Choosing Your Subjects

What do I need to consider when choosing my GCSE options?

It is really important that you discuss your programme of study for the next two years with your Form Tutor and your parents. They are there to support you in this important decision-making process. When considering your choices, you should ask yourself the following questions:

What subjects am I really interested in? What subjects do I really enjoy? Remember that motivation is essential to academic success.

What are my strengths? Which subjects am I likely to make excellent progress in?

Are my choices sensible, i.e. subjects that ensure a broad education and keep options open for the future?

How well will I be able to balance any non-examined assessment (“coursework”) components? What sort of university course would I like to attend? Certain courses require specific A Levels so you should choose your GCSE subjects with this in mind.

Some other considerations to note regarding GCSE choices at Merchant Taylors’:

The core academic curriculum consists of English Literature, English Language, Mathematics and Science.

You have a choice of Science courses available: you can choose all three separate Sciences (awarded three GCSEs), two of the three separate Sciences (awarded two GCSEs), one of the three separate Sciences (awarded one GCSE) or a single award combined Science course (awarded one GCSE). It should be noted that the single award course, whilst a robust GCSE, is not suitable for progression to A Level Science subjects.

You then have several option subjects to select. The exact number of options depends on your Science choices:

If you select three separate Sciences (i.e. Biology, Chemistry and Physics), you have three options available.

If you select two separate Sciences (i.e. two from Biology, Chemistry and Physics), you have four options available

If you select either one separate Science (i.e. Biology, Chemistry or Physics) or the single award combined Science course, you have five options available

Of your options, one must be a language (either a modern foreign language or a classical language) and one must be a humanity (History, Geography, Classical Civilisation and Religious Studies & Philosophy). The remaining options can be used to select from any of the subjects listed in this booklet.

Government Changes to GCSEs

As you will no doubt be aware, the Government has made significant changes to A Level and GCSE qualifications in recent years. September 2015 saw the first changes to A Level courses and September 2016 saw the first changes to the way GCSE and IGCSE courses are structured and taught

The changes affect both GCSE and IGCSE subjects, including a major change to the grading of examinations. Rather than the traditional A* - G grading system, GCSE and IGCSE courses are now graded 9 – 1 (with 9 as the highest grade and 1 as the lowest grade available). The Government believes that this will allow for greater differentiation between pupils of varying abilities, especially between the middle and highest achieving pupils.

The following graphic, from the Department for Education, illustrates the comparability between the 9 –1 grading regime versus A* - G grades.

Mr J. Andrews Academic Director

j.andrews@merchanttaylors.com

Careers

Our role is to help your son build a solid foundation for his future career management. By helping him to understand his aptitudes and abilities, skills and interests we aim to support the transition from school to university and the working world. As part of the whole school’s commitment to encouraging breadth of opportunity and motivation to follow his passions we aim to translate his time at Merchant Taylors’ into career decisions that will be rewarded with fulfilment and success.

We offer a full programme of education and guidance including a wide range of lessons and activities, dedicated career days and events, guest speaker programmes, insights and lectures targeted appropriately, as well as a work experience placement. We support the academic team, boys and parents by being available for parent consultations and school information evenings.

The careers programme introduces employability skills and CV writing. We host our own Career Convention to help our students continue to explore career opportunities and this event is supported by many parents and old boys and girls who share their own career experiences. We are very keen supporters of the Young Enterprise Programme as well as other business competitions, encouraging teams to develop their business skills, with many successful outcomes.

The Morrisby programme helps boys to identify aptitudes, abilities and personal qualities along with their own area of interest. Individual feedback meetings are given to each student. Where a student may have a vocational career in mind, such as medicine or dentistry, specialist advice is on hand from the careers team working closely with academic staff.

Applying to university marks a very exciting time in a boy’s school career and at Merchant Taylors’ this process begins as early as Year 10, starting with advice on how to begin their research into courses and universities through formal testing and information delivered via assemblies and careers events. There are more than 50,000 degree courses on offer in the UK and we pride ourselves on the support we give to our university applicants, through the documentation supplied and the expert advice that is given throughout the process by our experienced UCAS advisers. We have an outstanding record of helping boys to secure their first-choice university place.

Mrs J. Blease, Careers Co-ordinator j.blease@merchanttaylors.com