PE GCSE practical - help! Un

[Elizo]

Hi all,

DS is going into year 11. Heading for strong grades (7-9) in most subjects but PE looking like a car crash. Both the school and I tried to put him off it - you live and learn. He plays football out of school in a local team so that is one sport (although teacher said something about how the mark wouldn’t be high). At this point he doesn’t know what other sports to do. He is talking about the 800 or 1500m but surely he needs to train??! PE teachers both left but maybe I need to talk to new one asap. Any advice on how he might get not terrible practical marks at this point welcome. He should do well in theory so hoping he can not tank entirely, although we know it won’t be the grades he will be getting in other subjects. Any advice welcome.

Thanks

Can he ski? That’s an easy one to evidence if you can get to certain indoor slopes (must be snow not dry) as some offer a GCSE video service in a dedicated session know exactly what they have to capture.

800m is easy to arrange and evidence - but he’d need to research what should be shown for good marks.

I don’t think you need to talk to the new teacher - he does! And then only if he’s not getting a supportive answer, step in.

Climbing is a good one and most places have a climbing centre nearby , certainly easier than running the 800m

I had trouble linking it but if you Google Sports for GCSE you get a document that lays out al the potential sports and ay that can't go together like Rugby league/Union/7s

My son did 400 and 800 through AQA. From memory his time was about 2.35 for 800 which is nothing special and it was based on his fitness from football.

He will need 3 sports if AQA with 2 events if doing athletics.

School will be best placed to advise which sports to do.

You will have to evidence sports that are done outside of school.

Thanks. We don't ski as a family but he went with school and got on well. No idea where the nearest slope is and it would be hard to go regularly. 800m I'll suggest he looks at.

Thanks. Unfortunately because bots teachers left not sure what advice they will have at this point. Do you know what grade he got for the 800m? I have no idea. My son is a reasonable runner but nothing out of the ordinary...

Thanks. We did some climbing on holiday and he was reasonable. But presumably he would need to go regularly to evidence it for the GCSE??

would parkrun count towards athletics? You get a time and results are recorded on their system so you can see improvement and he could easily do some training and interval speed work midweek.

The marks seem to be absolutely bonkers all over the place.

Don't do swimming is my advice!

2 kids from my swim club, one my own dc, who've trained about 3 hours a week since they were about 8yo - so not massive in swimming terms but not nothing. Both on a par time wise with the effort put in. Anyway, one of these dc got a higher mark for ski-ing - he's been once for a one week holiday, and my dd is currently sitting on her highest mark being table tennis - which she has played precisely 4 times in her life.

My DS did GCSE PE - his sports were climbing (he was already doing this through explorers scouts) trampolining and football.

He had never done trampolining before and hated football but school organised these for him and he managed to get grade 7.

Dd also did it and her sports were gymnastics (outside school) and trampolining and netball in school. She also got grade 7

Ds2 did btec sport and only had 2 sports - his were babminton and rugby both arranged through school and both sports he hadn't done before but he managed a merit.

If the school is offering the GCSE they should know what required to get a student through the practical side so he needs to have a talk with whoever is dealing with it - as far as I can remember the evidence (video and written) needs to be submitted by March so he hasn't got long.

www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/physical-education/gcse/physical-education-8582/subject-content

The link gives the criteria required for each sport so it may help in deciding

He got 22 out 25 combined for 400 and 800 as need to do 2 events.

It's 10 marks for technical and 15 marks for how they would do in a race.

My son never ran a 400 his teacher just decided the events and based it on my son's general fitness and which events he thought my son would be best at.

The only sport my son is any good at is football. Luckily that's what he got moderated on.

He also did trampolining based on he could do a back flip and his teacher gave him 20 for his routine.

Thanks. So 400 and 800 counted as one? The exam board is OCR and he has to do one team, one individual and one other...trampolining could be a good shout, time is short now though especially as I think the afterschool interventions are going to pile on and he is playing football Saturday and Sunday..so it's more just muddling through someone with minimal practice

Thanks. I think they gave my DS some advice but it was a bit unrealistic that DS was going to pick up something other than football out of school. Now there are new teachers but hopefully they will be on it, as as you say, little time now

Probably best to check what OCR say for AQA had to 2 events for athletics.

Bit controversial but if all other subjects he's expected 7/8 so will have grades for next step. And assuming he does not want to do PE Alevel why stress about this one? One low grade will not harm his future....

How about cycling?

You're not wrong, I think that is why I am pretty slow off the mark to do anything, However it would be good for it not to be a disaster...better if he tries to do OK

That is an interesting idea. He likes cycling although only ever done it for leisure. Will suggest he looks at the spec

ohh that is a great idea - I do park run most weeks. However, it clashes with his football now...

When I did it - albeit 2 decades ago - you had classroom assessments in lots of sports, and they told you your best scores, plus you could submit an out of school sport. Mine were not the ones I would have guessed - I did surprisingly well in basketball, for example, despite being injured that half term and literally limping around the court dragging my leg behind me, because I could shoot accurately - so basically I did well in the skills test, and then hung out just outside the sector in the game and the boys passed to me because I could reliably get them a goal which turned out to be very mutually beneficial for all of our grades! I would never have put basketball in the top 3 and I remember laughing at the time when we got given all our scores for the different sports. So if it's an option, take all the opportunities for classroom assessments and pick the best, because it might not be the ones he would predict!

My son did football (the school did all the videoing etc). They also organised a cycling course which was done through school and they did the videoing. He then did sking without school involvement. We took lots of footage when we were in a resort as you have to show progression eg do the tasks on a blue, then a red then a black. He had to do the slalom etc at the snow centre which you can book a GCSE slot for with an instructor who will take the footage. It is all a bit of a faff as they have to put the footage together. Lots of examples on YouTube. Climbing is also popular and climbing centres probably do GCSE 'courses' to get the footage. Ds got a 7

I would imagine the school will stage something for those who are struggling with a third sport @Elizo - ds's mate didn;t do any team sports tho he was a keen athlete so he offered basketball played in school. DS did footy and athletics both of which he did outside school and then ? table tennis? Badminton? I'm not sure but the third was done in school.

He needs to ind out from school asap what they will help him with.

I would say tho if he is thinking of 400m/800m (quite different really as one is a sprint and one a middle-distance, strictly speaking) the chances for getting a properly (independently) recorded time are slim - it's a summer sport and you would struggle to find any meetings now - I was at one this weekend (I officiate) but this is the absolute tail-end of anything this summer. And of course next summer will be too late as events start in mid-April at the earliest.

DS threw discus and jav and I had to do loads of recording during the summer (meaning, May-June-July) of year 10 as you can't do long throws in the winter.

You can run 800m and indeed 400m indoors but even that might be a challenge as open events tend to be January onwards - cutting it a bit fine.

How about cross country tho? He would easily find local races to compete in. Athletic clubs are generally more than happy to have new runners in xc tho he might have to join the club first - there will be several races he can take part in between Oct and Dec and he will get times and be able to show progress. Further than 800m but lots of fun! Contact your local athletic club or county athletics association for more info.

Thanks @clary is it not enough for the school to record run times? I am a bit worried about complete change over of staff but we’ll see.,I am surprised so much is reliant on out of school activities/ parents. If I had looked into this a bit more I would have pushed him harder not to do it. But pretty pointless thinking that now!

i really appreciate all the input and am going to ensure there is a plan within the first couple of weeks of term

Ps @clary think cross country is a great idea. Am also wondering, as per previous post, if he could squeeze in a few park runs and if those times were sufficient evidence that would be one…