3rd option ?

[locket2009]

I have spent the night at my eldest Dd optima evening tonight. She gets 3 options and is taking triple science and a language for 2 of them. She is very academic and is has also been offered an extra 4th option (limited to the most able students ) to take another language.

This leaves her a 3rd option to take . She is debating between health and social, textiles, food or geography.

Skills wise she is definitely more academic than arty so I think she would probably find geography easiest but she is stuck because she wants to do something a bit more practical rather than academic subject. I think she really means a bit more fun!

I'm worried if she opts for food or textiles then it would be more difficult for her and take a lot of her time to get a good grade (she's very competitive and won't like it if she's not as talented as others and doing as well and is likely to spend time attempting to better herself, which I worry might be at the detriment of her other subjects ) But I understand why she wants a bit of a a change than another more academic subject .

Career wise she is looking to be a vet so has covered this with the triple science .

Can anyone advise regarding choosing a subject as, I suppose, a bit of a get out and more of a 'fun' subject ? And also the f you have experience with food or textiles whether you think it's doable if you're not arty ?

Geography would keep options more open.

Thanks @lizs that's what I think and am trying to persuade her towards. I'm definitely like her and more academic than arty so wanted confirmation I'm not just trying to push her to my preference !

My daughter is year 10 and chose Food Tech as her 4th option. She is really enjoying it and finds it a good balance of practical and theory. She also feels that she is learning a really useful life skill. One of the reasons she chose it is that her brother took 12 academic GCSEs with no coursework and was really overwhelmed when it came to the exams in the summer. She is pleased that she will only have one written exam with food tech and complete her coursework earlier in the year too.

Good point @purplerabbit007 I never thought about the amount of exams. She'll be doing 19 written exams plus the oral language ones without even considering the 3rd option so this is definitely worth thinking about !

Geography only keeps options open if she wants to take it for A level tho. Which sounds unlikely.

Textiles is a lot of practical work in terms of the things you have to make. Lots of DC used to take it at my old school and they came up with some impressive work. It was a former tech college tho hence high uptake. It's a lot less popular in general and in fact in DS1's year at his school it wasn't offered in the end.

I would suggest unless she has a passion for textiles, not that; food tech is more generally interesting and plenty of more able DC take it and again, produce some amazing work. I will never forget the beef wellington someone in my form made - he made the puff pastry <gasp>.

Health and social can appeal to less academic DC tho of course it is a perfectly good option. Not really fun tho.

When I was at school I chose health and social care so as to have one less exam heavy subject, I got a distinction but was very frustrated at the slow pace and bad behaviour in that class so it really put me off the subject. However I did encourage my 3 to do one fun one dc 1 chose economics (not my idea of fun but they loved it), dc2 chose sociology as it was something new dc3 chose photography and loved it. I guided them with other subjects to encourage them to widen future opportunities but with their 3rd said nothing as I wanted them to pick something for themselves and as it happens I think they all picked an option that was just their personality. I think if you've got the ones needed going forward the final option could be anything.

Another vote here for food tech. As well as being creative, it's still quite academic. My DD found she got marks for being inventive even if the end results were not as expected, particularly if she applied academic principles like proportionally reducing the ingredients.

Plus, longer term, vet applications I understand are very competitive, and if it were to go pear shaped (and I hope it doesn't) food science is a growing industry with degrees and apprenticeships for strong students.

If she liked it of course!

I was very academic at school and for one of our options we had to choose between Food, Textiles, Graphic design, Woodworking etc.

I chose Food and loved it. It’s the only subject I remember doing the coursework for (because I loved it so much). There was plenty of theory as well as practice and it’s a life skill of course! I also got an A* so it certainly didn’t hurt my overall grades. I’m definitely not arty or creative either.

I would say she should try and figure out which she would enjoy the most. For these subject types, I think the more you enjoy it, the higher chance you have of getting a good grade. Does she show an interest in cooking at home?

Thanks everyone she seems to be ruling out textiles now which I thinking for the best . I have advised her to speak to both of the other subject teachers when they have more time than last night and look at the coursework again for both before she decides.

The 'fun' subjects are rarely fun at GCSE. Endless pointless coursework, stress and boring stuff to learn. One of my DD's friends made ONE actual physical thing in textiles during two years. A cushion. I'm sure it was a lovely cushion, but still.
I'm team Geography.

Only a cushion - was that for GCSE? I’m shocked. Students taking textiles at my school (mostly but not all girls) would design and then create amazing prom dresses and the like.

Yes, GCSE. Old-style GCSEs from 8/9 years ago. They used to make prom dresses there too, but was clearly too much hassle and stress so the teacher went for cushions. DC's friend felt so cheated of her time spent.

My (very academic) son took Food Tech - it was the first year of the new presentation so 2018. He really enjoyed it - quite a lot of theory and a 3 hr practical on a theme (his was French cooking - he made a Soufflé, a quiche with asparagus and hollandaise and chocolate eclairs). he didn't find it too onerous and got a Grade 9 - and a lot of life-skills into the bargain!

This may make you laugh @locket2009. My goddaughter was in the same position a number of years ago and opted for food science as she quite enjoyed cooking and thought it might be fun messing about in a kitchen as a break from her more academic options.

Wind forward 12 years and she now has a PhD in food science and lives abroad carrying out research for a very well-known drinks brand.

Ha ha @thing47 that would certainly be of more benefit to me than if she ends up being a vet

One thing which you may or may not consider pertinent is the comment a few years back from a ('human') surgeon that in his opinion, the lack of manual dexterity amongst the current crop of medical students was both noticeable and a disadvantage...?

Found it...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-46019429.amp

Are any of them BTEC? If so I'd say take that one (or OCR etc) only because that can be finished early so can give her more time revising for the GCSEs.

While I assume health and social care is focused on humans rather than animals, if the teaching etc on it is ok, and the other students are reasonably interested, it might be interesting and helpful to a would-be vet. Is there coursework, and several assessments rather than just exams at the end of year 11? How many subjects will she be doing GCSEs in? My DS2 (currently year 10) has chosen to do BTec Enterprise but I'm a bit concerned the organisation of the course leaves a bit to be desired, and DS2 is a bit homework resistant. For 6th form applications, some of DS1's were based on the best 8 results, and he would have been ok anyway but if he hadn't managed to pull his English Lit up to a 6 (and I think this was lack of interest not ability) and get 7-9 in everything else, taking 9 GCSEs does give space for one weaker result not to drag others down.

My academic DD1 has just chosen and is taking art & drama along with triple science, a humanity and a MFL. She said they'd talked to the year 10s who recommended that they gave something on their timetable that they look forward to.

So I'd say your DD already has a great spread for uni so would go ahead with a "fun" subject.

I'm not sure whether health and social is a btec but seems quite likely . I think I'll just go along with whatever she decides now as as people have said she has a good choice of academic subjects so it's probably not going to make a big difference. Thank you everyone for your suggestions