Year 9-2023-24

hey! so! DofE? I’m a year 9 and I have already done my expedition as I did it with scouts association! It’s a LOT easier with school though, so don’t worry too much
It’s really helpful if you buy an OS map of your expedition area and learn how to map read, take bearings etc.
when it comes to equipment, make sure to have warm sleeping bag. From September to march, I recommend 3 seasons. My qualifying expedition was February, and my sleeping bag wasn’t warm enough, so unfortunately I got hypothermia :P 🥶. I have learned since though! For bags, I recommend 60+ litres capacity and brands like eurohike aren’t too expensive, yet are good quality! A good pair of hiking boots is also essential. DO NOT wear trainers. Your feet will die and you need those! Jeans are also unwise as they retain moisture.
You have 4 sections, expedition, sport, skills and volunteering. Excluding expedition, for bronze you choose two sections for 3 months each and one section for 6 months. Hope this helps if anyone wants to know anything more about DofE from a fellow year 9.
Also, hiiii @Alm_xo !! I love your study blog :3

Hi guys,
So my GCSE options are due after Easter holidays and I’m a bit unsure on whether I should pick Spanish and French or French and Geography.
The subjects I am set on doing are: English lang, English lit, Maths, Triple Science, History, Religious Studies (compulsory) and French but as my last option I don’t know whether to also do Spanish and do two languages or pick geography and do one language. I am pretty good at languages and quite like it but I am a bit worried that I’ll get them mixed up and the exams will be hard. On the other hand, I am good at geography and get good test scores but I have no real passion for it and if I do it I will be doing 3 humanities GCSEs and it might be a bit much because there is a lot of content apparently. Please someone help me

Hi guys,
So my GCSE options are due after Easter holidays and I’m a bit unsure on whether I should pick Spanish and French or French and Geography.
The subjects I am set on doing are: English lang, English lit, Maths, Triple Science, History, Religious Studies (compulsory) and French but as my last option I don’t know whether to also do Spanish and do two languages or pick geography and do one language. I am pretty good at languages and quite like it but I am a bit worried that I’ll get them mixed up and the exams will be hard. On the other hand, I am good at geography and get good test scores but I have no real passion for it and if I do it I will be doing 3 humanities GCSEs and it might be a bit much because there is a lot of content apparently. Please someone help me

hey guys
wanted to share some achievements! and some really annoying things too.
I got maths back - 51/54! not the best in set one but still pretty good
some other tests - didn’t do that well, that really annoyed me but it happens I guess
plus i’m thinking to change my gcse options from geo and drama to history and either drama or something else
but i’m not sure at all so
but yeah 🙂 how’s everyone’s life going?

Hii, so I know you didn't exactly ask a question but I would still love to share my experiences. So Im in Year 10 and I do GCSE Edexcel History. The options my school does are: Medicine, Richard and John, Weimar and Nazi Germany, Cold War. So far, we have finished Richard and John and we have done most of Medicine. My school made us choose a humanity (out of history, geography and RS) but even if I didnt have to, I probably would as I really like it. The thing most people overlook when choosing history is the way its's assessed. Sure, the content is fascinating and the lessons are interesting as well but it is an essay-based subject. That doesnt mean you dont need to know the content (btw the amount of content you need to know is quite a lot as well) but you need to be able to use it properly and know how to evaluate it. If youre not already good at writing, or you dont enjoy it, it might be frustrating for you to try to improve it especially if you are aiming for a high grade. Other than that, it is SO interesting and really fun to learn about. Other than that, bear in mind it is essay-based and there is a lot of content you need to be familiar with. Sorry for the really long message and good luck 🙂

hi, thank you so much for sharing your experience!
I got a 10/10 for my last essay exam, and I do quite enjoy writing, which is why I think history is a really good option for me! so it really just choosing whether to do geo or drama or sm else with it since i’m also doing computing and spanish and triple science and further maths (hopefully) and idk about work load.

