GCSE choices

[Daogroupie]

Well done for checking it out and making an informed decision based on the detail in the syllabus. I wish more parents would take your lead. DG

[JaneEyre]

I have checked the course. It is AQA religious studies, philosophy and ethics. We have looked at the course information for both this and Geography and she has decided definitely that RS is the one for her. It sounds really interesting so I think she is making a good decision.

Wonderful that your DD has come to an informed decision, Eccentric.

Both my very non-religious sons have loved RE as a subject at GCSE. One now wishes he had done it at A level and the other is thinking of doing so.

Long time ago, my DD did Philosophy and ethics AS in a wonderful RS department: they were too many students in the class and the teacher was enjoining the students to choose another AS if they could. Nobody did!

[booellesmum]

I have checked the course. It is AQA religious studies, philosophy and ethics. We have looked at the course information for both this and Geography and she has decided definitely that RS is the one for her. It sounds really interesting so I think she is making a good decision.

Wonderful that your DD has come to an informed decision, Eccentric.

Both my very non-religious sons have loved RE as a subject at GCSE. One now wishes he had done it at A level and the other is thinking of doing so.

Long time ago, my DD did Philosophy and ethics AS in a wonderful RS department: they were too many students in the class and the teacher was enjoining the students to choose another AS if they could. Nobody did!

Just had to look up enjoining - thank you for widening my vocabulary!

[JaneEyre]

Problem is that I can still do some big silly mistakes... or when I am too tired, I can write a kind of pidgin FrenchEnglish!
I have to say that I am learning a lot of good vocabulary by reading this forum daily! Oh, and the idioms! I love idioms, and so many are used on here! What a joy!

[quasimodo]

On the issue of GCSE choices we will be making our final decisions in year 9 next year for my youngest dd .Since my dd is in year 8 we have a continuing discussion as to what will be our final choices.Apart from the six core of the sciences,english language and literature and maths we have already made the choice of german and geography.Our ninth choice is presently PE but to be discussed so that we do not have to do gymnastics or dance as core activities before being finalised.If we go down this route we are then battling between History,RE,Russian and Latin for our final choice all subjects she is doing well in but something will have to give.I would love her to do both history and latin but I am not the one who will be studying the subjects.I am relaxed about PE as she is likely to be asked to study further maths in year 11 as an 11th GCSE although it has not been confirmed their existing policy will continue into the future.This is something that will need to be considered at the time.I think it helps in knowing what you may be studying at GCSE as you progress through school.

[ToadMum]

'our final choices'??

[quasimodo]

'our final choices'??

You read far too much into this.In the same way my definition of e.g my family extends to my mother, my brothers and sisters families.They are interchangeable.

Me and my wife don't have my and her bank accounts.They are just our accounts.You may see the words in a linear format I do not.I think some will understand what I am saying some others will not.

I wish some things were easy to appreciate from a simple almost legal interpretation.

[Eccentric]

I agree Quasimodo. Knowing what you are going to take for GCSE is helpful in that the child can concentrate on those subjects and not waste too much time on subjects that are less interesting to them. I did my best to get my DC to think along those lines in year 7, it has taken a while but she has become very good at prioritising now. For her that means that, wood tech, food tech, textiles (which is her pet hate) and art take a back seat so that she can be her version of creative in music and science. Taking the pressure off in art has been a relief because it was taking time away from her beloved music activities so was much resented.

[Chococat]

Hello,
Is there anybody who could offer me some advise to pass onto my daughter regarding computer science GCSE option (AQA course) please. She is in year nine and about to choose options.
She's always wanted to be an illustrator, including digital illustration (which she's pretty good at), and comic book writer. She's also good at animation and even though she says she doesn't want a career in this, I have a feeling she may change her mind later.
Aside from the core subjects, including the triple science option, and RE which is compulsory, she is choosing history and Japanese (couldn't wait to drop geography and French). She definitely wants to do art and design and then has one other option.
Out of the options left...PE (a definite no), D+T (either resistant materials or product design; doesn't really fancy either of these), music (not musical), business studies (not interested in this) or drama (quite reserved, so not her thing). The only other choice that may help with her future career choice is computer science.
So, she has semi-decided to take this, but reading through the course information she's worried she will find it too difficult and, to be honest, not very interesting. She's appears to be doing well in science. In maths she struggles with some aspects of it and doesn't enjoy it , which leads us to the conclusion that if she's not highly mathematical then computer science may be the wrong choice . She's been doing okay in computing up till now, but has said she's finding some of what they're doing now quite hard to absorb. In some ways I think that she should give this option a go and, even if she doesn't get the best grade, she will gain some knowledge of computing which may help her when she moves on to sixth form where she can then go on to choose a more creative type of computer course. Or should she re-think through the other options that she was so quick to dismiss?
Thanks in advance for any advice you may offer to a completely computer illiterate parent!

[kenyancowgirl]

Maybe get her to go and speak to the business studies teacher again? I know several illustrators and they are all self employed, so she may find some aspects of the course actually quite relevant? I wouldn's advise DT and art...as she loves her art, she will be spending a lot of time doing that anyway (and you have to spend a disproportionate amount of time on art anyway) and DT also requires this sort of input. The computer science teacher should be able to advise on whether your DD will cope with the mathematical side of it - I suspect she will.