Music V PE GCSE, Help Please!
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Re: Music V PE GCSE, Help Please!
Rob, you haven't seen my son do PE!
He is tall, lanky and has almost no coordination!
Team sports he is ok at - in B's for hockey and football, but PE is not his forte.
He wasn't really interested in doing PE as a GCSE either so was very happy when his PE teacher (who is also his Housemaster and knows his strengths and weaknesses)said he would be better to do something else!
Good on your son, he must be a very determined boy to do so well despite all his problems, you must be very proud of him.
He is tall, lanky and has almost no coordination!
Team sports he is ok at - in B's for hockey and football, but PE is not his forte.
He wasn't really interested in doing PE as a GCSE either so was very happy when his PE teacher (who is also his Housemaster and knows his strengths and weaknesses)said he would be better to do something else!
Good on your son, he must be a very determined boy to do so well despite all his problems, you must be very proud of him.
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push-pull-mum
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Re: Music V PE GCSE, Help Please!
Schools and teachers obviously differ about what constitutes the average standard for pupils in P.E. or Music class. If your DD's school is particularly strong in either area then maybe the calibre of exam candidates is expected to be higher. My DD is in orchestra with a fair few G.C.S.E. pupils who are only Grade 3/4 (she went from 0-5 on piano in almost exactly 3 years - in spite of having to juggle a lot of other commitments - it's not considered unusual). Saying that, she is also at dance school with a couple of G.C.S.E. P.E. pupils who are loving their course, and haven't had to drop a class or skip a practice for the sake on match commitments etc. 
At the end of the day just help your DD make an informed choice. It is she who will have to put the work in - it ought to be at something she enjoys - as other posters have said - 1 'soft' option isn't going to make a difference with the breadth of subjects she is already doing.
At the end of the day just help your DD make an informed choice. It is she who will have to put the work in - it ought to be at something she enjoys - as other posters have said - 1 'soft' option isn't going to make a difference with the breadth of subjects she is already doing.
Re: Music V PE GCSE, Help Please!
DS has done very well considering, yes, though a little more academic studying might not go amiss 
But my point was that DCs don’t have to be featuring regularly in all the school teams in order to do well at PE GCSE. The idea that they have to be at representational level in a range of traditional team games is not correct. Your DS was obviously quite happy not to do PE so it wasn’t an issue, but it’s good for DCs to know that everything from dance to diving, and from trampolining to taekwondo ‘counts’, and that application and improvement are as relevant as the standard you reach.
But my point was that DCs don’t have to be featuring regularly in all the school teams in order to do well at PE GCSE. The idea that they have to be at representational level in a range of traditional team games is not correct. Your DS was obviously quite happy not to do PE so it wasn’t an issue, but it’s good for DCs to know that everything from dance to diving, and from trampolining to taekwondo ‘counts’, and that application and improvement are as relevant as the standard you reach.
Re: Music V PE GCSE, Help Please!
Re sports allowed for GCSE.
Do be careful. When my daughter was asking her choices she put PE down as she was part of the local swimming clubs synchronised swimming team and had won a couple of medals. The PE department said this would be fine but when it came to starting the course in year 10, synchronised swimming was found to be specifically disallowed by her exam board.
She wasn't even allowed to do ordinary swimming as her main sport as they had to go with the majority choice of her year group, which was football. A disaster for my daughter who lost all interest and ended up with a D!
Do be careful. When my daughter was asking her choices she put PE down as she was part of the local swimming clubs synchronised swimming team and had won a couple of medals. The PE department said this would be fine but when it came to starting the course in year 10, synchronised swimming was found to be specifically disallowed by her exam board.
She wasn't even allowed to do ordinary swimming as her main sport as they had to go with the majority choice of her year group, which was football. A disaster for my daughter who lost all interest and ended up with a D!
Re: Music V PE GCSE, Help Please!
If she is serious about the medicine I would encourage her into another academic subject as she already has art and drama as her non-academic.
Whilst I think music is a great GCSE, combined with the drama this may limit her opportunities for extra curicular practice as it would be hard to be on stage and in the orchestra pit at the same time!
Whilst I think music is a great GCSE, combined with the drama this may limit her opportunities for extra curicular practice as it would be hard to be on stage and in the orchestra pit at the same time!
Re: Music V PE GCSE, Help Please!
If your DD wants to be a doctor then go for a more academic subject. She is already doing art and drama I think isn't she? From this forum it looks like some unis look at GCSE as part of entry process. Geog looks like a decent bet and latin might be useful. This is a very competitive career choice and you need the best grades possible.
However if your DD is serious about a career in dance then I would be tempted to let her do PE rather than music because she sounds like my DD who is half heartedly doing grade 3 violin but would happily dance away for hours and enjoys PE lessons. You may find that your school can count dance as part of the course. I'm not sure because DDs school does separate dance and PE GCSE. Start to look at the dance/theatre colleges like Bird where you can get great advice on the websites and do summer schools for a taste of the training.
Talk to the teachers esp of her top 2 preferred subjects then let her decide. Good luck
However if your DD is serious about a career in dance then I would be tempted to let her do PE rather than music because she sounds like my DD who is half heartedly doing grade 3 violin but would happily dance away for hours and enjoys PE lessons. You may find that your school can count dance as part of the course. I'm not sure because DDs school does separate dance and PE GCSE. Start to look at the dance/theatre colleges like Bird where you can get great advice on the websites and do summer schools for a taste of the training.
Talk to the teachers esp of her top 2 preferred subjects then let her decide. Good luck
Re: Music V PE GCSE, Help Please!
My elder three did music at GCSE all had grade 8 piano and another instrument at about grade 6 - all found it hard work even though taking all other academic subjects. Have encouraged 4th child not to take it. 2 elder children took it at A level - one is now studying music (not medicine!!!! despite going to uni to study medicine) The other dropeed it after AS level as found it very difficult. I think our children had a 'difficult' teacher as haven't found anything else sooooo troublesome. meanwhile they are all musical and haven't struggled with music grades etc.