Hey everyone,
sorry for the delay in responding to this thread. I completely forgot about it, which was pretty irresponsible of me.
Anyway, let's get back on track.
How has your Year 9 been going?
As for me, things are going well so far. I've started my history GCSE and I'll be taking the exam at the end of Year 10, which is kind of crazy to think about.

Hey guys, I'm so glad you guys made a Y9 thread even though I'm 2 months late to it 🤣
Y9 has been going good so far except for the fact that we have 1 or 2 tests every week CONSISTENTLY. Tbh I think that they're just spreading out the tests but I would rather that they did all of them on the last week of half-term. We choose our subjects at the end of Y9 cuz our school is kind of late to everything but I will probably take geography, computing, spanish and maybe business studies?
If you guys want help in physics there is https://senecalearning.com/en-GB/ and https://my.educake.co.uk/student-login. I find these pretty useful!

Why are you doing a GCSE in Year 10 - it's not a good idea. Universities prefer to see them all done together.

In my school, it is compulsory to take one Early Entry GCSE in a humanities or a fine arts/tech subject. However, it cannot be a core subject such as English, Science or Maths because it requires a foundation from KS3. Nevertheless, we have separate GCSE lessons for subjects like History , Geography ( whatever we chose) which are not covered in our normal KS3 lessons ( we have the normal KS3 lessons as well) . We will only take the early entry GCSE at the end of Year 10, along with the Year 11 students. I am not sure about what universities think, but I think it's okay since it is not up to me to decide whether I should take it or not - my school does. For early entry, we only start the GCSE course in the chosen subject, not all subjects..I hope that clears up any misconceptions you may have.

In my school, it is compulsory to take one Early Entry GCSE in a humanities or a fine arts/tech subject. However, it cannot be a core subject such as English, Science or Maths because it requires a foundation from KS3. Nevertheless, we have separate GCSE lessons for subjects like History , Geography ( whatever we chose) which are not covered in our normal KS3 lessons ( we have the normal KS3 lessons as well) . We will only take the early entry GCSE at the end of Year 10, along with the Year 11 students. I am not sure about what universities think, but I think it's okay since it is not up to me to decide whether I should take it or not - my school does. For early entry, we only start the GCSE course in the chosen subject, not all subjects..I hope that clears up any misconceptions you may have.

I've got no misconceptions but your school is not sensible to do this. They are risking your grade profile and their performance data - makes no sense at all.

I don't think unis care if you did your GCSE in Y10 as I know people who have taken a GCSE early and it didn't negatively affect their application.
I think it may be harder for Y10s to do a GCSE as they have less time for content but if you're good at the subject and your school has made the necessary preparations for an early GCSE then it's one GCSE subject out of the way and less stress for Y11!

Twenty years ago doing a GCSE early was common but it isn't now. What happens if you don't get a grade 9? It has to go on your UCAS ... top unis want to see top grades across the board.
Ofsted won't be happy either ... you can't judge whether it made a difference but it will affect the school's data.

I don't think unis care if you did your GCSE in Y10 as I know people who have taken a GCSE early and it didn't negatively affect their application.
I think it may be harder for Y10s to do a GCSE as they have less time for content but if you're good at the subject and your school has made the necessary preparations for an early GCSE then it's one GCSE subject out of the way and less stress for Y11!

it doesn't really matter cause fortunately for me , i am predicted a 9 in the gcse and there is no way i would let a 7 slide in as my GCSE grade. Its just my school

You still aren't doing all the GCSEs together and I doubt all the year group get grade 9s. Where I teach we stopped early entry a long time ago and so did most schools. Is this a state school? If it is is even sillier because Progress 8 and Attainment 8 will both be lower than they schould be.

Maybe the school thinks that if they get a GCSE done early, then their students will have less of a workload in year 11 and be more likely to get higher grades? Could that be a reason?

Why risk it though and wreck the school's data? Poor data and Ofsted come calling ....