Spanish or Food & nutrition GCSE??

[maw1681]

DD has to decide by tomorrow and still isn’t sure.
Anyone’s DC doing any of these GCSEs?
She is doing art and triple science as her other 2 optional subjects.
I think Spanish is a better option because universities would look more favourably on that combination, and also art and food & nutrition are both coursework heavy.
I don’t want her to pick Spanish because I said so and end up hating it though.

Well MFL is my subject so I would say Spanish haha. Unis won’t care tho honestly.

i think NEA is a valid concern - can you check what the food GCSE involves? Art is huge obvs.

My ds took food but old spec. He liked it. Ds2 took Spanish. Not v keen. That doesn’t prove much tho.

DD did both last year. I wouldn't say Food and Nutrition has a particularly heavy coursework load and certainly shouldn't be compared to Art, which I gather from other posters is a time sinkhole.

Unless she's wanting to do Spanish at university then doing it "because it will look better to universities" is an utter waste of time. Let the girl do what she wants. It's quite science based if she's expecting to do loads and loads of cooking!

For DD there were two NEAs. One is food science based, one is planning beforehand and cooking a three course meal in a morning at school.

Hmm thanks all some interesting points! I think the problem is she doesn’t have a preference herself so it’s honestly not me pushing her towards Spanish, just trying to offer guidance. She wanted to do art & history but they’re in the same column so she has picked art. The other column has none of her favourite subjects in it so it’s a bit of a dilemma. The other option is geography which she is adamant she won’t do.

I did art and loved it but yes it was a lot of coursework, I know she will enjoy it too though.

I also did French and haven’t really used it but being able to speak a little is useful on holiday! So I’m thinking at least Spanish gcse would be useful for her in that way.

Interesting about the food & nutrition science aspect though because biology is one of her favourite subjects so she might end up enjoying that more than Spanish.

I appreciate this may be irrelevant but I so wish I’d been offered the option of Spanish at that age. I was taught French and still remember some now (I’m fifties) so if I wanted to pick it up again I could more easily. I have been struggling to learn Spanish for the last year and it’s so much harder as I had no foundation when young. It’s such a useful language, spoken in so many regions, depending on what your DD wants to do it could really come in handy. I’m basing this on her having no particular preference, obviously if she’d prefer the other option she should go for it.

Ah wait so she is not doing history or geography? Apols I assumed that was a compulsory.

So atm she has English x 2, maths, science x 3, art and then one other which could be food and nutrition? Eight GCSEs is fine, and unis really won't care if she doesn't have MFL, but two creatives as your only options (the other subjects are always compulsory even if that's often only two GCSEs for science) feels a bit narrow. What do her teachers say? Will she do equally well in either?

I agree that a humanities would be more balanced and leave her more options open into Alevel. The amount of course work will vary depending on exam board. Food & nutrition probably works well with chemistry and biology but if you’re not a languages person I wouldn’t pick it for the sake of having a language. What are her compulsory subjects? Maths, and 2x English?

Food will be easier than Spanish IMO, half the exam is multiple choice. You really need parents to be up for it though and willing to buy ingredients for you. I would just let her take what she would like most.

We’re in Wales so she will be doing Welsh as compulsory too (and English, maths & science) so will end up with 10 GCSEs and Welsh Baccalaureate. But no her school don’t specify a humanities subject as compulsory.
My gut is that art & food nutrition is a bit narrow but also don’t want her to do something she hates. She’s academic too so don’t want her to narrow down her A level options.
She’s a bit of an all rounder really which is great but also making it difficult because all her teachers have said she could continue their subject to GCSE (apart from music ha).
She is now leaning back to History and Food & nutrition because she’s really not enjoying Spanish that much and isn’t keen on the teacher. I think she could do well in either but worried she’d end up not being bothered with studying for the Spanish.
She enjoys art a lot but isn’t sure if she can be bothered with doing all the coursework.
I cook a lot and she cooks at home so letting her practice and getting ingredients won’t be a problem.

