Help! My non arty dd has been given gcse art!

[Hairyfairy01]

So the last day of term and school have emailed to say my dd is doing art and design gcse. This was not one of her preferred options, even from that 'block'. She has never shown any interest in Art. School are ignoring my emails and calls. I did know this was a possibility a few weeks ago and made my views clear via email then and my dd was under the impression she would be doing food nutrition instead, which at a push is fine. She struggles at school academically and will find it hard to get 5 GCSEs as it is, this now seems like a wasted GCSE to me.

Am I right to be going a bit mad over this? Any advice in the best way to handle it? I do understand that not every child will get what they want and you can't please everyone. But this just seems like madness.

Yes I agree - deffo make a fuss.

Allocated history when would prefer geography, or food tech bc textiles didn't run - yep, fair enough. But allocated art (or music or tbh drama) when not creative and not interested in doing it - that's not OK. None of my DC would have wanted to take art, and only DD was interested in taking music.

Also it is a massive thief of time, even if you love it, so it's hardly a 'turn up to the lessons and get a grade' type GCSE (not that any are, but at least for, say, RE, you don;t have to do loads of extra work out of school apart from revision).

If she is going to struggle with GCSEs, does the school offer a hub/SEN option (not a free period, that's unworkable!) - my DS1 did fewer GCSEs and spent one option block time in the LS dept with others working on maths and Eng support. Is that an option?

Because your knowledge at the end of year 9 is no where near what it'll be at the end of year 11 or 13.

No one picks the subjects they're worst at in order to be a bit better, get mediocre GCSE results and then pick A Levels they're not good at in order to do a degree in something they've never studied, do they?

Is that how GCSE’s work? I thought you’d choose gcse subjects that played to your strengths?

I would definitely try to change it (possibly at the beginning of term in september)

It's really not a soft or easy option

If her choice is not available there really should be some discussion before nominating a GCSE she has no interest in and hasn't ever put down as a back up choice.

Absolutely! This is why I flunked my degree - I was terrible at maths so thought I ought to improve for, you know, an education, but alas, I didn't achieve as much as a Desmond. So now I'm floundering in the pool of unemployment wondering why I didn't choose to study a subject I found interesting and halfway doable...

In reply to the pp asking about taking GCSEs in subjects you are not good at...

I mean, if (for example) you yearned to learn a specific MFL and were offered the chance to take it ab initio, or had been studying it in KS3 and not made much progress, but were v keen to improve, then it might be a thought to take a GCSE tho you probs wouldn't get the best grade.

There are subjects where it is less of a thing to be "good at" them (I am thinking humanities, science to some extent) - if you can study then you will do OK. But I do think art (and as I said, music) is different. If you don't have a talent and are not interested then you won't get far.

Note I said 'interested' - if someone loves the subject, even if they are not great at it, that makes it worth taking. But I was always weak at art and did not enjoy it. Even now, given a creative task to do I am a bit flummoxed and need guidance. Art is not for me. Give me some biology to learn and yes I will have a go even tho it's not my passion.

I simply don’t understand the stance of “I understand not every child will get what they want”.

I expect every child to be able to choose and get the GCSE options they want.

I would be absolutely furious is this was a risk at my children’s schools and would be looking for an alternative school.

Teacher availability, timetabling, cost pressure.
If only 4 children want to do music, it may not be cost effective.
Of s food tech room fits 16 but 18 want to do it you can split to two classes of 9 or say 2 can't do it.
Pretty much all state schools will have some limitations somewhere in the system.

It's not always possible for students to get their first choices for numerous reasons. If a course is oversubscribed and there is no capacity in the timetable or teachers available to teach an extra class then unfortunately some children will be disappointed.

@Hairyfairy01

Which GCSEs will she be taking apart from that one, OP?

Will it be possible to get extra tutoring for her in the crucial subjects, such as Maths and English?

Yeh as others say
Timetabling clashes
Numbers on a course - max and min - no room for 32 in food tech; not going to run music with four students
Availability of teachers - want to run CS but teacher has left and we cannot recruit

That kind of issue. That's why most schools ask for some alternatives. This is not OK tho.

If you can’t change to something more suitable, tell the school to withdraw your daughter from the GCSE and she’ll spend the time in supervised study instead.

Seems a complete waste of time taking an art gcse if you’re no good at art.

I had to take Art (not my first choice) and it was incredibly time consuming! If you love art and have passion for being creative, that might be fine but it took a huge amount of time away from all my other GSCE subjects.

Agree with all those saying Art is a time thief. My Y10 spends more out of school time on it than all other subjects combined - I’m not exaggerating, but that can’t continue in Y11. It is her passion though.

So first point is I would push back. Being specific that you know it takes a lot of time may be more persuasive than just, “doesn’t want to”. If Food is off the table, push back on how she was one of those not to be included, ask about her “position” for any changes next term. Be the squeaky wheel.

