GCSEs were pretty restricted when I was at school, but it opened up to do a load of vocational stuff a few years after I left. There were people who got to do construction trades, design, etc. We had to do core subjects, ICT, PE, Humanities, French, 1x Design & Tech subject, and two option blocks. Options were things like Business, Music, Art, extra PE, extra IT, and triple award science.
ICT was pretty poor when I was at school. In 1999/00, I ended up configuring most of their new network, as they had not a single member of staff with any knowledge whatsoever about NT4 or network configuration. Spent most of my "extra IT" in my last two years actually administering their network and performing maintenance, as I'd completed all the coursework by xmas in the first year of it. A student having domain admin access would be unheard of these days.
Think I'd have liked being in a year group of Dan's size. Mine would have had circa 200 students, and it was a nightmare at times. Loads of bellends too that were more intent on disrupting everyone's education rather than learn for themselves. No wonder they're either on the brown or locked up these days.