Ah I see so she does Welsh anyway – history and food sounds like a good combo to me. How 10 tho <counts on fingers> ? Or is the Welsh Bac equivalent to a GCSE?

Btw Food will be easier than Spanish IMO, half the exam is multiple choice.

Multiple choice questions are not by their nature easy! May I direct you to the gapfill task (a form of multiple choice) in AQA A level MFL which is savage imo. And a fair few of the Spanish GCSE questions are multiple choice as well on reading and listening papers.

It’ll be 2x English, 2x Welsh, Maths, 3x science,
2x optional

DD3 (yr11) has chosen Food & Nutrition over a MFL mostly because she’s not great at languages and adores cooking. For her, she knew she’d get a much higher grade in the former and enjoy it much more. She knew beforehand that the new spec is a bit more science / nutrition focussed albeit they do include quite high level skills such as filleting fish & de-boning chicken etc. There’s a fair amount of coursework but then only one final exam. To be honest I thought she’d be doing so much cooking practice at home and making a lot of our dinners, sadly it still seems to be me! She’s very much enjoying it though.

As she’s doing Welsh (and English) doesn’t that count as a language? In terms of having a broad range? I do think her pulling towards History with Food & Nutrition as her two options gives her a good broadness & a bit of respite on the days she’s cooking. DD has history, PE, food & nut, 3x science, maths & 2x English. It’s proving to be an ok balance and workload despite coursework for F&N, PE and both English options.

Ah didn't realise Welsh was two, my bad.

If she can’t be bothered with art I would say that’s a no surely - it’s a big commitment even if you love it.

History and food for the win!

Most English GCSEs don’t have coursework btw, I am assuming @NotDonna’s DD is taking IGCSE. Mind you the Welsh spec is different so that may still include cw.

(sorry not being stroppy but others may read and wonder about English coursework which no longer exists in GCSEs in England.)

My dd2 is quite academic but wanted to take Food at GCSE and really enjoyed it. The CW wasn’t too onerous and it really helped her stress levels. Food gave her the knowledge of cooking basics too. She cooks all the time now and is going to a red brick Uni in Sept. It had no neg effects on which A levels she did.

I think history and food tech is a better combination. That way she's got the option of sciences or science & maths at A-level, or food tech & sciences which go together, and also English, History and ANOther. If she does Spanish then she'd be left with science/maths combos or all languages.

She should do the one she thinks she would enjoy/ find the most interesting. I don't think unis will be bothered about which one at GCSE level.

You can take history A level without the GCSE actually, tho it’s not common.

No food tech A level (in England anyway, maybe there is in Wales) tho you can take it forward at FE college.

I agree tho history and food tech is a good balance.

Choose the one she will enjoy. Universities will not care - they just want to know the points.
DC is just finishing food tech. There is a huge overlap with GCSE biology and PE. It is 50% coursework. Be warned though it does involve parental contribution both financially and being on the ball with ingredients, planning, but generally, DC glad he chose it

I did a biology degree and diet health and nutrition was one of my favorite units. If the Food GCSE is heavy on the nutrition then a biology fan might really like it. They go well together.

Yes @clary DD3 is going IGCSE English (lang & lit) so the spec has changed to include coursework. Apologies for any confusion. My other two didn’t have any coursework for any GCSEs.

DS is in Y11 and doing triple science, history, music and Spanish.

His school very much encourage a MFL at GCSE, I'm not sure there's much else in that Option block apart from IT. He only started Spanish in Y9, and has found it pretty straightforward and enjoys trying to speak Spanish at home. He's quite academic though and has never shown any interest in food tech though.

Spanish is not a bad option at all. I did it too 1000 years ago, and can still get by on holiday.

Given the amount of work that can go into art I think students should be really keen if they’re going to pick it. If she’s worried at this stage that she might not be bothered, I think it’s got to be a no.

History and food should like a great pick.