plan to do this for two years.

Only doing 8 GCSEs would be a concern for me if your DC is academic.

You seem to only need 6 or 7 GCSEs to get into 6th form or college but 8 seems low. My DD is voluntarily doing 11 as it includes triple science and further maths.

I would rule out any school that only offered double science - but that’s because my dc’s CAT scores are very high and I wouldn’t want to limit their science options later on. For other dc option 1 may be perfect. Depends on the child.

School 1 does offer triple science. It’s part of the free choice group.

How able is your child?
If able then only offering double science could be an issue.
If less able or dyslexic, mandating an MFL could be an issue (sorry Clary).

Purely from that I'd go for school 3.

However schools do regularly change how they do the GCSE options quite frequently, so what they offer now my be very different from what they offer in 3 years time.

But eight like that with one choice is not unusual sadly.

This really came as a shock to me. I know there have been changes and GCSEs have got harder, but I remember doing 12 so 8 seems so little.

I appreciate this is also 3 years away and things could change between now and then. I just was taken so by surprise at it all.

How would it limit their options?
My DC is not doing triple and has been assured that double will be fine for any A Level around here.
I would be a bit concerned at only doing 8 if three of these were science.

Ah ok. Still that's not great as it means your dc if they choose triple, cannot do any of:

Art, resustant materials, graphics, music, PE, business, food tech, textiles, drama, RE, computer science...

most DC IME want to take aat least one of those. I do feel sad about how creative subjects are bring so squeezed (and RE and CS aren't even the dreaded creative anyway).

It really depends on your dc, how academic they are, what their strengths are.

we’ve not put our closest school as one of our 4 choices as it doesn’t offer 3 sciences at all as an option (2 of our 4 do offer separate sciences, but only if a student is strong at science), and we were between 2 schools for our first choice, but our dc is quite interested languages and the one we’ve put top is the only one that teaches 2 languages from year 7 until gcse options.

so what are your dc’s strengths, interests etc. you are unlikely to move a settled child in year 9 so please don’t think “it’s ages away”. This is picking the school your dc will do GCSEs in.

Haha 😂 @TeenDivided noooo I don't think it's a good idea to make everyone do MFL! I'd happily teach a weaker student who was keen,but an able one who hates it...not so much.

But that's a point actually- tho hopefully if there were issues such as dyslexia the school would have some flexibility on mandatory MFL.

A very well regarded school near me has only offered eight for ages, only French fir MFL and one choice. Tjo I thjnk some are offered triple.

My younger academic DC took 10 inc triple as a streamed set. Less able students took double and did 9. Not many offer 12 now. It would be a lot of work.

I would say DS was probably average to above average. He’s bright and inquisitive but not a genius. No SEN or anything. No idea what he will do on to do. He like a variety of things at the minute which are constantly changing. He’s tried theatre group, cubs, recorder club at school, football, cricket. Nothing seems to have keeps his interest very long other than theatre group and recorder club. So I would say we probably would want something that indulges these interests.

Schools on the list were chosen based on welcoming atmosphere, behaviour of pupils, proximity to home, how much I agreed or disagrees with some of their policies, pastoral care, extra curricular offering, whether DS seemed comfortable in the environment and whether or not they actually use the flashy facilities they were showing off. I don’t know whether that was the best way to choose but that’s what we have done.

Also looking at your options - school 3 is the only one where your child could do Art and Music, or Art and DT, or Computer Science and DT. Etc.

So if you have a child that’s stronger at practical /creative subjects like art/music/DT (DT usually includes food tech), they will only be able to take one to GCSE- this hasn’t really been a massive issue for us with our dcs and picking secondary schools, but for some parents it does come as a shock that their dcs can’t carry on to gcse the subjects they are strongest in.

And if a school doesn’t offer a subject at GCSE, (or A level for that matter,) the stronger teachers in that field are less likely to want to teach at that school.

Again doesn’t matter for many families, but worth thinking about your child’s interests and strengths.

It does seem odd not to offer triple science. However, it does not limit A Level choices. It’s the same with further maths, although that did surprise me.

Our DC - GCSEs 2022 - did 10. Science 2, French, German, History, English 2, Maths and Music. Most schools round here offer 2 languages, although majority of students will only choose 1 and go for Product Design, Computer Science, Business etc.

Ignore this, taking dual award science does not prevent A level science study. Some schools only offer dual award or only let the brightest pupils take 3 separate sciences. Do not let this affect your choice and check that advice given out on here is accurate as this post is simply not true.

Hmmm, I’m starting to think school 3 needs bumped up the list. I can certainly see the advantages in having the flexibility.

School 2 has lots of connections to the theatre and lots of extra curricular theatre and arts going on, but equally so does school C. Both of these schools offer music and performing arts at GCSE.

I am not too fussed about double or triple science. That said, I don’t know whether or not DS would take to sciences if not at this stage so it does seem good to keep the options open.

I’m starting to go off school 1 based on these factors…. It’s still going on the list though, even if it is last, it’s too late to start worrying about which to put on the list again, if I had to do that my head would explode 🤯

Is maths not 2 GCSEs now? Or is that just a Wales thing?

I am taking a different perspective - I would not rule out school one. If he loves science he and do two sciences and take his option as the third science.
One issue is if he wants to do medicine I think he needs a 7 or 8 in at least 8 gcses or something. My children's schools offer 10 gces - I think the reduce gcses make more sense. In fact I think the two sciences makes more sense because if a child is not good at science and ends up in the combined science class they still do the same study hours as a triple science child but end up with 2 gcses. Better to actually just do 2 gcces than combined science I think,

Not school 1

For schools 2 & 3, does your DC like languages? Some do, some don’t. Ebacc doesn’t matter in the slightest, what matters is getting the best grades you can from the subjects you’ve chosen. Language are harder to get top grades in and if your DC isn’t keen I’d go for school 3.

Sixth form generally wants 5 gcse at grade 5 or above for entry although some subjects want higher grades eg maths and physics.

The other deciding factor is where does your DC want to go? Have you been to the open days?

@ABCXYZ17 thanks for the advice to ignore me, but it is factually harder to thrive at A Level science if you have done 2/3 of the syllabus that others have covered. I didn’t say it made it impossible, just much harder!

Double science still teaches all three sciences and leaves the option open to do all three at Alevel if they wanted. Some of the posts here are simply wrong.