The majority of students will leave Matford Brook Academy with 9 KS4 qualifications.

Pupils need to select one Humanity, History or Geography, plus a 3 further subjects from: GCSE Fine Art, Vocational Digital Information technology, GCSE Citizenship, Vocational Performing Arts, GCSE Photography, GCSE Statistics (higher), GCSE Spanish, Vocational Sports studies, Vocational Hospitality and Catering. Pupils also need to select 2 reserves in case their first choices are unable to be allocated.

The ‘Year 9 Option choice booklet’ summarises all the information for each subject of course description, assessment and post-16 progression. For more detail, you can access the exam board website for that subject and download the specification.

There are 3 hours a fortnight dedicated to each option subject.

You can redo your choices form as many times as you wish but the places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

There are no official entry requirements to most courses but please be aware of specific demands of some courses, e.g. committing 3 hours a week to an Art sketch book or performing in front of an audience for Performing Arts. 

We will endeavour to make sure everyone is allocated their chosen subjects however there are is the small chance that either a course is full or there is not enough interest for a course to be ran. If this is the case, we will support you fully to find an alternative that suits you.

Unfortunately not, as these subjects are timetabled at the same time. We can talk to you about making the best choice.

We encourage you to have an open mind when making your option selections. If you are struggling to find a course you are interested in then speak to the teachers running courses to find out more, speak to a key adult for guidance and use Post-16 prospectuses and/or UniFrog to help you search for potential courses in Year 12 and career pathways to gain inspiration.

Typically GCSE courses are more theory based and have end of Year 11 external exams whereas Vocational courses are more hands on and often have coursework as part of the overall assessment. Please note that we are offering Level 2 Vocational courses and these have the same academic weighting as GCSEs.

There may be a small cost element in Hospitality and Catering, Photography and Fine Art, to help cover the cost of materials. Other subjects, e.g. Sports Studies, may offer activities off site which will also require a small cost. There is financial support available for those pupils who are in receipt of Free School Meals.

Based off many years of experience, we know that pupils tend to get 2 higher grades in Combined Science as opposed to 3 slightly lower ones in Separate Sciences and we want to give you the opportunity to gain the very best results you can.

Note: Medical and Veterinary courses accept Combined Science GCSEs and look for the highest grades possible.

You will have your options confirmed after the spring (Easter) holiday break.

We understand that sometimes we may change our minds once we experience something and so if this does happen, there will be a short window at the start of Year 10 where you may be able to change course. This would be subject to pupil numbers and timetabling. We would have thorough conversations with both the current option teacher, the new option teacher and parents/carers to ensure this is the right change for you.

You will not be able to change course another time.

Everybody here at MBA is here to support you. You will be part of a 1:1 conversation with a member of SLT to help guide your choices, but you should also talk to family, siblings and friends for advice.