Year 9 options (Secondary School) questions.

chewynut

There wasn't a lot of choice at my school. Back in the day (not that long ago but everything changed when the head retired) it called itself a science and technology college. These days it specialises in languages too.

There wasn't much choice in yr 9. If you were in the top two sets in French you had to learn German as well. Thank god I escaped that since I hated every moment of it. There was no choice about science. You just did double science and swapped between specialised teachers every few terms. You could also decide between food technology, textiles...and whatever the boys did. It was so bleedin' sexist. The male teachers who did the male oriented subjects had no time for the girls so we did nothing but gossip for three years. The female teachers for the female oriented subjects had no time for the boys because none of them had ever cooked before. I chose food tech and there were no guys in the class but there were girls who chose the guy subjects. Not that any of them got decent grades!

There was a choice between art, music, drama and expressive arts but they all sucked equally. The head of music played favourites. The head of drama was a pervert. The head of art was a terrifying old lady. Which left expressive arts. Best choice ever since we went to see The Lion King at the Lyceum!

The only real choice was religious education, geography or history. My parents never bothered talking to me about that because I think I was born atheist, the only time I was ever interested in geography was when we had a hot teacher, and I'm a history nut like my dad. There was never a question about which one I'd go for! :rotfl:

I think if your kids are clearly leaning towards a subject then leave them be. Don't force them to study something they'll hate just because you think it'll be better for them. When GCSEs (or whatever they are now) are so geared towards exams, they aren't going to learn/miss anything that useful anyway. However, if they're undecided, then that's the time to push them towards the subject that'll look best on their CV.

PudseyDB

notanewuser wrote: »

The drama will really help with costume design. That's fab.

Its definately helping as she's now on a Backstage arts course at college in costume hair and makeup. With experience in drama she can empathise with the actors she's working with.

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Same with my three, they had to choose one DT subject, and then it was a case with two of them of 'strike off all the touchy feely stuff, and whatever remains must be what we do.' DS3 went for Art, which took a LOT of time, but he enjoyed it.

We found that ALL the DT options took up a completely disproportionate amount of time. And DS2 eventually said "no, I'm not doing any more", because he'd had enough of colouring in bits of paper and cutting them out. This was Graphics: we'd expected there would be more computer activity, but no, he seriously was being expected to do colouring by hand, and cutting out by hand.

DD2 refused to even consider doing a Art subject - she'd seen how much work her sister had to put in to get a good grade! :eek:

Dunroamin

Sparkles87 wrote: »

It's a changing world in education, the English Baccalaureate has been scrapped ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21365817 ) and these young people will need to be in education, training or work with training until 18. With that in mind, encourage them to stay broad and choose what they'll enjoy and do well in.

I've not heard of any FE colleges that wouldn't allow you to take the AS/A2 option of a subject without the GCSE, because you didn't chose it. So the Russell Group link is slightly over-thinking things for a Year 8/9 student!

That's because FE colleges are all about bums on seats, not because it's best for the student!

tango

pigpen wrote: »

We went and spoke to the teachers and asked if they thought the child would do well in that lesson. We used the school report as a guide as to what to drop.. if they hate history it is best to drop it for example.

Mine were not allowed to do 'recreational' stuff so drama/performing arts/dance/music were out instantly. They are all academically able so would be doing academic subjects and if they wanted to do those things they could do them out of school hours.

They are very limited on what they can actually choose between so it isn't a hard choice.. maths, english lit, english lang, science are non-optional At the high school mine are at they have to do RE (catholic school) and also a mickey mouse waste of time PE based subject (sports college) so they had a choice of 2 'art' subjects once we had binned drama/dance and 3 humanities to choose 1 of. So basically they chose 2 of their 'options' .. not very optional if you ask me!

Not allowing your children to take at least one of the ' recreational stuff' IMO is poor. These subjects have their place for some children who have artistic flare .

daska

I think there are a lot of factors to consider, not least of which are ability, interest and future plans. e.g. If the number of good grades is crucial because you want to get in to a specific, sought after degree course e.g. medicine then it makes sense to choose the subjects that you will need to take at A level and then those that you are most able in, even if they aren't your favorites.

DSD of course did it the difficult way, first she ruled out all the subjects she could have walked i.e. she refused to do any languages because they wouldn't let her do German. Then she insisted on only doing double science so she could do art, music and drama.

