Withdraw my child from a GCSE subject

[frock]

My child goes to a catholic school. They have in the last two years become a specialist performing arts school. It was decided at GCSE they would only do 9 subjects one of which had to be a specialist arts subject. As a result of timetables my child ended up having no choice but to take art. last year at parents evening we highlighted the excessive amount of course work our child had to do, in particular at the expense of other subjects. In October 2009 we contacted her art teacher to discuss the problems and our desire to withdraw her from this subject.We were told we would need to speak to the headmaster but to pick our moment!
We saw him today and were told it was his decision whether our child could withdraw and he would not be dictated to by a 15yr old. This in spite of us informing him of the impact on our childs health, both physical and mental. I thought it was our decision? Anyone have any useful advice? shock

It's not your decision, usually. It's your dd's, within the option blocks the school offers, & assuming the school ratifies her choices.

Of course, you can move school if you aren't happy with the curriculum. Or you could quietly tell your dd that you agree that art isn't her thing, & to coast gently whilst concentrating on those subjects you & she consider more important.

However, on a wider scale, if you 'withdraw' your dc from a course (or if I as a teacher want to kick a student off a course, but that's a different thread...) - what is then to be done with your dd's time?

She could change to a different option group (timetable might not work out, or it might be full, or she might have missed too much already), or just 'drop out' of a subject. No Head is going to be thrilled by the latter possibility - it dents the school's results, & creates a supervision issue.

So no, not quite as simple as it being your choice. The school does have a right to expect your dd to follow an approved programme of study.

So, your son has to manage his time and do some art homework? And to do some homework for the other subjects?
I'm sure he'll be fine.
A good life lesson in completing a project that doesn't exactly thrill. Just like the world of work. Or the domestic bliss of trudging through the pile of ironing.
I'm with the Head.

Disagree, nonno. Art involves prodigious amounts of coursework. I would advise the DC to do the min amount necessary to avoid trouble.
It is then up to them whether they decide to get a pass/C grade or whether to purposely bomb the GCSE as a protest.
But don't let them get distracted from concentrating on the other 8 subjects.

Only 9 subjects, one of which has to be in arts, is very restrictive (& as has been pointed out, art does require a vast amount of coursework time, which for a non-artistic child who didn't make the choice herself must be very demoralising)

However I've no idea what your options are. Could you speak to the LEA?

I would advise your dd to do the minimum required for art to the extent of not doing the coursework and not being entered for the exam. It looks better for the school if she is not entered than getting a fail or a G grade.

There is no reason why she could not do private study in the library for the periods she has art. You could write and ask the Head for that, whilst pointing out she didn't choose art, it was down to the options blocks and was all that she could do. You could point out that a G won't look good, but private study, especially if she can find a cooperative teacher to give her extra work in subjects she may be weak in, may lead to A*s.

Thanks everyone for the replies, we are considering all options including some which have been suggested.

I'm a teacher and there is no way ds y9 will be doing art despite being good at it. If I were you I would tell your child not to worry and focus on teh other subjects. I wouldnt want them spending time on art and lettign other subjects suffer.

i was forced to do a subject i had no interest in at all at the options stage. i can well remember the utter futility and frustration of it especially as a 14 year old. i doubt i ever even discussed it with my parents. I just refused to do any work in the subject at all. Even now, when i recently found my envelope full of certicates, among all the steady a-c o levels there is a grade 3 cse in this loathed subject. at the age of 41 i still thought "there you are told you so, you couldnt MAKE me do it"

Another possible angle is to see if he could do his Art projects in a slightly less time-consuming way.

For example, at school I had a very hard working high achieving friend who would spend hours and hours putting tiny dots on pictures to do shading, but you can show understanding of light and shade a lot quicker with watercolours.

I also find cutting and sticking takes a lot less time than painting and drawing.

Art gcse is very time consuming. DS1 did it and one trick was to get a small sketch book to fill up ie. not one of those giant ones with daunting looking blank pages. Stick a lot of stuff in that you get off the internet on various artists and do some photography that you can stick in. Also cos his sketching wasn't brilliant his main examined bit at the end was printing.

All that aside your child can turn up for the lessons, relax and do a spot of art work and if they get a bad grade so be it.

DS1 also had to choose one practical subject out of 10 GCSEs and did end up doing 2 after school sesssions a week (often finishing at 6pm) for art.

Do not let the other academic subjects suffer for the sake of a decent grade in Art and talk to the art teacher so that they know that the pressure is getting to your child. She can still go to the lessons and might even enjoy it once the pressure is removed.