Year 9- Picking options, taking GCSEs, expectations and whatever else.

[teamcullen]

DD is the first to go through secondary school and we have just reached the stage where they are being asked to think about GCSEs and options, (year 9).

She is bright and in top set for all her subjects so she is starting to be approached by teachers who want her to take their subject. She doesnt know what she wants to do when she leaves school and is'nt sure what options she should take.

Ive got a review day next week and Im sure the questions will be popping up over what she will be doing next year.

What advice did you give your DCs at this stage and did they make the right decisions.

That's interesting to know JLF thanks. It's a shame that the Alevels (that are designed to follow on from additional science) are being restricted like this, but if they are it's an important consideration.

I do think that doing 3 science exams out of a choice of 10 does sometimes leave a child unable to do something else that they want to. My ds has negotiated with the school to sit the extra science papers to give the 3 separate GCSEs despite being in a 'double science' class to get around this, but he has to learn the extra work himself, so it's only an option for someone who is both very interested in science and a reasonably good independent learner - but it still might be an option for some other dc.

At DS2's school the top 2 science sets can do the triple. There is no extra timetabling they just move faster and take some of the modules early. If you are not ready for the early module you would be moved down a set to do it at the right time.

snorkie you have a very good point actually. I thought she was making it up when she said about horse care but seemingly not. They have stables at the school and she rides every week and helps out down there most nights after school.
For years she wanted to be a marine biologist but has seemed to have gone off that now. I wondered about the vet option as she loves animals but sadly I don't think she is up to it academically but who knows. Maybe she will prove me wrong.
Might email her later and say she can do both horse care and dance and in theory, that will then give her more 'thinking' time to devote to the other 'real' subjects as can't imagine there can be too much learning involved in those options

Just be careful with subjects like Dance - taking the GCSE meant that DD2 was committed to taking part in every dance performance that was done in school (there seemed to be loads of them) and a county dance festival. She took it as a relaxing 11th subject and it seems to expand to take up loads of time. Also don't ask about editing the music at midnight that she needed for the next day's choreography exam

Thanks for that useful information webwiz. Will definitely bear that in mind

At our school they don't actually get that much choice !
Dc have to do

2 Englishes
Maths
French
Bio
Phys
Chem
DT subject or Engineering
and 2 free choices

DS couldn't get the 2 he wanted (spanish & music) as they were in the same block so went for Music and astronomy

oh + latin as an extra

ooh, I'd have liked to have done something a bit different like astronomy. Its not fair, they get so much more choice that I did when I was at school

geology is the one I'd like to have done. A friends ds is doing this, complete with field trip to Iceland

stillenacht - thanks for the advice. I didn't mean to offend as I know Music (and indeed Drama) are not actually soft options at all but was worried that they might be perceived as such by others. However it is very reassuring to know that Music is actually seen as a valuable academic choice as it makes it a win/win situation!

happilyconfused - you make a very valid point re: geography but she is hating it SO much this year that it has gone completely off the radar. There is some flexibility for changing options in the first few weeks of term so I suggested picking it and then switching if she got loathed teacher again (1 in 4 chance) but she is adamant that she doesn't want it. There is a 70% take up of geog GCSE at her school and fab field trips so she may change her mind yet.

In the meantime, does anyone know anything about Classics - how hard, and is it a "good" subject?

oh FFS! Have just had an email from DD saying she now wants to do dance and countryside & environment! Is that actually a real GCSE? Not sure what has happened to horse care GCSE as not on her list and I'd just (finally) come round to her doing it. Bloody teenagers!

My DS will be choosing his options later the year, although we have not had any info from the school yet.
My ds is really into computing, but I've been told the the ICT GCSE is very basic & a waste of time (and that he & most teenagers could probably already pass it). Has anyone got any experience of this course ?
Also if it's really that easy could he maybe try & take it outside of school, ie find out & work through the syllabus and apply to sit the exam somewhere else ? I don't want him to waste 2 years on a easy subject, when he could be taking a better regarded subject.

Yes it is a waste of time for most of todays Teens and not at all highly regarded.

If you apply to do Computing at Uni they don't even want a Computer Studies A level - just Maths, Further Maths and pref. Physics.

What is business studies GCSE like does anyone know? Dd is thinking of it. I'm more worried about whether the syllabus is interesting than whether it's well regarded.

snorkie, DS1 did business studies GCSE/IGCSE last year and he loved it. It was probably his favourite subject and he thoroughly enjoyed it. They were involved in several business ventures through the school which gave him good management skills too

The business studies course they do at our school is not very demanding at all, but I can't remember what qualification it is. It might be OCR or something rather than a GCSE.

yep - I agree with Milliways. GCSE ICT and DiDA/CiDA/AiDA is made up of a batch of coursework using a Word document for planning, Excel for spreadsheet and creating a couple of graph, ACCESS for a database and with luck Dreamweaver for a website. Most teenagers are fed up with it by the Feb half term in Year 10. ( That opinion is based on four years cohorts at my current school. it is not related to Computing or Programming at all.

Business can be more interesting, depending upon the teacher. BTEC business is more interesting that GCSE business because of the flexibility in unit choice. In both they covered accouning, marketing, HR, business sectors and types.

Not really sure what is meant by 'demanding', because they still have stuff to learn and an exam to sit if they do the GCSE option.

Business, Media, Physchology, ICT etc may not be considered to be 'high brow' compared to Maths or Science, but the same could be said for practically any subject. Kids will find some subjects more interesting than others and so those subjects could all be considered as 'not demanding'. Or the 'soft' subjects have such good teachers the kids do not find them demanding.

At least they have a choice these days - not like when I went to school

The only thing I would say is not to 'force' your child to do any subject. Guide, give relevant information, suggest etc but do not insist!! They will hate doing it, hate the subject, not work at it, hassle the teacher and probably fail at the end.

I know I did!! And as a secondary teacher, I've taught quite a few who have gone the same way! Yes, their options may be a 'mistake' but not one that can't be put right over time and one that they will learn from!

sounds very promising mumoverseas, thanks.

snorkie I'll ask him to email me more details of what he did. Can't remember if Business studies was IGCSE or GCSE as he did a mixture of them both but imagine they would have been quite similar. He really wanted to do it for A level too but it didn't work out with his options so he is doing Economics instead which he is also enjoying