Options Requests 2020

Introduction:

At Bedford Free School we believe that all pupils can achieve extraordinary things, including going to university. Those aspirations must be facilitated by a balanced curriculum. Having balance ensures that you do not close doors too early. Meeting those aspirations requires hard work, focus, and dedication. It also requires that you keep your options open so that you can change your mind.

Some of the subjects referred to above are part of the ‘core curriculum’, and everyone studies them. Some of them are ‘optional’ and you have choices to make about which to study. For some pupils, you may know what you want to do in the future. You may even know which course you want to study at university. You may find choosing your options quite easy. For other pupils, you may have no idea what you want to do, or even if you want to go to university. Both of these situations are fine. In both cases, please reflect on whether, in making your options, you are ensuring doors are kept open so that when you are 16 or 18, or even later in life, you can change your mind or change direction.

Options Booklet

You can download a copy of the options booklet, which contains information about each GCSE subject, and guidance about how to fill in the options form, here:

BFS GCSE Options Booklet 2023

GCSE Options Requests Form 2023

Options Request Form

You can download a copy of the options request form here and return to your tutor before the deadline:

GCSE Options Requests Form 2023

Remember:

Every pupil MUST choose either Geography or History (you can select both if you want)
Every pupil MUST choose a language, either French or Spanish*
Only request triple science if you have been invited to do so by the science department. (Triple science does not replace one of your options—the extra lessons needed for triple science will take place in DEAR in year 10 and electives in year 11)

*In order to support a very small number of pupils access the wider curriculum, some pupils may not take a language. This can only be agreed in consultation and approval of the Senior Leadership team.

Please remember that these are options requests at this stage. Once all options forms are in and have been checked, we will analyse all the requests carefully and try to accommodate as many requests as possible. Please be aware that it is never possible to offer all the possible combinations of subjects that pupils request and a small number of pupils may be disappointed that they cannot study their first-choice options. This happens because:

It is not possible to create a timetable to suit all the choices made
Not enough pupils chose the subject for the course to run
A subject is oversubscribed and it is not possible or safe for all students who requested it to be in the class. In these situations, we may refer to pupils’ progress and effort in the relevant subject to select who is able to take it.

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