Seems about the right time to me
And about the right choices to make, doing law will show him if he has any interest in that path, and physics will teach him a good amount of what he'd need for the other (give him an RS catalogue and a monthly budget to build some robotic creations so he can fiddle about with the robotic engineering).
Which part of GCSE science did he get the D in? and what was his maths grade (which probably has more bearing on post GCSE physics than GCSE physics does), and what was his overall science grade for GCSE? (no idea how its arranged now, in my day it was a double grade for all 3 (e.g. BB, CC, AA).
Retakes don't necessarily mean extra classes, and doing 4 subjects should still leave him some timetable space (I did 4 all the way through A level and had 3 day weekends in the second year)
( Tedium Alduce me to interlow myself., Fri 11 Sep 2009, 13:40, Reply)