How many GCSEs as standard?

[JustMarriedBecca]

Just starting to look at secondary schools. I'm confused as to the standard number of GCSEs taken these days. I don't want to send her to a secondary school and find out three years down the line they don't take the standard number of GCSEs.

The schools in our area all take 9 GCSEs - state and private.

When I took mine, we took 10 or 11 (old style 11+ grammar) but that was years ago. However, my nephew took 12 GCSEs and that was only two years ago. He doesn't live in our area though but is London suburbs.

Can anyone shed any light? I've had a look at the schools website and downloaded their Guided Choices booklet for this year. Nothing in it about additional GCSEs but I also don't want to be THAT parent who asks about GCSE choices on a Year 7 open evening because their kid has decent standardised scores to date.

10 plus a further maths type qualification maybe if top set and maybe the HPQ which is 1/2 GCSE equivalent in a Grammar , 9 in private .
edited when I realised I can’t count !

10 at DS grammar school
mandatory
2xEng
maths
3x science
1 MFL
1 humanities
then 2 choices

Thanks, for suggestions…very helpful.

10 as standard at dc’s school ( English counted as 2), but some kids opt to do 9 and have extra study time which is supervised.

@TeenDivided makes a good point about kicking the tyres on now the choices work. Some schools have limited numbers doing triple science and blocks can make more than one MFL tricky

Girls did 9 each, son did 10.

All at selective grammars.

My DCs did 10, both sat GCSEs in the last 4 years. In my view 9 would have been plenty. They had to do maths, English lang and lit, science (both mine did double), RE, a MFL, and then 3 options, with emphasis on a humanity and a ‘fun’ subject. I thought it was a bit much for both of them, though both coped fine. Not relevant but I did 8 O levels in prehistoric times.

Norm is 9 at dds school if doing double science but those doing triple do 10. There is an option to do a second MFL as a twilight after school which dd is doing so she's got 11.

In year 11 the top 30 in maths are offered Further Maths as an additional GCSE so some of the most able students can do 12 if they want to.

On the other end of the scale some less able students can do as little as 4 but do life skill classes as well.

A language isn't compulsory nor is RE and they also offer Btecs in business, child care and sport.

Non selective comp but one with grammar aspirations!!

DD's school are:

English x 2
Maths
Science - Combined or Triple
Language
History or Geography
Visual or Performing Art
RE or Citizenship (taken year early)
1 option (this would be science if you opt for Triple)

So total of 10

Those with SEN have the option to drop either the Humanity or Language if it's a major struggle. There are also BTECs as options which have same value as a GCSE but no exam which can lessen pressure.

I don't think you need more than 10 max. I know some schools that focus on 7 or 8, and for matriculation for university you only need 5 including English and Maths.

10 is standard in our school but at least a third of the school take 11 by doing further maths at gcse too.

Anywhere between 10-12 depending on if you do additional maths and classical Greek.

OP I would focus on the choice of GCSE target than the number ie can they do History AND Geography or do they only do 1? How many MFL do they offer at GCSE? Do they offer only dual science or can DC choose all 3? What are the other options ie are there any subjects such as Latin on offer?
To me these are the things that matter, rather than the overall number.

10 or 11 I'd you do further maths here

Dd will be doing 11 but that includes further maths which is taught within the regular maths lessons.

@JustMarriedBecca , look at how they do RE. It's a compulsory subject in key stage 4, so some schools make it a compulsory GCSE and others don't.

Our school did the AQA RE "short course" GCSE (technically half a GCSE) in year 10, then none in year 11. So my DC's have 10.5 GCSEs (though think of it as 11). Other students in their cohort who didn't do triple science have 9.5 GCSEs.

You only need 8. Even the most competitive sixth forms just look at top 8 results.

As long as he passes them all (going from his mocks he really ought to!) DS will get 11 GCSEs and further maths. He attended our local state school

one of mine did 10 GCSEs which is standard at their school

other did 10 then dropped art in yr 11 as it was extremely time consuming and stressful so he did extra maths so got 9 GCSE’s (got an A in AS exam this year so it helped!)

other one is going into yr 11 and is doing 7 plus combined science which I think is 2 more so 9 GCSEs

English x 2
Maths
Science x2 or 3
R.E
3 x options subjects

So 9 or 10.

Ds is taking music as an extra but has to do it after school as it isn't offered as part of the main curriculum .

The average taken by 16 year olds in 2023 was 7.81, the median was 9. On mn, the demographic is skewed towards the south and grammar schools where they all take 11 or 12 GCSEs and mostly get all A stars. In the rest of the country, 8 or 9 is the most common.

My son did 6, he was educated at home after a period of school refusal.

that was enough to get him into 6th form college and he’s about to start at UClL in September, he also was interviewed by Oxford for his chosen subject.

The point I’m making is that the number of GCSEs is not going to hold a capable young person back, so I’d make a decision based on other criteria.

This. DD did triple science so gets an individual grade for each science rather than a combined grade. She is pleased about this as she finds one science much harder than the other two. Her school do the Ebac so she had to take a MFL which left only one humanity and one creative subject. She's done 10 altogether. DD1 did 11 a couple of years ago but school have scaled back since. Middle sets at the school do 8 GCSES.

However, do those national figures include BTECs and other qualifications taken in lieu of GCSE options?

The question in the original post should really be "how many KS4 qualifications?" not "how many GCSEs?"

I don't think it will make much odds.
A standard school offer will be 8-10, with highly selective schools offering up to 11, 12 at a massive push. Some schools 1 or 2 of those may be able to be BTECs for more practical subjects.

Within that however there will be kids who are just in mainstream who will be offered slightly fewer or may drop some. My own DDs both dropped 1 option, and then in fact DD2 was only put in for 4 having missed y11. They are the kids who lower the mean, and if special schools are included in the stats too it will have more of an impact. (Like the average human having less than 2 legs).

The median being 9 sounds 'right' to me, I expect it is the mode too.