However, if she’s stuck with it, here are some positives.
• Often the time thievery is because kids love it - plenty in my kid’s class are doing the bare minimum and scraping a pass
• If it’s actually “Art & Design” as you mention, don’t assume it’s Fine Art, mostly drawing and painting. A&D draws on textiles, photography and sculpture too, and possible 3D modelling though I’m not sure on the latter. It may be more interesting than she thinks
• it’s not all fine pencil detail photorealistic drawings even if it is Fine Art - if they do an Abstract topic, there’s lots of different skills to try (pour paintings, screenprinting…) which don’t require the same technical skill to get something from
• if you want to focus on other subjects, it’s an easier subject to just do the minimum than some others, e.g. no memorising or understanding type study for exams
• it’s quite different from academic or academic component course, so it’s a break in the week
• there is no cramming for exams
• the final exam is around early-mid April, so it’s all done before the main series, reducing pressure on that period

Absolutely not. Some people think that art is a relaxing subject. If you don’t like art it definitely not. Mu children hated art and couldn’t wait to give it up. They found maths relaxing

I don’t know any school that would allow that.
Maybe if things are pear shaped with Maths and English in Y11, but not as a choice at the start of Y10. That includes my cousin’s daughter’s school where she had 50% attendance due to MH issues and they would not allow anything to be dropped.
If you let kids say no to a subject (how many?) and go sit in the library, you’d have half the year in there! And another quarter, if their parents allowed it 😉

You genuinely think this is the point of GCSEs, do you? 🙄

This is my advice as well

Thanks for all the replies. I thought I might be going a bit OTT, but it appears not! To answer a few questions originally she wanted to do history, health and social care and sociology, with psychology as a back up. Unfortunately the way the options went she was unable to do sociology or psychology along with health and social care. She really wants to do health and social care so she was then given an option of history, health and social care and with food nutrition, art, music, engineering or PE. PEwas full (and she hates it), engineering would not be for her at all, she can't play music so she picked nutrition. However it appears that nutrition is also full so art is the next best choice. History is a firm favourite and dropping that would make no difference to this option 'block' anyway.

I'm trying to be positive about it, ie no revising near the time of exams as so much coursework is completed before hand, maybe a bit relaxing but I'm struggling. To be fair, her end of school report for art was good and she got a B grade, but Christ knows how. She has never shown any interest in art at home, but I appreciate things are different at school.

I would be reasonably ok with her having free periods instead so she can revise but this still seems unfair. Mainly because she may struggle to get 5 gcse pass grades as it is, so not doing a subject she likes may lower this chance even further. At the moment she wants to go to college, possible to do health and social care.

Tutors for subjects aren't an option due to finances.

She also does a sport to a reasonable high level outside of school for approx 18 hours a week. So I really am not sure where she will find the time to do all of this art.

I have rang and emailed the school today, year head, key stage 4 head and the art teacher. No response at all.

I'm hoping they might put her on the top of a waiting list for nutrition incase someone drops out. I have asked for this via email and left a message saying she will not be doing art. She enjoys cooking and she has an interest in nutrition due the her sport.

Thank you. Some definite positives.

I know, I’m equally shocked. I’m not around any children that are in GCSE stage in the UK but the notion that they can’t choose which ones to do sounds completely shocking to me.

So children can’t choose the subjects which will to some degree determine which careers and qualifications they are eligible for in the future? Eh? 🧐

DD's school offer this as standard to kids struggling academically, obviously in consultation with parents.

One options block is additional Maths and English support instead of an extra GCSE subject. DD was struggling so after a term in year 10 dropped the extra subject, others are offered that from the start.

They also put on additional classes straight after the end of the school day for the more able who want to do triple science instead of double.

It depends on the school

This is not education for the sake of self improvement, you can do that in your spare time. This is children's futures, they need qualifications and taking subjects they are not good at and will fail is daft (except the core subjects that are really necessary and everyone should do regardless).

When i was in school (and that was only 5 years ago!) you just got to choose your GCSEs and got exactly what you asked for... I can't imagine having to do a GCSE i didn't choose! Only restrictions we had were the basics like we had to do maths english and science, then we also had to pick 4 others.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to kick off about it, if she's given a subject she's not good at/had no interest in they’re just setting her up for failure and that's totally unfair.

@baital but that’s all about additional support. It’s the same at my children’s school. What I’m talking about is the PP who thinks you can just say no and send them somewhere for supervised self study. Not because they need to take other timetabled support classes, but just because they don’t want to do a subject.

I obviously only have anecdotal experience from a small group of friends and family, so maybe 10 secondaries. I’d be really interested to hear if some schools would allow it! I just don’t see it, for practical and policy reasons.