year 9 options evening- advice

[tryingsomethingnew]

Hello, DD is Year 9. Good student, doing well in school.
We have options evening coming up. She's our first, so I'm not sure what to expect. I know there are lots of threads about this and I have read them. I just want to ask, what would you ask? We have 5 minutes with each teacher. She has an idea of what she would like to do, it's more for us. It's silly to ask about predicted grades, so what do you ask about? Exams? Coursework? Content? A levels? We've got 5 minutes so after they've said their bit- what do I want to know?

Would your subject be a sensible choice for DD? (though they may say yes anyway)

Would they be likely to pass /get a 7 (depending on your aspirations).

Is it 'like' y9 or very different? (Especially maybe practical subjects where there may be much more writing / theory)

There will probably be a booklet explaining board, exams, coursework for each subject.

Exams, coursework, content - yes.

Not to individual teachers, but id ask if everyone gets their prefered choice, and if not, how the decision to move kids to another subject is made.

I'd also ask how science is managed - sometimes triple science is in the option block, sometimes the top set do it in the same timetable space as the other sets.

What are dd's strengths and weaknesses in this subject and does that match the exam requirements? E.g if it involves a practical element is she any good at this. If there will be fact recall is she good at this. Who teaches the subject at gcse? Lots of kids pick a subject because they like their teacher only to discover they might get someone else at gcse.
Who sort of homework and how much?
Are there any trips? What do they cost?
Is there any special equipment students will need?

If school has sixth form I’d also be asking if there’s a corresponding / connected a level and what grades/subjects are needed eg if there’s comp sci a level is the gcse needed or not - gives an idea of potential pathways and any difficulties later. What’s key to getting the top grade in your subject?

what are your class sizes this year and last year?
has the options subject got a subject specialist teaching them every lesson?

(teacher)

Really good questions. I hadn't though about some of these but they make complete sense

There will be a bunch of stuff that is compulsory.
Then options may be choose from columns, or either/or/both choices, or a free for all where you choose first and they try to timetable it after but if they choose non standard combinations they may be disappointed.

Does she need to have an idea of A-levels at this point?

I think it's the million dollar question I guess that we can't know for sure but should she choose what she's good at or what she likes/interested in? Mostly it's the same thing but I think the question about strengths and weaknesses such as is she good with classwork but not exams?

No.
Except that not doing some things rules them out for A level, especially MFL.
You can do sciences with double science, you don't need triple.

Hey @tryingsomethingnew lots of good advice here as usual. Just to add my thoughts (some of which reinforce earlier comments):

There will be compulsories – which vary from school to school and sometimes from year to year (DD didn't have to take MFL but DS2 did). Some schools insist on one from history/geog and MFL; others have dropped the MFL requirement. So worth knowing what happens at your DCs' school.

Triple science – yy how is it worked? A lot of schools select the most able for triple and they do it in the same lesson time – so those students get an extra GCSE. My DCs' school did this and it worked OK – even unsciency DD got 3 x A. Other schools offer triple as an option which has the advantage of more time to cover the content but then it eats up an option which will limit other choices (this would have been a big issue for DD, for example). So which does your school do? or does it offer triple as a twilight extra GCSE?

How many choices do DC get? A school local to me offers basically one free choice; I know of others where DC can choose three. DD had three choices, DS2 had two. Again this is related to compulsories and also numbers of GCSEs taken – usually 8, 9 or 10. The first school I mention offers 8; DS2 took 10 (inc triple, as above).

Will they get their choice? If not what happens? DS2 I recall had to submit four choices for two slots. I think most DC got their first two choices.

Agree no need to have A levels in mind, except that it is not the easiest thing to take A level history or geography without the GCSE (have known it tho) and yy MFL A level requires the GCSE, as do things like maths and science (but they will be compulsory at GCSE).

Could ask what is a likely grade in the teacher’s subject?

Could also just ask whether the teacher thinks they should take that subject – DS2 considered food tech but his KS3 teacher was markedly unenthusiastic about him (so he did CS instead).

I also think asking which teacher teaches GCSE and how big the GCSE group will be is useful but bear in mind that they may not know. Teachers come and go and groups change; I have had a GCSE group (MFL) of 15 and also one of 25.

Worth asking if groups are set at all; we used to set for GCSE MFL if enough took it for more than one group, with a smaller group for lower ability. But obvs if there is only one group for a less popular subject then setting is not possible.

Edited to add: meant to say hardly any GCSE subjects include coursework. If that is a strength of DC's then it’s worth looking at the ones that do – art, DT, food tech, drama, textiles, music – if appropriate.

Phew long post sorry. Hope some of it is useful.

Thank you all so much- that's 10 questions I have written now but all worth asking. Thanks!

10 questions will be too many per teacher
Mainly the generic information will be given in the talk or the booklet, or can be found out one way or another.

So if talking to teachers prioritise your DC-specific questions!

Yea of course. They're not for every teacher- just the triple science question for Science- the sets question for English and Maths.

They will certainly (she says!) set for maths – I presume they do now? English hmmm maybe. DD's year was the first of the new spec and the different sets did different texts (so her top group did Frankenstein for 19th cent, a lower set did the AQA story anthology for 20th cent which was easier to pick a couple from). I do know schools which don't set even for KS4 English tho I think that's a mistake. But I think it’s more interesting if the school sets for subjects like history and geog, which will have a high enough uptake to have multiple classes (assuming not a tiny school).

In my opinion, the most important thing is for her to choose the subjects she likes best. Obviously do the compulsory ones, but after that, enjoyment and high grades(which often go together) are the most important consideration. So get her to fill in the options form using those criteria and work from there.