Wanting my child to do less than 11 GCSEs - what are our options?

[toomanygcses]

Hallo, my child is in year 9 and at a state school where if you do triple science you take 11 GCSEs. And there's an additional maths qualification they do as well in top set.

This seems really unecessary to me. I live in a heavy private/grammar area and these schools get kids to do 8-10 presumably because they've realised kids do better without being totally swamped with loads of different subjects you don't even need....noone needs 11 GCSEs.

I'd like my child to do less. As far as I can see I have little leeway with this & the school are unlikely to be keen as they are a good student.

I believe my only parental right might be to withdraw them from RS sometime in year 9. And then presumably they won't sit RS GCSE which is "compulsory" at their school.

Is this right? Any other ideas? And how to go about withdrawing from RS (I don't believe I need to give a reason?) and when it might be sensible to do it?. Do I need to get it in writing they won't put them in for the GCSE or is that overkill?

Many thanks!

I'm not convinced your DC needs to do the additional maths if you wanted to reduce the load. My DS has done A level maths and is doing a maths degree and did not do additional maths/further maths at GCSE. (Did further maths A level).

They like science and maths. Pretty neutral on a lot of other things. Actively dislike art & don't want to be examined on subjects like drama/PE which they do actually enjoy. They do them outside of school.

Which thinking about it is exactly like me so I've probably had a big influence!

So they could easily find 11 subjects they were happy to take but honestly to do them all as a GCSE is just for the sake of it IMO. And I know my DC and will cause them unnecessary stress. Each subject is a lot of work.

Yes I will look into this thank you. Just wondering if they want to stay on and do A level maths at that particular school if it's a disadvantage.

Even if they dropped that they would still be doing 11 GCSEs tho which I already wasn't keen on even before I found out about this maths thing!

My children sat 11 GCSEs in one sitting under the reformed syllabus at a comp. It was a lot but doable. It gave them the opportunity to study a wide range of subjects, some of which they definitely grew into in ways they had not expected when selecting options several years earlier. Full course RE was compulsory and they were initially unenthusiastic but ultimately said it was useful to have done it.

Coping with revision going into the exams honed organisational skills and resilience and that has definitely helped later on as they have gone through professional exams, studying alongside their day jobs. I understand why highly selective schools restrict very able students to, say, nine subjects. However, observing these education threads on MN, I do fear it can foster a focus on absolute grade perfectionism at the expense of breadth of learning and the experience of having to juggle competing time claims and making trade-offs, all of which are valuable down the track.

This is a useful perspective, thank you. It will comfort me if I do not succeed in reducing the load by one!

I can see how this would be true definitely and of course life is not all about grades and those other skills you mention are really important. I still feel 10 GCSEs and the additional maths thing (which they do love maths so will probably want to do), would be enough tho.

Thank you for sharing.

The ad maths is one GCSE after the other exams and is good preparation for A level. Triple science rather than double the same number of exams although the exams are longer and there is more content. It is better preparation for science A levels than combined. Doing a creative subject helps as it can remove exams from the main exam period.

10 is a lot as a standard number. 11 is manageable but not needed.

Has anyone said fewer than yet?

(Maybe the OP needs to redo English?) 😬😆

Yeah, another pedant upthread did. It’s not actually relevant to the thread though so most people just ignored it.

Where are you?

there are different rules on this in England wales and Ni.

presume not Scotland as they don’t do GCSEs.

I didn't know this about triple science being same number of exams. That is useful and interesting thanks.

Thanks. We are in England. Do you mean different rules on withdrawal from RS?

I am not saying your concerns are unfounded, far from it, but that if the school sticks to its guns, lean into the situation and the potential positives. FWIW, the school will probably quietly allow less academically able students to drop options closer to the time (and back fill with extra Maths or English), so not all are expected to experience 11 at one sitting.

A point to note is that mine did not secure perfect grades across the board (odd 6, 7s, 8s, the odd 9), so a large number of subjects taken can result in grade dilution, which is what selective schools are trying to avoid at the expense of useful 'stretch'. We do not live in a grammar area and so my children thought their perfectly decent but not perfect scores were great. You may find local contemporaries going to selective schools will be operating to a different perception of what is OK and not OK.

Anyone talking about what they did years back or their child pre-reform is missing the point. These days with hardly any coursework and terminal exams, the load of doing 11 GCSE in one go is a lot. GCSEs are a marathon these days.

