how many gcses do most children do ?

[Piffle]

am a little anxious as ds1 -although very gifted in all subjects, seems to on the face of it have mega courseload

They are doing some this school year- maths stats, IT and ds1 is doing mandarin as twilight (after school course 1hr per week only)
But his are all academic subjects listen to this fgs
Double English lit and lang(2 gcses)
Triple science(3)
Now bumped up to dbl tech course (2gcses worth)
Geography
Half RE
Engineering
Art
Plus silver arts award extra quals
French

It seems a hefty load even for bright children?
Anyone any experience of this kind of load?

Just read a bit further down (old style). DD came home from school every afternoon saying that the teachers have all said 'you are top set so we want A*s. I sensed her stressing so told her just to do her best.

You worry for them, dont you? being put under so much pressure.

I think it is a lot to expect As. My DS was in a selective school and teachers and parents expected As, but I don't think this was fully communicated to the students. Reports mentioned 'top grades' rather than A*s.

My DS got 2 As, (the rest As) and when I looked up the stats, it turned out that only 3% of boys got As and 5% A/A*s for those subjects, so still pretty good.

he is predicted a* based on results
His results this far have all been v high with ease tbh
But I did not post this in G and T as this is just concerned (non G and T) mother

Ds thinks he can and should do it, I however am seeking opinion here and then via his key stage managers.

Tis so far away from my schooling that's for sure!!!

DD did:
Eng Lang
Eng Lit
Maths
Triple science
Geography
History
French
German
Philosphy & Ethics
Total 11 GCSE's + a compulsory ICT award.

She got 11 A*'s

Did 5 AS levels last year and down to 4 A2's now.

Oh, and she failed the 11+, so this was at local comp!

piffle if he is very bright and motivated he wil be fine !

they really are much easier thanour day and imo the modules makeit pips

Milliways, excellent out of the state comp. Some just thrive a little later. My DD is also at a state comp. No 11+ in this area, thank goodness. They will get the same education 18+ as the grammar/private school kids.

Thanks AboutEve. She was doing exceedingly well at Primary, but could never get the hang of Non-Verbal Reasoning! Hence, her Yr7 CAT tests were also good but not great.

milliways wow what a fab result set
Truly well done!

V impressive indeed

Mine got into the now defunked NAGTY based on year 7 cats. Great with non verbal and quatantive but average with verbal (english). She then discovered books and has been just been moved into top set English. As I say late developers.

FWIW I did 10 GCSE's 7 years ago

Thanks Piffle. just posted to show it can be done. Her friend got 8 A*s and the rest A's. Takes a
lot of slogging though! The school was fab, very supportive.

I think it takes a lot of work to achieve such results. Our school is fab too. DD wanted to take drama as an option even though she is shy. The drama teacher said 'yes I want you in my class as you are a great director and I can see you in my A level class'. This is her weak subject!

I went to the same school and got ignored and did rubbish. Its all there for the ones who want to do it.

I am worried as ds's grammar has been sports specialist
until young dynamic new head (eng boff) took over from crusty old stick recently.
But worry answer to GT kids moaning about being bored for last 2 years means they think brainwave load em up shut em up?
Cynical moi?

Seriously agree re late developers too
Tis grossly negligent to dismiss via 11+ and such assessments.
Too young to write off

Our comp is sports specialist. They don't do great tbh and used to get beaten by non sports specialist schools, although I believe they are excelling now after a few years.

I wouldn't worry, your DS sounds exceptionally bright and will do well. Very impressed with Mandarin. No such subject, yet, at our school but DD hated modern language and said she would rather study one later in life so dropped both French and German. I tried to persuade her but they have to make their own decisions sometimes.

Piffle, my DCs are/were at 'top' grammar school. Mine are not high fliers but there are plenty there that are incredibly bright at Maths (I work there sometimes and I see them) and can do all the GCSE work in Year 7 etc. I would imagine your son will thrive on all that work! As you say, he is not bothered by it, he probably NEEDS to do it to keep sane. He will probably be in his element doing Maths at Cambridge, or Warwick,and be pleased to be with people on the same wavelength as him. I think, in a way, the new Head is doing the right thing. If they are bored, they need more work,or they will start being disruptive presumably, and its good he's being encouraged to do all subjects not just Maths.

If he's managing the work Piffle and wants to do it and is coping OK then maybe leave it be. As I said in my first post, some very bright children do manage to do huge amounts and still be very nice interesting people with it. But I still think the school seems a bit crazed to think that is an acceptable workload for most.

Googled the millenium project by the way... some of their maths lectures look interesting, might see if we can get to one sometime. Ta.

ninja: that's exactly what I was thinking - he might think he might want to do a maths degree now, but hasn't really had any experience of really difficult maths yet! It's early days to be choosing yet in any case.

he has done some Uni level pure maths after his pythagorean thingy. Identified as exceptional thinker
But not sure if maths is his love iykwim? He is talented but perhaps not enough love to sustain maths degree. He is being a bit capitalist by promises of great salaries with maths and mandarin quals.
I'll get head of key stage to review load though for my sake as ds adamant he wants it all. Competitive as he wants to beat obnoxious arch nemesis who is not doing. Chinese but very similar otherwise.
Boys huh madness

Ah - that way lies madness and as his judgement might be impaired you are wise to check. Luckily for ds although several of his friends will get more GCSEs he isn't worried as they are friends rather than obnoxious nemeses. He would like to get straight A*'s however - but then who wouldn't? His problem isn't so much work load (not yet anyway) but too much extra curricular stuff. He's planning to play in 3 orchestras & a piano trio, take 2 grade 8's and swim competively while doing his GCSEs! Oh, I think DofE silver might feature too.

At my dd's grammar they do one or two early, but then only do 8.5 or 9 at one sitting - the school expects them to do lots of other , non exam related stuff as well, so they do the bare minimum of GCSEs

I worry they can over do extra curricular stuff too seeker. Some but not all of it is expected by school for ds and I guess there's scope to cut back if it doesn't fit, but there's not very much room for rest & relaxation. I wouldn't really describe 10-11 GCSEs as 'bare minimum' by the way - I'd say 8-9 was bare minimum for a bright child, with 10-11 being normal.

I think I meant that 8.5 - 9 is a bare minimul in one year. Dd's school tend to have them sit Maths at least a year early - and usually one other subject too. That means that their schedule is not so crowded in Year 10 (or whichever year it is) so they can go out bothering old ladies and things as well.

Yes I see what you mean seeker & I like the idea too.

i did

english lit
english lang
physics
chem
bio
maths
re
french
spanish
pe
history

so 11 in total.

i did

english lit
english lang
physics
chem
bio
maths
re
french
spanish
pe
history

so 11 in total.

about eve - has business studies changed? when i did gcse's (4 years ago) business studies was only 1 GCSE, not 2.