GCSEs in England: which subjects / how many are compulsory? What can each school force kids to take?

[ItalianParent]

Can you please help me understand a few points about GCSEs in English (and I specifically mean in England, not in any other part of the UK) state secondary schools?

1. Are Maths, English language (not literature), and Science (whether combined or separate) the only subjects which are, by law, compulsory for all?

2. Is there a minimum or maximum number of subjects mandated by law? Does the law say something like: everyone must do those 3 above, but also at least 5 more of their choosing?

3. Can each school decide which other subjects are compulsory for its students? Eg if a school wants everyone to do religion, or history, or geography, or whatever, I presume families cannot object and say no, right?

4. Can each school decide a minimum number of subjects for each student? Must this number be the same for all? Or can a school say: John should do 9 GCSEs and Jane should do 11? Can families object? Can a family say that 11 GCSEs are too many and they'd rather the kid did 8-9?

For context, I am not complaining about a school forcing a particular subject.
But I have found these are some of the points on which many schools, at least in my area, are the least transparent and provide the least information.

I have even found some schools lying about it (whether through bad faith or just ignorance I don't know), and saying that some subjects are compulsory at GCSEs by law (one school said it about history, another about religion) and it wasn't the school's choice. I have no qualms about GCSEs in either, but why give the wrong information?

Thanks!

I can’t help because my children are not at GCSE stage yet.

But It’s interesting how you mention schools not being 100% open about gcse option restrictions. When looking at secondaries this is something that’s important to us, but we’re also hitting a barrier with getting answers.

@woolflower: yes, in my experience, this (GCSE options, which/how many subjects are compulsory) and sets (whether the school divides by ability, when and for which subjects) are the points on which I have found it harder to get information, and on which I have received contradicting information when visiting schools

There are none obligatory by law per se but the normal aim is to achieve 5 passes including English Language, Maths, Science (which can be 2 or 3 gcses) to prgress to year 12/level 3 qualifications or apprenticeships. English and Maths are retaken until 18 if not passed by year 11 and are free to adult learners yet to achieve them

There is no specific legal maximum/minimum number, see above. Schools may restrict the choice of subjects according to timetabling and staff availability. Parents have no right to insist on dc being able to take specific choices and there may be a minimum level of interest to run a subject. Some schools make RS compulsory, humanity and a language at gcse(possibly a hangover from EBaccalaureate) . RS and PE are taught up to year 11 even if not taking gcse.

1. yes, I believe you are right. Although English Lit is usually taught alongside language rather than split out totally. And science is either 2 or 3 GCSEs.

2. not that om aware of

3. yes, schools can require subjects - RS us a common one.

4. for our school, most do 9. Some strong STEM students do further maths. Some of the weakest students drop an option and have extra english & maths lessons. It is heavily guided by school but kids (&parents) do get some say.

We got general setting/ streaming info, but even in the 2 years between my 2 the structure has changed, so not saying may be because changes are being investigated and they dont know.

Hey OP here is the KS3 & 4 summary for England - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-secondary-curriculum

It can be a bit muddled what is the schools decision versus what is legally required. Most schools decide to mandate more subjects than the Government as it is very bare bones.

Here's an extract from the PDF

English (language), maths and science are the mandatory subjects, yes. English lit is not but most schools require it alongside Lang. RE in England is the subject of a specific law requiring it to be taught, but it doesn’t have to be a GCSE course. Many schools do make it a GCSE course though. Citizenship and PE also need to be taught although again they don’t need to be GCSE courses and schools don’t usually require them to be a GCSE course.

There may be some confusion around the Ebacc subjects. The ebacc is a measure that schools are judged on, and it’s just a representation of how many students study a width of subjects at gcse. To count towards the school’s ebacc score, students need to study and pass a humanity and a language as well as the English, Maths, Science core subjects. It’s not compulsory for students to do the ebacc subjects though.

Children are not required by law to sit the compulsory subject exams, many children with SEN or who are in non mainstream schools won’t be. Some may sit lower level qualifications instead. Some may sit just the core subjects and no others. There’s no requirement to insist that children sit 8 GCSEs or whatever number.

Yes, schools can decide which subjects are required at their school, although it’s usually more that they may require students to sit the ebacc range of subjects rather than specific individual subjects. Most schools will have the main cohort who do 8 to 10 GCSEs, then a small number of very academic children who might do a couple more, and a small number of children who do fewer as they face academic challenges.

Parents can withdraw their children from studying RE under the separate law that applies to that subject. Other subjects, well, they can have a conversation with the school and explain their reasoning and see what compromise can be arranged. Teachers usually try to find the route that’s most appropriate for each student, as much as they are able to. The process of choosing GCSE options is usually a bit flexible and aims to get everyone on subjects they’re satisfied with and that suit their academic ability.

