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

My understanding (but boards will vary) is that you need to have evidence of achievement - bc DS threw discus and jav which can't be done in the winter we had to use his year 10 summer throws. I guess it depends on what the school is happy to evidence.

Most students (well pretty much all IME) taking PE GCSE do at least one sport out of school, that's why they want to take it (bit like music for example). If your lad does football then that's a good start. Like I say, DS offered two sports he did out of school. If you rely totally on school I guess you have less leeway and autonomy over what is submitted. DS knew how good he was at the throws; his mate was a really good 100m runner.

Also some sports (skiing, horse riding) can't be done in school obvs.

Yeah I am just a bit surprised the school hasn’t rounded up the parents and explained what is required. My DS was sporty but like clockwork became much less engaged when he started the GCSE. But at least he has football, as you say, and if he wants to get a reasonable grade he is going to have to absolutely nail the theory.,

I assume you have looked at the spec but here it is for the NEA in case you haven't:

https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/234827-gcse-guide-to-non-exam-assessment.pdf

Cross country cannot be offered with athletics; for xc a flagged and guided course needs to be run and it must be a competitive situation. You need to film it as well. For athletics you need to offer two disciplines and again, they must be assessed in competitive situations - so as I say, might be a bit hard to achieve now unless you can do some indoor meetings.

It’s really kind of you to help like this! How do you film the cross country? Just the end??

Btw DS's school never rounded up parents and told them - I think at 15-16 it's up to the kids to flag what needs to happen. Certainly DS told me what to so (I filmed a lot of discus that summer!).

I was careful at a recent meeting not to walk in front of someone filming javelin and they laughed ruefully and said "GCSE PE" lol.

I guess if PE teachers have left that doesn;t help but they should have flagged this to the kids a year ago IMHO.

How you film xc - hmm good question! You can't film it all after all haha. Maybe just the start, then find a good spot to film that you can easily get to, then the finish? The routes usually double back and zig zag about so that would be easy enough.

Climbing. I remember it being a hugely popular sport for GCSE PE. Schools take kids for a couple sessions and then they do their practical.

Yeah my DS has pretty much no idea what is required although it is possible they told him and he didn’t take it in. He said he mentioned athletics to them and I think it would be a big ask for him to independently find a club/ competitions and clock it needs to be done in the summer. Maybe other DCs are up to that but my just 15 DS is not!

https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/physical-education/gcse/physical-education-8582/scheme-of-assessment/non-exam-assessment-nea-practical-performance-in-physical-activity-and-sport/activities-criteria/rock-climbing this the AQA criteria for rock climbing practical. I know that at my DCs school they used to all get in a mini-bus and go together with school but if your DS is doing this independently maybe get him and a mate to do it together if possible. The examination criteria are quite lenient for climbing I think because it’s not one of those sports that everyone’s done or has had some experience in. You can get climbing lessons and passes although I’m not sure what that’s like money wise.

Thank you so much!

https://trekco.com/outdoor-days-and-residentials-for-schools/gcse-a-level-btec-pe/gcse-pe-climbing/aqa-gcse-pe-climbing/ this also has some stuff but they mostly run courses for schools

I can’t see how much it is. But it looks great, especially if he could go with a mate and get one activity done in two days. When we did it on holiday he was pretty decent so hopefully would do ok.

For athletics shouldn't have to run a meet if done through the school. OCR spec is similar to AQA and my son only really did athletics in PE apart from doing the 800 at sports day.

Only likely to need footage if doing a sport outside of school or your not happy with the teachers mark.

@abignael's spec is AQA btw but climbing is on the OCR spec I linked.

In terms of not needing a competitive event, well the spec says "candidates must be assessed within fully competitive situations". I guess it depends how strict they are on that. Maybe not very. DS wanted to use his summer comp throws as he was likely to do better tbh than in a random school PE session.

I agree @Elizo that it would be a lot for your DS to come up with athletics and sort out joining a club etc on his own. I guess athletics is one that a lot of DC would already be doing if they were keen. Just like he already does football. Don't stress too much over this - he should ask his teachers what they recommend. The school I worked at used to bring in a climbing wall so any student who needed another sport could use that.

DD is doing cross country as one of her sports. I still haven't figured out how on earth I'm supposed to film it. Someone did suggest using a drone.

That sounds hilarious! Maybe you can get a simultaneous qualification in advanced drone control!

Yes, climbing was just a suggestion based on DCs school not too knowledgable on the spec itself. I do think the schools really should provide more help with individual sports considering the fact many DCs might have to fund and take up a completely new sport and then arrange an assessment.

Badminton.

Mine swam but as a pp said that was too difficult to get the marks. Badminton was easy.

My son did parkrun as one of his sports, it was 5 years ago though so might have changed. It counted as an official record because they keep an automatic record of your run times for you.
There wasn't any filming when he did it though, but maybe they did that bit at school.

Harsh but our school demand info on what sports and if they can provide they reject them or help find.
Get the list of sports that can be counted and tell him to choose

Our comprehensive school assesses a very limited number of sports in school PE lessons but gave very detailed advice on collecting video evidence for sports that pupils did elsewhere.

It's really important to look at the marking criteria to know what to film and some sports are far easier to film than others! If your school hasn't given specific advice look at the relevant board's assessment criteria and see if other schools using the same exam board have put guidance online that you can access.

My teen got 80% in the practical PE component of their GCSE this year - including very high scores awarded to their submitted video evidence. I spent a lot of time studying the marking criteria and working out exactly what we needed to include in the video.

Think carefully about the sports that can be assessed. Some sports involve similar sets of skills but may be allowed in combination (gymnastics / dance / trampolining: handball / basketball / volleyball). If your teen has skills in one, they may be able to get a high score in another even if they don't usually do that sport.

For reference my child doesn't play for any teams and does not compete in their main sport - they just do it for fun.

Thank you. This is what I would have expected. Good to know it’s not essential to be a high level player. What sports did they do?

Can I ask does your DC run regularly or how are you organizing the cross country? I can see public races within a distance we could get to and wondering if I could take him to a couple of those. Thank you

I'm a head of PE in a school that runs AQA PE and knowledge a lot about this. There has been some good and poor advice given!
I would be surprised if the school don't offer at least 2 sports for students to be assessed in. We do netball, trampolining, handball, athletics and table tennis which the students can use if they don't do 3 out of school (most of them). Some other points...
They must do 2 individual and 1 team or 2 team and 1 individual sport - look at the spec to see the options
Climbing is not a great option unless you do it regularly and have for a while. Exam boards don't like it and are clamping down on school using it to get good marks
They are very strict on the competitive element for assessment so pick something where this is easy to access. It could be a friendly game or school organised competition, doesn't need to be high level but needs competition.
Times for athletics / swimming are not good enough on their own. If done out of school (and can't be recreated in school for moderation) it will need to be filmed. Results sheets should be provided to support if possible but not essential. The mark is based on the technical ability in the competition and not the time / result so this is less important.
Happy to answer any other questions you may have, just ask....

Gymnastics
Trampolining
Dance (team sport)

Thanks so much. Have talked to DS and he is adamant there has been no discussion yet about what to do/ how to gather evidence. He has football (I assume they can assess in school or I can film him playing), and he wants to run. From other posters I was thinking athletics out as this point, is that true? Was thinking he could squeeze in a a few park runs, but how could the technical be assessed?? Then he is considering table tennis or badminton in the absence of other options. He says they have done football, netball, handball and athletics at school…