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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Year 9 options. What is she supposed to chose?

57 replies

EccentricaGallumbits · 03/02/2010 17:36

She has no idea and all she wants is to send time looking beautiful, dancing and giggling with her mates.

There is a parents evening science discussion thingy tomorrow and it's been recommended she does the stage 2 ?) bit but she has no idea if she wants to do drama, art, music or something else, while i'd rather she did 'real' subjects and she's adamant that she's not doing history or geography and only french.

I suppose they'll give some info about what direction to force encourage them in?

i should be thankful that she's fairly bright and keen and at least goes to scool. i can imagine how shockingly bad this is going to be in 2 years with DD2.

OP posts:
meemar · 03/02/2010 17:41

my advice let her do what interests her now, rather than thinking of future career. She is more likely to do well in it. There are no bad subjects.

RatherBeOnThePiste · 03/02/2010 17:43

what meemar said

DDs school says they will do better in subjects they want to do. There are probably certain subjects she has to do? The actual choice she has is probably minimal.

DDs school also said there is nothing worse than having grumpy teenagers taking subjects they din't want to do.

Original poster
EccentricaGallumbits · 03/02/2010 17:48

logically i know that. but they don't do GCSEs in hair straightening and perfecting your photo pout.

OP posts:
RatherBeOnThePiste · 03/02/2010 19:58

I wonder what they would call it if they did maybe GCSE in Titivating ?

littleducks · 03/02/2010 20:04

How much choice does she have, how about she does one serious subject hist/geog and one 'fun' subject like drama/art

Art GCSE can be hard though dependant on school and exam board, lots of coursework so very time consuming

Does she have any idea on a degree that she wants to do, we were told to look at what unis needed in entry requirements and work our way back. So if you need A Level Geog, it makes sense to have GCSE Geog as school/college often want that as an entry requirement, and even if they dont it makes ir far easier.

PixieOnaLeaf · 03/02/2010 20:05

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GrungeBlobPrimpants · 03/02/2010 20:15

Going through this at the moment

Will go against grain here in that I'm basically an Enlightened Despot and am not keen on dc's having too free a choice. At 13 it's difficult to imagine the future, but you don't want to close down options. Luckily dd has chosen sensibly but there is a sticking point over preference order. Couple of friends of mine having arguments over humanities v: media studies/farkin diplomas. There's GCSES, OCR nationals (whatever they are), diplomas, BTECs, and god knows what else.

I wouldn't trust the school to steer in the serious direction either

Bring back choice of fewer and proper subjects, I say. Like In My Day.

PixieOnaLeaf · 03/02/2010 20:20

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PixieOnaLeaf · 03/02/2010 20:20

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littleducks · 03/02/2010 20:22

Hmm, it really depends what she wants to do though lots of employers ignore As and Bs in perceived soft subjects, as do universities when a course is popular when comparing candidates with similar A Level grades

GrungeBlobPrimpants · 03/02/2010 20:23

I know there's a good argument against it Pixie, I can see your point

Its just that I personally would rather see her get a C in say physics rather than an Astar in media studies

I think one or two fun ones is not an issue. But now it's possible for them to fill the entire curriculum

PixieOnaLeaf · 03/02/2010 20:28

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Original poster
EccentricaGallumbits · 03/02/2010 23:18

it also looks like she can't do art and drama (which she both likes and is good at) and music (which she is perfectly capable of but isn't so keen_

like she said earlier - it's too early in her life to be making decisions that may affect her whole future.

she suggests starting school 2 years later then choosing your options at 15, which seems more sensible.

OP posts:
NonnoMum · 04/02/2010 00:05

There are some subjects that are compulsory (like Eng, Maths, some sort of science combo, so that will cover the fundamentals, and then just encourage her to take what she is good at/enjoys. unless she wants to be a brain surgeon, a good clutch of grades at this level is what employers look for; they don't agonise over whether it was Geography or Drama.

Pixel · 04/02/2010 21:34

We've just come back from a waffle talk about this. Was very disappointed at all the 'vocational diploma' stuff. All they kept going on about was hairdressing for the girls and vehicle maintenence stuff/bricklaying for boys, and a lot of the courses listed won't be 'online' until 2013!
They then said that it wouldn't matter if the students did the course and then decided to do something completely different. So not a waste of two years then?

Anyway, Dd was in tears because she wants to do spanish and ICT and can't because they are on the same list. I'm going to wait for the brochure thingy in case I've got wires crossed but I'm rather upset that she has to give up academic subjects that she enjoys and wants to do, to spend two days a week on a vocational subject that she isn't interested in. (She would have liked music technology but that is one of the ones not up and running yet).

It all seemed a bit wishy-washy to be honest, the teachers didn't seem to be able to answer any questions properly so have come home a bit .

Pixel · 04/02/2010 21:36

NonnoMum 'good clutch of grades' is right. Apparently a diploma is the equivalent of four and a half A-levels.

