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There are many reasons for optimism about our children’s education and future; but there are hidden truths…
Much has been said about how many children have lost teaching and socialising time as a result of lockdown, which is true and, sadly, may be even worse than we thought. It is reassuring to see that the economic impact of the pandemic is turning out not to be as bad as it was previously…
Read MoreWhy St Andrews is so successful; you can do it, irrespective of which university!
One of the factors attributed to the success of St Andrews is their teaching, especially the way they reacted to lockdown. Yes, like other universities, they moved their teaching online as a result of COVID-19, but they did small group teaching in a way that their students feel is better than other top universities. At…
Read MoreThe Top University in the UK is not Oxford or Cambridge
In its almost 30-year history of ranking universities in the UK, The Sunday Times has placed a university that is neither Oxford nor Cambridge at the very top. You should be forgiven for thinking it may be a Russell Group university, but it is not one, and it is not even in England. The top…
Read MoreThe Number One Question asked by Parents of Teenagers… Answered
a conversation with a caring parent – written in August 2021 Dear Caring Parent I trust you and your family are making the best of the summer and that your son/daughter is looking forward to the start of the new academic year in September. I know we are only in the first few weeks of…
Read MoreRepercussion from last year’s A-level grade misallocation being felt by bright young people
A seventeen-year-old, with a national swimming award, and predicted grades of A*A*A has been rejected by Liverpool University and this is just one of many. According to The Guardian newspaper’s education website: “… Eve could have expected a string of top university offers in an ordinary year.” There is nothing ordinary about 2020, as COVID-19…
Read MoreThere is light at the end of the tunnel for GCSE and A-level students
Many young people who are in their final GCSE and A-level years have been studying diligently over the Easter break, and they are doing this in preparation for teacher assessment in the next couple of weeks or so. In most good schools where students achieve top grades year in year out, the headteacher and staff…
Read MoreTesting Blogs
This is just to test if this is working OK….
Read MoreGCSE and A-level exams – now a marathon and not a sprint!
The recent announcement by the government that GCSE and A-level examinations will not take place this summer should not be a surprise to many people, given the raging pandemic and the inconsistency in the quality of education young people from different schools have received. One thing that this has created, however, is the confusion in…
Read MoreRelax, Rejoice, Reflect and Re-energise, and let’s look forward to 2021 with optimism
Relax, Rejoice, Reflect and Re-energise, and let’s look forward to 2021 with optimism The three Rs is a concept that is well-known in children’s education as reading, writing and arithmetic (okay, two of them don’t actually start with an r when you write them, it’s just the way you pronounce them, but 3 Rs rhymes…
Read MoreOutstanding performance by the top primary schools in the state sector – how do the state secondary schools compare to independent schools?
In the secondary school Parent Power, published by the Sunday Times this week, the tremendous success achieved by state primary schools is sadly not replicated by state secondary schools. In the primary school version, the top ten in the country more or less match the top ten in the private sector. I was flabbergasted to…
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