Introduction to Year 9 Options
The spring term of Year 9 is the time in your child’s education when some important choices have to be made about their Key Stage 4 courses.
The National Curriculum requires students to do a broad range of subjects which are compulsory. These are Mathematics, English, Science, Physical Education, and Personal Development. Students are then able to choose four optional subjects.
It is very important that you talk to your child about their option choices and ensure that they have looked at as much information as possible so that they can make fully informed decisions. It is important that students do not complete this form on their own but do this with your support. However, it is important that these choices should be based on the subjects that your child enjoys and in which they have the greatest chance of success. Students will be studying these subjects for five hours per fortnight, for the rest of their time at school, and once subjects have been chosen, apart from in very exceptional circumstances, they cannot be changed, so it is vital that they take these decisions seriously and make their choices carefully.
We will always try to give your child their first preference choices but very occasionally, this is not possible. If this is the case, we will have a meeting with your child to discuss their reserve options.
Students will choose their options through an online form. Students will have received a link to this form on Friday 21st March. This email will contain a link to the Student Portal where they will select their option choices.
Options forms must be completed online before Thursday 24th April.
Parents will be able to see their child’s choices in the MCAS app. Click here to access the MCAS app.
We do appreciate that making decisions and filling in the online forms can be a difficult and time-consuming task. If you need any help or have any concerns about subjects offered to your child, please do get in touch. You can do this either through Year 9 Year Manager, Mr Dickson, or the Deputy Headteacher, Quality of Education, Miss Catlow who oversees the options process.
You can download the Year 9 Options Routes table here. (PDF)
Click here to download our guide to ‘Choosing KS4 Options 2025’. (PDF)
Click here to see more information on the curriculum at The Radclyffe School.
Click here to find the exam board specifications of the qualifications that we offer at KS4.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view some of the documents on this page. These are denoted as PDF. You can download this for free using the link below.