She hated the workload for art; music was a bit of a struggle because she had no instrument and was well behind all the other students before starting; and drama was a nightmare because she simply wasn't talented or dedicated enough to fit in with all the other students who had been actively involved in drama clubs both in and out of school and wanted to go into a career in that area. We had a 2 month long tantrum (the full works, door slamming, screaming etc) because we refused to say that we approved of her choices and kept pointing out that for careers she was considering would be better off with triple science and academic subjects and at least one language... then we had regular tantrums about how she'd chosen the wrong subjects and wasn't allowed to change them...

She acquitted herself very well given her standing start in music and drama but has huge regrets that she did the subjects her mates thought would be fun rather than the ones which were sensible for her - and she's opted for full on academic subjects at A level.

Thankfully DS1 is really easy, his academy do a set curriculum and a choice of 2 at A level. No tantrum from him he's totally focused on what he wants and will come out with the equivalent of 5 A levels from a respected institution despite being less academically gifted (and he struggles with dyslexia, dyspraxia and add) than DSD who is allowed to do a maximum of 4. He's a plodder with huge amount of common sense, she's the one who gets the high grades and herewith I run the risk of starting a rant on how our children are curtailed by the red tape of our local education authority and the constraints of our ridiculous examination system. Aaaaaaaaaaargh.

pigpen

tango wrote: »

Not allowing your children to take at least one of the ' recreational stuff' IMO is poor. These subjects have their place for some children who have artistic flare .

that does not include my children.. we are all about as artistic as fish.. Had they wanted to do such things they would have ample opportunity to do so out of school hours.. on the proviso their academic grades were satisfactory. They did dance of various sorts, swimming, theatre classes on a weekend or after school.

The education in this area gives them a poor enough start as it is. They have to choose some 'art' subjects.. DS2 did resistant material, DD2 and DS3 are doing product manufacture, DD1 did textiles.. none did well in any of these. Getting them to do coursework is an unenviable task and I have spent 8 years nagging about it! 4000 word essays are done in days.. I know my childrens strengths.

daska

I despair sometimes, why on earth force a child to do arts if that's not a strength. Maths and English I can understand, being able to work out your shopping bill and communicate is pretty important, but product manufacture or resistant material as a compulsory subject?! Don't get me wrong, I'd have loved the option to do any of those instead of a good half dozen of the 11 academic subjects I was forced to take but I see no good reason for making art mandatory.

WantToBeSE

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I think i am going to look at the 6th form prospectus and see what they offer before I form any definite opinion about what he should be doing for his options.
I would rather, above all else, that he is doing something that he enjoys, so that it isnt too hard to get him to actually do it.

kitrat

WantToBeSE wrote: »

That's my thinking too, and luckily he wouldn't be interested in those subjects anyway.
I think he'll chose Engineering for sure, as he is always saying that he wants to be an Engineer when he leaves school, but I don't even know what an Engineer does!

They also have the chance of taking the English Baccalaureate..i presume this is a new thing to replace the IB?

Aw I wouldn't be so quick to rule those things out. This is coincidently what I was talking with my Mum about the other day (Im now 24).

We were talking about how all the non-optional stuff very much covers your bases in an academic sense and will take you to college and from there on to university if that is your wish. I was very academic and those were absolutely my strong subjects, I loved science and I'm now a graduate of a science degree and have a graduate scientist career, without giving away too much.

What I'm saying is the fact that I chose to do art, textiles and history as my options never stopped me going anywhere. If anything it gave me a a broader background. This came into discussion with my Mum as I want to buy a sewing machine and we were discussing how my GCSE textiles gave me the grounding I need to follow this hobby at home.

I think GCSE's are a little early to be ruling out enjoyable subjects like that. Honestly, he can do anything he wants just using the core subjects.

WantToBeSE

kitrat wrote: »

Aw I wouldn't be so quick to rule those things out. This is coincidently what I was talking with my Mum about the other day (Im now 24).

We were talking about how all the non-optional stuff very much covers your bases in an academic sense and will take you to college and from there on to university if that is your wish. I was very academic and those were absolutely my strong subjects, I loved science and I'm now a graduate of a science degree and have a graduate scientist career, without giving away too much.

What I'm saying is the fact that I chose to do art, textiles and history as my options never stopped me going anywhere. If anything it gave me a a broader background. This came into discussion with my Mum as I want to buy a sewing machine and we were discussing how my GCSE textiles gave me the grounding I need to follow this hobby at home.

I think GCSE's are a little early to be ruling out enjoyable subjects like that. Honestly, he can do anything he wants just using the core subjects.

I totally agree with you, it's just that he isnt in the slightest bit interested in any arty stuff. I was hoping he would do art & design, and that is a work in progress as he is not too keen. I actually think it'll fit in well with his engineering option.