Maintained schools (this means LA maintained schools - there aren't many of these at secondary level) in England must teach the national curriculum to pupils aged approximately 5 to 16 years old. The national curriculum is divided into four key stages. It includes different subjects at different stages, but maths, sciences, English, physical education and computing are included at all stages.
Academies and free schools don’t currently have to follow the national curriculum. They must, however, offer a broad and balanced curriculum that covers English, maths, sciences and RE.
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06798/

These subjects dont have to lead to GCSEs (RE often doesn't). Nearly all secondaries will have compulsory GCSEs in English (lang & lit), science (at least combined worth 2, they may also offer separate that is 3) and maths. Most have further restrictions e. g. you must do one of mfl, history or geography. The school decides what the offer is and how many subjects. It may differ for higher & lower attaining students. Students get told what is compulsory and what choices they can make.
If you google 'school name gcse options' or similar you will probably get their current offer. However, it can change. The option structure at DD's school was not the same when she chose as when she she joined in year 7.
Attainment and progress metrics influence schools to restrict choices in particular ways. This is one of the reasons why many schools insist on an mfl or a humanity.

A school can make a gcse compulsory.

a common example is that religious schools make RE gcse compulsory.

not all students sit GCSEs. I used to teach in a unit attached to a mainstream school for autistic students and some did not sit any GCSEs. This was usually due to severe disabilities. (England).

students who don’t do GCSEs usually do entry level qualifications or ASDAN.

home schooled students also do not need to do GCSEs although many will.

students in school who are capable of taking GCSEs the compulsory ones across all schools are English maths and some sort of science.

no maximum or minimum mandated by law

most schools when it gets to year 9 options time for choosing courses will give students a “pathway”.
this is basically them suggesting how many GCSEs are appropriate - so for example it is common for students who are struggling with maths and English to do one less gcse and have extra maths and English in that time.

equally, many schools will offer additional maths gcse or statistics gcse to students who are top set maths. Sometimes at lunchtime sometimes afterschool lessons sometimes they just cover the content in timetabled lessons.

I have never seen a school that doesn’t also make them do English lit alongside English language. So that is either 5 or 6 (depending on science option) before they have chosen their options. All of mine ended up with only 3 actual options of their choosing as one also had to do RE another had to pick a language and another had to do further maths (top maths set) also 1 of them had to choose triple science because of being in top set sciences. But they did an extra gcse because of that.

also 2 of the schools made them choose 1 from each of 3 boxes which reduced the choice down even further. Realistically I always think there is actually very little choice involved really.

This is what must be taught though, not necessarily what schools must enter students for, eg many schools cover citizenship etc in their tutor periods but don’t enter the GCSE

No exams are compulsory but almost all will do maths, English language and combined or triple science. Most will also do English literature unless SEN or EAL makes that inaccessible.

Some schools give a choice of combined or triple science. Some will decide which children do triple (usually top set).

All students will do PE and PHSE but not as exam subjects.

Some schools will have another compulsory subject e.g. RS or occasionally citizenship.

Lots of schools will make a humanity (history or geography) or MFL compulsory.

The number of exam entries (not only GCSE but also vocational) will vary 8 or 9 is most common with 10 for triple science, home MFL, further maths. (Level 2).

The compare school performance .gov site lists subjects entered so you can work out which subjects are taken by most/ all students. The number of exam entries is also published. Combined science is one exam entry/2 GCSE grades. Lots of schools also publish on their website KS4 choices information.

All will be subject to change. Performance measures are changing. Staff joining or leaving will affect subject on offer. A new head or academy chain may make changes.

For GCSEs, schools are trying to get their students at least 8 GCSEs that fit into the Progress 8/Attainment 8 buckets.

For a school to have 8 subjects counting at Progress 8 they must have
English Language
English Literature
Mathematics
2x Sciences (At its base this is "combined science which covers Biology, Chemistry and Physics which is worth 2 GCSEs)
1 subject from - Another science (including Computer Science), History, Geography, or a language
2x other qualifying subjects at GCSE or Level 1/2 BTEC

Progress 8 is the stick that OFSTED beat schools with.
As a previous poster mentioned, it's changing, but we don't quite know how yet.

Thank you all for the replies.
So, trying to be practical, what would you ask a school, when deciding which secondaries to apply to? I am thinking of:

1. which subjects are compulsory in that school

2. what optional subjects are available (this can often be found on the school's website)

3. how many GCSEs their students take, and how much flexibility there is

I see 1) as an FYI only. I think it very unlikely that we'd ever choose a school over another based on whether they make history or religion or whatever GCSE compulsory.

I see 2) as more important, because having a wider choice of subjects could be a nice to have

3. worries me a bit because I am afraid that 11-12 GCSEs may be too many, and that it would be more beneficial to focus more on fewer subjects

Schools do vary in the amount of choice they give, but you cant guarantee thst this will stay the same over time.
At my DD's school beyond the core english, maths & science they got 4 choices. One had to be a mfl, history or geography but completely free choice for remaing 3.
At a relatives faith school english, maths & science were compulsory + RE. They then had to take their mfl and either history or geography. They only had one free choice. It was the same number of gcses, but less flexibility.

