Gcse options- did your y9 get their choices?

[Westernfiels]

Dc got options back last monday and great got their 2 choices. However other friends ended up with 1 option that wasnt one they picked at all. And another got choices 3 and 4.

i guess the problem is they presented to the kids they were very likely to get choice 1. And it was rare not to.

i think as well it is because they only have the 2 choices as 2 are taken by mfl and a humanity

Also i think they said they do first choice first but dont prioritise the ones who didnt get that’s 2nd choice. So classes could be full from 1st choice then others get the 2nd choice leaving some down to 3rd /4th or below.
Did others kids get what they wanted?

DD’ school just worked around the kids and their choices each year - no set number of classes to plan around etc. Unless advised that they wouldn’t be academically capable for a certain subject (very rare) every child got the exact subjects that they wanted.

They had a compulsory MFL unless extenuating circumstances and were strongly advised to take at least one of the sciences. Apart from that, they had 4 other choices to do what they wanted with.

Most of DDs year got theirs... they had to pick one from list A (humanites, CompSci, languages) and two from list B (the above plus all the arts, technology, vocational subjects PE etc). They decide on the number of classes after they have the choices submission... there were four Geography classes but only two history for example.

Thats great.
Ours seemed to promise a lot. And imply there was no set number of classes etc. But not really deliver.
i can understand some subjects might be really popular but some of the subjects not got were
business, music, pe, art.

With the ebacc gone now there really wasnt a need to have a geo/history restriction either. We didnt want either of those so that did affect dc as they would also be able to do computing instead.
but they are saving money by using full geo/history classes

My DS2 had to pick hist or geog, MFL and then there were two other slots. IIRC he had to offer four choices for those but got both his top two. I recall him saying if he didn't get PE (top choice) I was to go in and complain!

I think a lot of schools have to ask for options as it may be tricky to fit in what people want, but from memory pretty much everyone got their top two.

Yes i could see some complaining and im not sure that would be wrong because as it is random it is effectively unfair.
But mainly i would hope they would clarify whether some classes were not full so kids can move or be able to go on a waitlist. Not everyone who doesnt get what they wanted would necessarily be as bothered to swap though. Dd hates geo/history pretty equally and until option week we thought history. But turned out the specific topics were a bit boring. And looking at the exam papers 100% long essays requiring organisation and timing.
i think she would have been PO if she didnt get art though

a lot of the subjects are completely different to each other. Music or pe or cookery. But looking at alevels there arent many at their school that require the subject at gcse. However it does say ‘considered on overall academic’ etc so potentially they could say no. We’re considering comp sci alevel without gcse for eg.
Though if alevel was quite full surely they are more likely to take the kid who did gcse?

But if general academics is considered (for sixth form in this school or college) having to take potentially almost all subjects at GCSE you dont want and arent good at will bring down results.
dd for eg only targeted/predicted 4 to 5 in history geo.
And some kids maybe having to do mfl which they may not pass.

Mine could choose four options. They had to do Maths, English, Science and either a language or history or geography. Otherwise no restrictions.

That's a crap school. If choices are in before the deadline they should be honoured

Different schools work in different ways.
Ours gace a list of subjects and they needed to pick 3 plus a back up.
No specification that a humanities option needed to be chosen. The humanities subjects were an option just like French. No other language choices, but we are in Wales and Welsh is compulsory.
Default was double science. If they wanted to do three separate sciences they had to choose it as an option.
Most were gcses, but there were some btech level 2s to choose from too.
Not sure how many subjects didn't run. I know fashion and textiles didn't. There weren't enough for music to run, but the teacher is doing a music club after school, so they can still do the gcse.
DC got all options chosen apart from music ( which they are doing after school so will sit an extra gcse).

It doesn't sound very organised/fair if some only got options 3 and 4, but others got 1 and 2.

Not an easy task, and I would want to be responsible for timetabling, but would be fairer for them to allocate all first option choices before moving on. If any couldn't get their first choice, they should be allocated their second choice before others that did het their first choice.

Alternatively, if a subject is oversubscribed at first choice, maybe ability, effort in class etc should he considered when allocating.

DD is Y9. She got hers. They found out what they’d got before Easter though. Then there was a couple of weeks of chopping and changing, then they started their courses in English and Maths after half term, and in all other subjects once the Y11s had left a couple of weeks ago.

She was selected for Triple science and waving a form that did Spanish rather than French. Her only “options” really were History/Geog and Music/Art. She chose Geog and music.

Alternatively, if a subject is oversubscribed at first choice, maybe ability, effort in class etc should he considered when allocating.

Ability would be a very unfair way to allocate. For some children at the bottom of the class it might still be their best subject or one of the few they could engage with. Low achieving children often have a much more limited range of realistic options to choose from too.

Yes I agree, ability really should not come into it. As long as teachers are honest about the grade achievable, that is.

Speaking as a former classroom MFL teacher, I would much rather teach a student who is keen but finds the subject challenging than those YP DS2 knew who were forced to take Spanish against their will (and for the most part did spectacularly badly, compared to their other grades).

And yes, for a lower-achieving student, a grade 4 might be a massive achievement. I was always delighted when a student gained a hard-won C or grade 4 in French or German.

Mine has just chosen and got all their choices.. They can choose 4 - no rules about having to choose a humanity or mfl, but if they want to do triple science that counts as one of their options. Mine got what they wanted, and did choose History & Spanish as 2, but Music was really over subscribed so only the kids who put it first got it. I think there were maybe a couple that didn't get PE too.

Do they not offer RE as an alternative to Geog/History? My eldest goes to a very STEM school and lots of her friends reckon that's the easiest essay subject. Geog preferable to history if you're not keen on essays.

It was a bit crap this year. School put subjects in blocks and you have to choose one from each block. Three years ago the blocks would have worked perfectly for DS, but they've now put less academic/vocational subjects in one block, so he's been pushed to take Hospitality and Catering rather than Computing. I tried to fight it, but school are immovable.

Even with the EBACC gone, there's still Progress 8, and that means that you need to have one of the following as part of your options if the school wants to fill all its P8 buckets: Triple/Seperate Sciences or another science (like Computer Science), History, Geography, or a language.

If a school offers more than a very basic choice, then there will likely be some subjects that will only run if enough people are interested. If offering them commits the school to running them, then they just won't offer them.

Similarly, if there is only space/teacher for 25 kids to do food technology, say, then either some may have to be disappointed or they don't offer it at all.