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School’s out
There were celebrations for many in the United Kingdom last week with the release of A-level examination results and the White household wasn’t immune. In Oxford the grades are handed out at the school at 10.00am and from then it seems to be party time, either to savour good results or to drown sorrows. To start with, champagne followed by a lunch and then 600 partygoers crush into the Bridge nightclub, never to be seen again for a day or so. These exams are apparently pretty important in securing places to university so when Finn secured two As and a B (his B being only 3 marks off an A) there was delight all round, and we were impressed.
That was until we heard on the radio that 97 percent of students who sit pass their A-levels, and that 25 percent of those who pass do so with an A mark. Whatever happened to failure? It seems that no-one really misses out unless they get a U which means unmarked, that’s when the paper is so bad the marker cannot be bothered to finish the job. As a result of all of these good marks, it is expected that thousands of A level students will miss out on university places this year, a consequence of 60,000 extra students applying for only 13,000 new funded placements. We have learned too that admissions officers at universities have been getting “disappointment training” to help them deal with worried and unhappy students.
But if we were impressed by Finn’s result, his girlfriend Lara got two As in art, and in doing so scored 600 marks out of a possible 600. Not surprising that she’s been accepted for Falmouth Art School and, even if we take in to account what must be a relatively generous marking regime, her results were exceptional.
Near here, in Croydon, it seems there has been something of a storm in a swimming pool following a notice on the local council’s website that there will be specific times for Muslim-friendly swimming at its Thornton Health Leisure Centre. The council had introduced new rules requiring all swimmers to cover up in order that Muslims were not offended, the notice reading: “During special Muslim sessions, male costumes must cover the body from the navel to the knee and females must be covered from the neck to the ankles and wrists. When attending please adhere to the Islamic dress code (otherwise you will be denied entry)”. In the face of protest, the Council claimed this was an error and no dress code existed. The leisure centre does, however, maintain its programme of single-sex sessions for women on a Saturday afternoons and men on Sunday afternoons. “These are for people who may not feel comfortable swimming in a mixed-gender group,” a council spokesperson told the Croydon Guardian. “There is no dress code enforced by our staff at either of these sessions.”
Meanwhile, back in Oxford, authorities have rebranded their local airport as London Oxford, apparently hoping to cash in on the success of other landing strips such as Luton and Stanstead which are used as gateways in and out of London, particularly for the budget airlines. Telegraph columnist India Lenon describes Oxford’s move as shameless but nothing new as nine airports have now adopted the London prefix. The difference here being that Oxford is more than sixty miles from London whereas most of the others are within a thirty mile radius (Yes, miles - imperial measurements have not been sullied by metrics in this part of the world). To describe Oxford as part of London is drawing something of a long bow, a little like describing Ashburton as a suburb of Christchurch.
As for us, we have mostly been preparing and painting long-neglected windows at cousins Jani and Rob’s house, but plan to explore Oxford when they head away for a few days in Cambridge. While they have kindly prepared bicycles for the twenty minute ride down the scenic Thames towpath into town, we have popped over the road and checked out the bus timetable for the less strenuous option.