Is there a chance that Yr10 will be able to drop an option

[JeanfromAccounts]

I'm really regretting letting my lazy arsed DS take Art for GCSE. He thought it would be a soft option even though I told him it was anything but.

He is keeping on top of other subjects (just) but is way behind on Art and refuses to look at it.

His Spanish teacher appears to have gone AWOL so they are having work for that subject set by the Deputy Head (who is not an MFL teacher)

I know we can only speculate but given what's happened to this years Yr10 - do you think they'll be able to drop an option?

You can always ask. The school might be reluctant as it sets a precedent. Art is hard work!

I'm thinking schools in general might allow this. Not just make an exception for DS.

I don't even know what my Y10 should be doing for art. Are they meant to have a portfolio?

I would t ask for anything just yet; I'd wait and see what is planned

It depends on how many other subjects he is taking. As long as he is doing the minimum amount of exams they will probably look favourably to him dropping a subject he has little interest in rather than risking getting a low mark.

What will he do in the Art lessons? Where would he go? It's not very practical to allow someone to drop a subject as they still have to be supervised somewhere. When parents request this they always say - so they can do more maths/ English. science - but we don't just have spare teachers to do this - they already have their own classes to teach. In my school if someone drops a subject they are reluctantly allowed to usually with only a few weeks until the exam. They have to stay in their original class, and more often than not disrupt the rest of the class as they are bored.

noideaatallreally - in normal circumstances i wouldn't be asking this. Given how much schooling Yr10 have already missed and how much more they're potentially going to miss (possible winter lockdown) I'm just wondering if school might decide to let pupils drop an option.

I can understand why you're thinking this might be a way forward.

However, I think it would be quite difficult for schools to put into practice. I think, for this to work at all, it would be some specific options being slashed, not everyone being able to choose- as otherwise, there would be no-one available to teach the children who had dropped one option and wanted to spend more time on the others. So whilst this might end up being a thing, he might not be able to pick which option to drop.

Schools don't really have a clue what things will look like when we go back/in September- so it's very hard to make plans like this at the moment.

I suspect that it's possible many year groups may end up on a sort of reduced timetable- in which case cutting options subjects may happen, but again, he may not get a choice as to which one.

Surely for it to work instead of doing an art lesson he'd have to something like extra maths/English or another subject he's already doing, and who would cover:teach that? I don't know much about timetable games or staffing of secondary school, but I'd guess for this to happen he'd still have to go to the art lesson, just not be entered for the exam.

My DD is in year 10, she also does Art and would hate for this to happen! She really likes all her option subjects.

English on the other hand...she'd drop that tomorrow if she could.

Instead of indulging in phantasies about dropping subjects, which is almost impossible to timetable, you should help ds to get back up to speed. Can you email the teacher and find out what he needs to do to catch up or even get ahead?

Re. Spanish: Seneca has excellent resources for self studying, now is a good time to revise everything they have already covered and really consolidate the learning.

Phantasies?

OP. Not a teacher.
Both my DD1 and my DD2, now y10 were allowed to drop an option. DD1 dropped after y11 mocks, DD2 dropped just as the schools closed. Arrangements for both was/is to go to the 'inclusion unit' for those lessons, to work on homework/other stuff I'd discuss with them.
However both my DDs qualify for PP+ and have SpLD so they weren't causing a precedent.