Key Stage 4 Options
All of the information on this page relates to students currently in Year 8 (in the 2023-2024 academic year) and who will start their GCSE/BTEC Key Stage 4 courses in September 2024.
At the bottom of this page, you will find a link to the Key Stage 4 Options Booklet for Year 8.
Within the booklet you will find:
- An explanation of the curriculum for all students;
- Guidance on which parts of the curriculum are core (and studied by everyone) and which parts have an element of personalisation and/or choice;
- Information about all of the subjects within the curriculum (core and those from which students select);
- Examples of each of the two options forms which help to make clear where an element of choice is offered to students.
Options Information Evening - Thursday, 7 March 2024 16:30-18:30:
At the Options Evening, we will explain how the Options Process works and you will have the opportunity to visit subjects with your child to make informed decisions about choosing the right subjects for them. The evening will start with a presentation in the Assembly Hall. You will be able to ask senior and middle leaders’ questions and ask for support, advice and guidance on this night.
Please find links below to the Options Booklet and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to help you. There are also subject presentations that were recorded in 2021 that may be useful to watch.
Individual Subject Presentations:
Food Preparation and Nutrition
Deadline for option forms to be submitted:
There is a long process that starts after the students have submitted their options choices. In order to give as many students as possible their first choices, we build the whole school timetable around the Year 8 options choices. It is also important that the Year Team (and for some courses, the subject leader) reviews the skills, interests and abilities of students selecting certain courses to ensure that we are setting students up to have the greatest chance of success and if a choice of course does not appear to be the best one for an individual, then we may get in touch with the student and their family to discuss choices further. We may also advertise and appoint new staff based on the options choices and this obviously takes time. The deadline for forms to be submitted to tutors is Wednesday, 27 March. The final electronic deadline is also Wednesday, 27 March. Please contact Mr Walsh if you are experiencing difficulty meeting this deadline and we will endeavour to help you.
How to submit your choices:
We will collect options choices by giving each child a personalised Options Form to complete and give in. We ask that a parent or carer also signs the form.
Do please read the Frequently Asked Questions document for more information. If you have questions about specific subjects after reading these, please email your question to the relevant subject leader (email addresses are at the end of the Options Booklet) and for any questions about the process, do email Mr Walsh or your form tutor in the first instance or the Options email address: Y8Options2024@brentsidehigh.ealing.sch.uk