Secondary school options

[Mrs TP]

What compulsory options and choice arrangements do your teenagers have at their secondary? My daughter has to do maths, English, science, which I would expect but then also RE, PE and Citizenship at GCSE thus limiting her own extra choices to 3 from which includes triple science, humanities, languages, arts and vocational subjects. Really doesn't seem like much choice at all. I don't particularly mind RE as it develops analytical skills. Sadly not so thrilled with PE (understand some exercise needed but don't think it should be a core GCSE)and citizenship - nice idea but not thrilled it is viewed as more important than an option.

What do others think? Help me chill.

[newboots]

Are you sure about PE?

[whirly]

Maths, Eng Lit and Lang, Science (core/double/triple depending on the child), RE, ICT, Citizenship, a language and a Humanities, plus 2 options. PE lessons are compulsory, but the GCSE is not. If you take PE as an option, you actually get double the PE lessons!

I would prefer for them to not do the ICT/Citizenship and choose one other subject instead.

[Mrs TP]

Yes newboots GCSE PE a core subject ??? The non-academic kids can drop quite a lot of academic subjects but the non-sporty kids are all forced to do GCSE PE.

Whirly probably not too dis-similar to you in the end, as she would like to do a language and humanity for 2 of her 3 options so she has one extra not the two extra, which I'm guessing is because she has to do PE and yours don't. The school have offered her triple science as an option as she has the ability but she is not interested. I'm relatively relaxed about that (naively?) as I can see her passions lie elsewhere.

I would rather she could have more choice than be forced to have her timetable cluttered with PE and citizenship :(

[redjam]

I'm quite shocked that your daughter has to do PE and citizenship, Mrs TP - I wouldn't be thrilled about that either. Really limits their options. I gather from what whirly says it's not the same for all schools. My kids aren't at secondary stage yet but this would definitely affect my decision of which schools to opt for next year (not that it'll be much of a choice, realistically). Mrs TP - can I ask which school your daughter goes to? (PM if you don't want to say)

Very glad you highlighted this as it wouldn't have occurred to me to ask about it - seems mad to me that you have to do PE even if you are non-sporty. If I'd had to do it as a child it would have been an utter waste of a GCSE.

[newboots]

Mrs TP - I'd be grateful if you could also pm me about your daughter's school. It sounds similar but not quite exactly the same as my Y9 daughter's current situation.

There is a long and very informative thread on Mumsnet about all this. I will pm you a link.

[brezzo]

All students are obliged to do PE, which is no bad thing as there is a massive link between fitness and academic success. There is no obligation to do it as a GCSE. How well the PE is taught is another matter.

[Mrs TP]

We had parent's evening last night and I came away feeling much happier :)

Others have also complained re the option choices. It seems that new for this academic year the school had decided to offer triple science over 9 lessons per week rather than the 6 lessons in previous years. As it is to be an extra 3 lessons they had to offer it as an option. We were given a questionnaire last night re this situation which looks like the school are considering dropping it back to 6 lessons and so freeing up 3 lessons for an additional option. My daughter said she didn't want to actively choose triple science as there are other options she prefers but if she has to do it as core fine.

There is also a strong rumour that PE is going to be dropped as a compulsory GCSE for EBACC pupils.

Finally, citizenship is only 1 lesson per week and so could not be swapped for a more traditional subject.

For those that I did tell which school it is, I would like to add that last night the teachers were engaging and positive and the head made herself fully available for all, mingling with parents all night. A tiny blip in my faith in the school has been overcome.