Although pe is an important subject at school, at a certain age it should no longer be mandatory for every child to participate in these lessons. During secondary school, most children go through hormonal changes causing self esteem issues. During pe, many schools ask students to wear clothing such as shorts, which can affect some students mental health as they feel insecure about showing their body. Most children have either been through or are going through puberty during year 9, which is why i believe it is the correct age to stop pe from being a mandatory subject. if students would like to continue with the subject, they can choose it as a GCSE option, whereas students who feel as though pe is affecting them mentally can choose to drop the subject. This also allows the students to focus on their GCSE subjects, rather than stressing out about their next pe lesson. Another reason why i believe pe should now longer be mandatory after year 9, is because children in year 9 and older and are mature enough to take responsibility for their own health and fitness, rather than having to take part in a lesson which affects their self esteem and mental health. Many children have also said that pe causes of bullying, because some students may not be sporty which leads to other students teasing or bullying them for their athletic skills. My final reason as to why pe should no longer be mandatory, is because it promotes a bad attitude towards exercise. Due to bad pe lessons, some children develop a bad attitude towards doing exercise, for example if you had asked me in year 9 or 8 to exercise i would have immediately refused, not because i was lazy but rather because i had a bad experience with pe. In conclusion, i believe children should choose whether or not they want to take pe as a GCSE subject as it affects the children in multiple ways.