DD did 11 plus the FSMQ and it was a lot but she did fine - mostly 9s and a few 8s. If Maths is your child's thing, the FSMQ is worth doing as the jump to A Level is big.

No.

in England you have to do either combined science (two GCSE’s but exams in bio chem and physics) or triple science (three GCSE’s but exams in bio ch physics)

(in NI for example this is not the case and you can choose to eg do bio but not physics).

in England the exams are at the same time for combined and triple triple just has longer exams.

if your child wants to do maths and science a levels they should do add maths and triple science.

There's no such thing as a "Triple Biology" GCSE

it's the Biology from the Triple Science GCSE

The child, for whatever reason didn't sit the chemistry and physics parts...which is weird that the school allowed that 🤔

Our school had this. DS sat 11 GCSEs and the extra maths one. We too considered asking if we could drop RE (as our only leverage) but in the end didn't pursue it. Workload at school was fine, revision was fine (DS did very little I'm afraid - very capable but very lazy) and his results were pretty good - 9s (maths, sciences) 8s (including. RE!), 7s and one 6 (music). If he'd been allowed to drop RE, I'm not sure his other grades would have gone up to be completely honest. Maybe if he'd been allowed to drop two....

Our school also expected 4 A-levels. That was a battle I did take on, and he was eventually allowed to drop one.

If it’s just the top sets doing triple science and further maths, it probably just reflects the fact that with a class of more able and interested kids, they can get through the standard content faster and so have enough q time to teach the extra content for triple/further maths.

So if he’ll learn the content in his classes anyway, maybe it makes sense to do the exam as well.

Same with RE, he’ll be in the lessons anyway.

Dropping an “option” subject would mean having “free” time when everyone else is in history or art or whatever - I would have thought the school would be against this, and that anyone who was doing fewer GCSEs would be in extra supported maths or literacy classes rather than left to their own devices.

Nothing wrong with a BTEC for one of the options, which will be assessed mainly through coursework, so largely out of the way by the main exam period

Although not everyone does better with coursework and continuous assessment - some people are actually better with exams.

Universities look at GCSEs in context - they will recognise the possible impact of doing extra on grades, and conversely, that having less breath might mean higher grades. If that was what you meant about not needing extra.

Yes I agree with you - perspective is very important! I did not have much perspective growing up and put a lot of pressure on myself. I would like my kids not to do that if possible although this child is already overconscientious in my opinion.

I got pretty much perfect grades (despite my grammar skills!) including coming top of my faculty at a Russell Group university... but I am an objective but very happy failure in terms of career achievements!

My husband was much more average academically, but he is resilient, good at communicating and assertive. And much more successful. He's also a man.

A friend's DC's private school didn't offer double or triple science, just single science subjects. The son took biology and physics only, not chemistry.

When he applied to the highly regarded 6th form college in the next town they said he couldn't take biology A level without chemistry GCSE, so he stayed at the school for A levels.

I think only private schools offer separate sciences like this.

Interesting, and also helpful perspective thank you.

I haven't got as far as A-levels in my mind yet!! But good to know you were able to have some flexibility there.

Thank you - useful to know your thoughts on the BTECs and also how universities view doing a wider breadth of subjects.

I believe he would not be in RS lessons if I withdraw him though, which I am legally allowed to do as far as I know.

Separate sciences is rare, however the PP said her daughter did "Triple Biology" which isn't a thing... The child took GCSE biology, maybe just the biology element of the triple

I think you have to be pragmatic about this. The school will have a set number of option slots. So the core subjects then a set number of additional subjects that are assigned say 5 lessons a fortnight. They are going to be unwilling to withdraw your child from a subject because they cannot have them unsupervised during these lesson slots. Your child may sensibly work in the library but others wont & without a compelling exceptional reason (e. g. SEND where they can go to be supervised in the SEND hub or similar) I think the answer will be no. Once it became apparent that unfavoured subjects could be dropped for 'free periods' others would want this 'option' & it would cause logistical issues. You cant just let kids drop things on mass. I think dropping RE is your right & by dropping a set and/or afterschool lessons you might be able to drop 'extras' like further maths & triple science, but this is not much use if these are the preferred options.
You could try & argue for your child to attend the lessons, but not take the exam. However, even getting them officially not entered can be problematic. I know of a parent who told their child to stop working in a subject & pushed for this. It wouldnt be something i would want to do for a myriad of reasons & it was problematic.
Essentially the school set the 'curriculum offer' & you dont have the right to a bespoke timetable.