Realistically only the best 8 grades matter, including English and Maths. Not many will timetable 10+ into a normal week.

Yes! One more reason why I am sceptical about those schools forcing too many subjects

I think it is unusual for comprehensives to have 10+ compulsory subjects. They may offer extras like stats or further maths to high achieving students. It might be different in selective schools.

1. might matter to you because if there are multiple compulsory subjects you get very limited free choices. In my relative's school you couldnt take art & drama even if that was an area of interest to a student because they only had one unrestricted option slot.

I think this is difficult for schools to determine. Options can change each year depending on staffing levels, uptake on courses, pupil numbers and results from courses.

If you are in the process of picking high school so current y5/6 this could be three or four school years until options are chosen. By which time the school could have decided the current options are not appropriate or removed courses as they no longer have staff to teach. A compulsory subject could also be moved to an option if staff levels drop meaning a child may not be able to take that subject and vice versa.

Most schools will group courses together, we had option blocks and you could choose one from each block - up to two depending on triple or double award science. RE was compulsory, and then students had to choose one from French, Spanish, History or Geography with those also appearing in the option blocks if students wanted to pick more than one of those options. Though there was a BTEC option for some students.

The year dd1 picked her options, one of the subjects she was interested in Creative iMedia, changed to Film and Media studies and her year would have been the first time the school was offering that subject.

@DeathMetalMum (by the way, do you listen to the Cradle of Filth etc?)

I get it that stuff may change, but knowing what the policy has been until now is at least a useful indication, even if there can be no ironclad guarantee that things won't change by the time your child takes their GCSEs

Our experience all in same local education authority was that Maths, English Language, English Literature were all compulsory plus double or triple science. The 3 sciences in Science were Chemistry, Biology and Physics. Pupils studied all 3 regardless of whether 2 or 3 Science GCSEs were being studied for. Literature and Language were taught separately.

After that various subjects were in option groups leading up to a total of 10 subjects. The options were grouped to ensure that pupils studied a broad range of subjects and not too many soft subjects like Business, Product Design, Food Tech, Textiles. The general aim would be that at least one of History or Geography was taken and at least one Modern foreign language. Further Maths was an extra in case it was started and then dropped out of because difficult. The other academic subjects vary according to school - Music, Economics, Computer Science, Sports (which had 2 different levels of ability) etc. Then there's Art and Drama which are both quite skilled requiring academic and creative ability. Music might be considered similar by some.

As far as I know, this is the standard template here now as it was 4 yrs ago when DC in secondary

All of my local secondary schools have English (both language and literature), Maths, Combined Science plus one humanity as compulsory subjects.

Some also have other compulsory GCSEs, such as the example of RE above.

In terms of optional subjects for GCSE, the important caveat to bear in mind here is that the options may change between now and your DC picking their options, and also that whether an optional subject can go ahead will be dependent on enough pupils wishing to study it.

When my DC1 chose his GCSE options, he was told that he couldn’t do one of them because not enough other pupils had picked it. So rather than the school run a GCSE course with 5 or 6 pupils in that year group, they dropped it altogether and DC1 had to go for his backup option instead.

One of his friends had the same problem with a different subject.

More rock/metal but it's a fun name.

I found most schools have current GCSE course options on their website in our area. They don't always indicate the number of choices. Or how many as if a student is going to really struggle with 9 GCSEs there are options such as BTEC courses.

I don't think the give too much information as they don't want students picking their school on the basis they can do a certain subject(s) for it then not to be available.

I’m really surprised the schools you are looking at are not being upfront… when my children moved to their school they were crystal clear on the school’s policy (my eldest is now in year 11 - it’s all exactly as they said back when she was tiny and we were looking round).

Their school has the usual core of English lit/lang, maths (top set is also required to do further maths), science (triple for upper sets, double for lower sets). Then the school policy (and I don’t believe there’s any wiggle room at all…) is that all students must do one MFL plus three choices, one of which must be a humanity, which there means one of geography, history, classical civilisation or RS. The final two are free choice pretty much provide the time tabling works (DD picked music and drama on top). Other kids might do both history and geography plus electronics or DT, or art, or a second MFL etc etc.

A good question would be to ask for previous years’ GCSE options booklet or “column choices” (you usually pick one option from each “column” for timetabling). They will know exactly what their policy is because it’s all explained every year to the year 9s!!

This is large school by the way - large enough that there are never too few pupils doing an option!

I knew Further Maths is an option at A level (which not all schools offer), but is there a Further Maths at GCSE, too?

Out of curiosity I went on the gov website and looked at the GCSE subjects taken in a couple of grammar or partially selective school, and none shows Further Maths