Another GCSE options help please .....

[moved]

Did any do DT at GCSE?

[daughter]

My DD did Food tech - she hated it and it was her lowest grade at an A. Two of the others definitely didn't do any tech and I don't know about the last one.

[SEP18]

Thanks for all your replies.

DS is in Year 9 at CRGS.

I do not know how successful DT is at GCSE. I did have a little smile when the RS teacher said it was 100% A* pass rate, if you were looking for an easy A*!!

DS is doing triple science with the options as mentioned before. I do not know what the Computing course involves - have e-mailed his teacher and will let you know.

DS does enjoy DT and ICT so that is where the problem lies.....

It feels like such a huge decision ....

[Minesatea]

My DS1 is year 10 there.

Re your short list:
German - can't comment DS did Greek.
DT - we found there was quite a hard sell at the parents evening to take this subject. A concern for us was that they were intending to change the specification (from graphics to ? product design) so DS's year are the first cohort, thus no ability to judge the schools previous results. He says his friends taking it c/o a lot of homework so not an easy option.
We ended up with the choice between Latin and Computing for his final option. He eventually choose Latin on the basis that GCSE computing wasn't required for A level or Degree level whereas if he dropped Latin he was unlikely to be able to take it later. Whilst he is enjoying the Latin he says the difficulty is a significant jump from year 9 and some of the class are finding the grammar tricky.
I seem to remember the schools advice to us was to go with whichever he enjoyed most but its so difficult when you get down to two and only one space left.

Good luck with the decision making.

[Tinkers]

I hope DT isn't a requirement for engineering. DS isn't even doing the GCSE.

It isn't. Don't panic.
Maths and physics are what are expected. Then third can be F. maths, chemistry (definitely for chemical engineering), maybe biology of you are thinking of biochemical engineering or biomedical engineering, (sorry less sure on that one) DT, computer science, or something similar. It does seem to depend on the unis to what they will accept. If you know you want to do engineering, it is best to pick A levels you know they will all be happy with, so you don't narrow your choice of uni. I've done a keep scan of some and a few don't mention DT at all.

I did maths, F maths, physics and chemistry, F maths was never mentioned in my offers.
One of my friends did computer science instead of chemistry and went on to do electronic engineering.

I regularly go to careers fairs and all the info we have from all the relevant institutions to pass on to students is along these lines. As I said in my earlier post, DT is an acceptable choice but not necessary. Some schools are not even geared up to teach it to A Level. Some don't even teach the relevant aspects of DT to GCSE.

[SEP18]

My DS1 is year 10 there.

Re your short list:
German - can't comment DS did Greek.
DT - we found there was quite a hard sell at the parents evening to take this subject. A concern for us was that they were intending to change the specification (from graphics to ? product design) so DS's year are the first cohort, thus no ability to judge the schools previous results. He says his friends taking it c/o a lot of homework so not an easy option.
We ended up with the choice between Latin and Computing for his final option. He eventually choose Latin on the basis that GCSE computing wasn't required for A level or Degree level whereas if he dropped Latin he was unlikely to be able to take it later. Whilst he is enjoying the Latin he says the difficulty is a significant jump from year 9 and some of the class are finding the grammar tricky.
I seem to remember the schools advice to us was to go with whichever he enjoyed most but its so difficult when you get down to two and only one space left.

Good luck with the decision making.

Thank you ... will let you know what that is .....

[Guest55]

Tinkers - name the Unis you looked at please! PM me rather than here.

I can assure you it is a preferred A level at some and for some engineering degrees.

[Tinkers]

Guest55, i think you keep misunderstanding what I say.
DT is a Preferred subject yes, required no.

I did a straw poll of the engineering grads here (and we have a fair number). None of them have DT A level.
I was looking last night, and I didn't take notes. Ive looked at 5 at random again today and wil pm you later. but to be fair if anyone on here has DCs who are interested in engineering then I would strongly advise them to look for themselves at a range of unis and their course requirements and pick A levels that suit the majority. Of course different types of engineering have a slightly different requirements. I'm sure DT would suit some courses better than others.
The grad currently working for me said a few on his course didn't have physics, but they really struggled.

[Tinkers]

Tinkers - name the Unis you looked at please! PM me rather than here.

I can assure you it is a preferred A level at some and for some engineering degrees.

Will PM you, trying on my phone lead to to post here. Eyes getting old.

[daughter]

I have also had a trawl of engineering degree requirements - and I have to say I didn't see DT in any "preferred" list but it was on the "acceptable" list. To talk about Engineering degrees is in fact somewhat confusing because there are not just several levels of degrees (including with foundation) but many variations beyond the traditional Chemical, Mechanical and Civil. I looked at Cambridge, Imperial, Newcastle and Birmingham but admit I didn't look at every Engineering degree at each of those - but a range from each.