KS4 Options

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Welcome to the Key Stage 4 Options Guide

As a Year 9 student, you are part way through your journey with us at The Garibaldi School. In the coming weeks and months you will be selecting and finalising your options choices for study at Key Stage 4 (Year 10 and 11). This is the first time in your education where you have a choice about what you will study in the future.

Choices like this are exciting opportunities, but they can also be daunting. We want to support you to ensure you make the best possible choices based on information, advice and guidance. These choices will be a key step towards achieving the amazing outcomes that will help ensure you have the successful and happy adult life we want for you all.

The process of making your options choices is not always straightforward or easy and may include having to make difficult decisions. We would encourage you to think about how you are currently performing in that subject and how much you enjoy it now. It is also important to think about your future career plans even if these are not fully formed. Not continuing with a subject at GCSE is not going to completely close any doors, but it might make getting there a little harder; for this reason you need to do your research. Being influenced by the choices of your peers, disregarding subjects because of gender stereotypes or choosing it because you like your current teacher are not good reasons to base your choices on.

We have already contacted your parents/carers regarding which of the two options pathways - the EBacc pathway or Foundation pathway - would be most appropriate for you given your previous achievement at primary school and your current class group. There is a guide below for each of the two pathways.

Set out in these guides are the wide range of courses that we offer for study in Year 10 and 11, and some clarification on the difference between GCSE, BTEC and Cambridge National qualifications. Please take the time to familiarise yourself with the quide relevant to the pathway that we have suggested is most appropriate for you.

Please be reassured that we will always try our best to ensure that we can accommodate the options you want and there will be some flexibility that we can offer so it is always better to ask about what's possible. However, there will be times where we can't accommodate the first choices subjects for all students; this is why we encourage you to choose a reserve subject as a preference.

Our Options Evening event on 23rd January 2025 will give Year 9 students the chance to find out additional information and receive answers to questions you might have. The online options form, where you will indicate your optional choices, will be available until Friday 14th March 2025.

Good luck in working through the process and please do not hesitate to contact the school if you have any specific questions.

Course Guide

The course guides for the EBACC Pathway and Foundation Pathway are available using the links below. Each course guide contains detailed information about each of the subjects available, along with a video from the subject’s Lead Teacher. Click on the icons of each subject to view the full description.

Options Form

The Options Form will be available to complete following the event on 23rd January 2025. The deadline for completion of the form is Friday 14th March 2025.

Please click on the following link for the Subject Blocks Information Sheet which explains how the blocks for each pathway work.