Do I move school

I'm currently in year 11 and about to choose my options for sixth form. I initially wanted to do maths,FM, economics and physics but my school doesn't do economics. However they have an amazing maths department which is my priority. But I don't know what I would pick for my fourth option if I were to stay and I'm not that interested in physics. I could go to a worse school that does offer economics and do the options I want.

If you are not interested in physics, I would not do it. All A Levels are very demanding and require a lot of effort so if you don't have an interest in the subject, you'll struggle to revise. I would recommend do 4 as you want to do FM and that is typically expected to be take as a 4th A Level. Maybe consider humanities and social sciences like history, geography and psychology.

A bit off topic but I need to remind you that how 'good' a school is, doesn't determine how well you do. You need the personal resilience, motivation and determination to do well, it's most likely a more competitive environment in a 'good' school which will increase motivation.

It's not best for me to tell you what to do but here are some things you should keep in mind.

A Level Economics is a great A Level and I personally love it, if you're interested in going down a finance and economics route, it's a great choice, but I have never see a course that requires it. However, Economics is tough and requires a very different kind of thinking than Maths or Physics. You don't want go to the other school, start Economics, hate it, drop it within the first few weeks and regret going to that school. If available I would recommend going to a taster day.

There are many advantages of leaving your school like you get to meet new people and start fresh. But for me personally, relationships with teachers are really important. A Levels are tough and you need to be able to ask your teacher for help when needed and if you’re nervous or don't know them well it can make it hard. Even if you have never met the A Level teachers in your current school, you have probably seen them around.

Maths is a key subject and doing well in it will most likely be very important for any course you want to do at uni. So having the best teachers for that is key. Also, you may want to compare which options your current school and other school have picked for FM, like whether they do Stats, Mechanics, Decision etc; because I hate mechanics and wouldn't have done as fm if I had to do that.

Hopefully bits of this helped but truly good luck

If you are not interested in physics, I would not do it. All A Levels are very demanding and require a lot of effort so if you don't have an interest in the subject, you'll struggle to revise. I would recommend do 4 as you want to do FM and that is typically expected to be take as a 4th A Level. Maybe consider humanities and social sciences like history, geography and psychology.
A bit off topic but I need to remind you that how 'good' a school is, doesn't determine how well you do. You need the personal resilience, motivation and determination to do well, it's most likely a more competitive environment in a 'good' school which will increase motivation.
It's not best for me to tell you what to do but here are some things you should keep in mind.
A Level Economics is a great A Level and I personally love it, if you're interested in going down a finance and economics route, it's a great choice, but I have never see a course that requires it. However, Economics is tough and requires a very different kind of thinking than Maths or Physics. You don't want go to the other school, start Economics, hate it, drop it within the first few weeks and regret going to that school. If available I would recommend going to a taster day.
There are many advantages of leaving your school like you get to meet new people and start fresh. But for me personally, relationships with teachers are really important. A Levels are tough and you need to be able to ask your teacher for help when needed and if you’re nervous or don't know them well it can make it hard. Even if you have never met the A Level teachers in your current school, you have probably seen them around.
Maths is a key subject and doing well in it will most likely be very important for any course you want to do at uni. So having the best teachers for that is key. Also, you may want to compare which options your current school and other school have picked for FM, like whether they do Stats, Mechanics, Decision etc; because I hate mechanics and wouldn't have done as fm if I had to do that.
Hopefully bits of this helped but truly good luck

Thank you so much for the response, it was very helpful.
I should have been more specific when I said "I'm not that interested in physics" what I actually meant was I'm not that interested compared to the other subjects I want to take and will most likely end up dropping the subject eventually. Also, I'm not really interested in any other subjects.
Yes, I am planning on going down a finance route. I'd like to do either economics or maths at uni that's why I want to do A level economics, I would like to find out more about what I'm getting myself into.
Also, why is FM expected to be taken as a 4th a level?

Schools largely expected FM to be taken as a 4th A-Level to provide a safety net for students who found it harder than expected. The step up from GCSE Maths to 1st year FM A-Level is massive, and generally, the step up from GCSE Maths to A-Level Maths is pretty big in itself. FM has one of the highest dropout rates because of this, and if you drop FM having only picked 3 A-Levels, you would then be playing a very long catch-up game on whatever new subject you then choose. Basically results in high-achieving students struggling and not achieving their full potential, which impacts the school's league tables and all the rest.

Thank you so much for the response, it was very helpful.

I should have been more specific when I said "I'm not that interested in physics" what I actually meant was I'm not that interested compared to the other subjects I want to take and will most likely end up dropping the subject eventually. Also, I'm not really interested in any other subjects.

Yes, I am planning on going down a finance route. I'd like to do either economics or maths at uni that's why I want to do A level economics, I would like to find out more about what I'm getting myself into.
Also, why is FM expected to be taken as a 4th a level?

This is (at least partially) false, you don’t need do to FM as a 4th A-level in most contexts. It’s absolutely fine to take it as a 3rd unless your school is being stupid, you’re doing medicine or the university that you’re looking to apply to is being picky.
It is not expected to be taken as a 4th A-level. The only time where it would be expected is if your school has spread the false narrative, therefore decides to be stupid and only let’s you do FM as a 4th A-level as opposed to a 3rd.

I was just explaining why some schools have this policy, it's not particularly something I personally agree with either. There is so much controversy with A-Levels and options, my take on it is do what you want, feel comfortable with and don't let anyone stop you.... its your future at the end of the day. I also wouldn't stress too much about it as A-Levels is just a stepping stone to university, the hard bit is getting a job afterwards in the current market.

Ah yeah the schools probably need to do more research then as the common reason I’ve heard is that FM and Regular Maths aren’t counted as separate A-levels.

I knew one school that had a policy that FM A-Level could only be done as a 3rd subject if you had done FM GCSE, otherwise, it had to be a 4th subject because those students had a higher drop-out rate as they couldn't keep up with the students who had done FM GCSE and were failing. Granted we are talking about highly competitive schools who care way too much about their results table.

I don't really understand education in that sense, it's all about numbers and not personal growth. Why do you have to sit the exams, why can't you just go to the FM classes to gain knowledge, even if you don't end up sitting the papers... and really that could be said for all subjects. Focus on your official subjects, but gaining knowledge in other subjects where you might have an interest in can only be a good thing... but I guess this comes down to funding and capacity, which most state schools struggle with.

Schools largely expected FM to be taken as a 4th A-Level to provide a safety net for students who found it harder than expected. The step up from GCSE Maths to 1st year FM A-Level is massive, and generally, the step up from GCSE Maths to A-Level Maths is pretty big in itself. FM has one of the highest dropout rates because of this, and if you drop FM having only picked 3 A-Levels, you would then be playing a very long catch-up game on whatever new subject you then choose. Basically results in high-achieving students struggling and not achieving their full potential, which impacts the school's league tables and all the rest.

Thank you so much for the response, it was very helpful.
I should have been more specific when I said "I'm not that interested in physics" what I actually meant was I'm not that interested compared to the other subjects I want to take and will most likely end up dropping the subject eventually. Also, I'm not really interested in any other subjects.
Yes, I am planning on going down a finance route. I'd like to do either economics or maths at uni that's why I want to do A level economics, I would like to find out more about what I'm getting myself into.
Also, why is FM expected to be taken as a 4th a level?