Original poster
EccentricaGallumbits · 04/02/2010 21:41

I had the talk this evening too. Came out more confused than I went in

as DDs school is a 'technology specialist bollocks' they have to take either food tech, textiles, hard things tech or graphics at the cost of having to ditch geography and history if she wants to do art or drama. All abit odd.

anyway she is going to talk to her art teacher tomorrow and her mentor if she ever finds out who that is

OP posts:
scaryteacher · 04/02/2010 22:35

OK - we've just done options and had it all sorted early on - but then I have very firm views on what subjects to do.

Ds will be doing IGCSEs in:
2x English
Maths
French
Double science
(the above are compulsory)

options choices are:
History
Geography
Dutch
Food and Nutrition (not food tech - real cooking)

reserve subjects
ICT
Drama

He will also be doing RE full course GCSE taught chez nous as it seems a shame not to have a GCSE in your Mum's subject.

He will have to do PE and PSHCE at school as well but not as exam options.

Doing the above provides a broad basis from which to do either A levels or IB. More importantly, some unis look at GCSEs when offering places and won't be impressed by hairdressing. You need solid GCSEs to be able to cope at AS ime, as it is a big jump from GCSE and if you don't have at least a C in your AS level subjects you won't cope.

I don't agree with doing all 'fun' subjects as employers will be looking for A*-C in English, Maths and science (and you need the maths to be able to teach in any subject, and for the Nursing Degree) and solid grades in other academic subjects. One, and at most two 'fun' subjects are OK, but not more.

It's fine doing hairdressing if that is what you want to do ultimately, but I would suggest that an employer would either train you themselves or send you to a specialist hairdressing school, where you may have to 'unlearn' much of what has been taught at school. It's better to get the solid subjects now than have to go back and take them again at 25 or whatever when you discover that you do actually need them.

Pixel · 04/02/2010 23:15

Scaryteacher, perhaps you should talk to our school then! Hairdressing seemed to be the limit of their ambition for the girls and they even said "you can do this course, it doesn't mean you have to become a hairdresser" I mean FGS!
I've nothing against hairdressers by the way, before anyone takes offence, it was just they were so obsessed. No mention of which courses would be useful if you wanted to be a teacher/doctor/high court judge. The whole evening was centred around the 'fun' type courses, I don't think anything like history or geography even got a mention.

It was all a big waste of time really.

SerenityNowakaBleh · 04/02/2010 23:22

Well, if she's willing to do French (did I read that correctly?) then I'd encourage her to take that as one of her subjects; employers do like languages (well, international ones as well) and it could expand her horizons somewhat. Say, for e.g., she wants to go into fashion design, then she could do a semester in Paris to study and speak the language, that sort of thing. I have previously met some fashion students who were getting to do placements all over (NY, London, Berlin, Paris), and a language would give you some edge.

BitOfFun · 04/02/2010 23:25

Will check back on this tomorrow- am going through the same thing and have a thread up too! Hopefully we can all help each other make sense of it...

scaryteacher · 05/02/2010 07:50

Unis like 2 languages at GCSE if possible.

Education is like building a wall, the foundations have got to be solid. As 6th Form choices and even Uni offers can come down to what GCSEs one has, then I would suggest that this particular foundation for the start of the rest of their lives needs to be firm and secure with solid academic GCSEs if possible and one 'fun' one.

Having seen what happens when they do all 'fun' ones for options - they get bored and mess about and don't always take it seriously. I speak having had to get a tutor group through years 10 and 11 with some of the girls doing health and social care and other 'fun' subjects. Would they get down to it? Would they heck as like!

Again, with hairdressing, if your aim is to own a salon one day, then you need maths to cope with the book keeping initially; to set your prices; work out your margins; pay your staff; work out their PAYE if you employ them and on and on. English is necessary to be able to read and complete all the paperwork you'll get.

senua · 05/02/2010 08:22

Eccentrica: since you said that "she's fairly bright and keen" then I would say ideally she should do GCSEs in:

the core (Lit&Lang, Sci, Maths)
a humanity
a language
an expressive art
a tech

Basically this will give her an all-round breadth of knowledge and you can sell it to her on the basis that she herself said that it is too early to specialise.
Schools should probably give the KS4 'choices' a new name since, as most kids find, there isn't actually that much in the way of choices and a lot of it is dictated by timetabling rather than kids' preferences. It's a bit like choosing secondary school: they make out that you have a choice but when you get there you find that it's only within their constraints.

What are her mates doing, will that sway her?

DecorHate · 05/02/2010 11:01

Pixel, I would encourage your dd to do Spanish rather than ICT if that is the choice she has - ICT has been discussed here a lot and is viewed as a really "soft" subject, not particularly useful or informative, most kids these days are computer literate so she won't lose out by not doing it.

GrungeBlobPrimpants · 05/02/2010 11:54

Oh yes we have been to 'the talk' this week and couldn't believe what we heard.

All qualifications are equal
8 GCSE's is all you need
Only do stuff you enjoy
Don't be influenced by your parents

The hairdressing & beauty diploma sounds downright weird. I got the impression that you didn't actually cut any hair, you just studied it. Wtf? If you wanted to do hairdressing the local FE college runs a very good practical course in proper hands-on hairdressing, not hairdressing studies.

This is a hihg-performing comp that people move house for to get in, and whose open evenign stresses amibition and academic prowess. FFS