The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

SingleSue

silvercar wrote: »

Did a few years make so much difference? I did my A levels in 1982, lots of the girls in my school went on to University. In fact only about 20% of pupils left after 'O' levels.

As said, I left in 1986 after O levels, only a very few stayed on for A levels, so few in fact that they had to have a joint 6th form between two high schools to have enough students.

Those who stayed on were the exception here.

SingleSue

LydiaJ wrote: »

They still don't, in many places. DS's school has minimum entrance requirements for (a) the sixth form in general and (b) each subject he wanted to do. A friend of his got the GCSEs to get into the 6th form, but didn't do well enough in English lit to be allowed to do it for A-level, so had to do geography, which she did have the grades for.

DS was worried about GCSEs, fearing that he might not get a 5 in English lang and might not be allowed to stay on. However, his tutor explained that exceptions are often made for well behaved and hard working students who just miss a grade or two. Meanwhile, troublesome students and those with wildly unrealistic ideas of their own capabilities are much easier to deal with if there's a policy they can point to. In the end, he got his 5, so that wasn't a problem.

The college Joe went to has very strict rules about who can enter with a higher than normal minimum amount of GCSEs, something they had to bring in because they could fill the place three times over with the amount they have applying to them (top college in the area, outstanding results).

Joe didn't meet the criteria but the course leader and admitting officer saw something in him despite the relatively poor results and moved hell and high water to shoe horn him in as 'There is just something about him that tells me we have to have him here". He still doesn't know what it was he saw that day, just that it was a feeling he had as on paper, Joe was completely unsuitable for the college.

By the time he left, that feeling had been justified. That same person said on results day last year that he has never before seen a student like him and he doubts he ever will again.

SingleSue

vivatifosi wrote: »

My school doesn't have a list of notable past pupils. Nope, not one.

Mine does, the Vice chancellor of the University of Leicester...he would just about have still been there when I started.

Pyxis

Interesting about different schools' expectations.

At mine, it was pretty much expected that nearly everyone would go into the sixth form. Very few people left after O Levels.

Then, it was also expected that you'd go onto tertiary ed. of some form or another, and university was actively encouraged.

There was also a secretarial sixth form, which you could do for one year after O levels, as an alternative to A Levels.



I don't know if anyone notable came out of the school,( apart from moi, of course! :rotfl: :rotfl:)

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

I don't know if anyone notable came out of the school,( apart from moi, of course!

See if they have a wikipedia page.... that's where there'll be any list.

It depends what you call notable. The three on my list included a footballer.... who might not even be any good, I've never heard of him.

Choosing subjects isn't the only thing - there are good teachers and really cr4p ones.

PasturesNew

SingleSue wrote: »

... YTS job at £27.50 a week. She still couldn't (or wouldn't) understand when I told her the job already set up was paying almost double that. She kept telling me I was making a mistake....

This was in 1986....:

In early 1979 we were told to expect to get £2500. As I was the best/top student of the whole place, having already worked every school holiday full-time since I was 14 and had evidence/references I went straight in as a PA at £3000. I took home £184/month. That felt "loaded!" It was a UK office of an American company who were diversifying from metal trading into recycling/refining. I spent a lot of time on the telex machine receiving/sending quotes and prices of chemicals and metals - usually live (no point making a tape to transmit when you can type perfectly).

I stayed there about a year, but didn't like the Receptionist (there were only 4 of us there; Receptionist, me, MD and some other chap) and the job was several miles away, so I got another job just 1 mile from home for about £3,400. Weird boss.... didn't like him, so soon left there too. I could always just turn to temping - which used to pay more/hour than regular work (nowadays it seems to pay less). As a temp you had to be "much better than your average person" to drop in and do the work - these days temps are seen as "bums to fill seats at the PC until the other person comes back", so cheaper.

vivatifosi

Family history peeps. I saw a tip in a magazine that has helped me break down three of my brick walls over the past month. If it is a bit obvious, apologies, it wasn't to me.

If you have a relative born just before 1837 (when the GRO started) and you don't know her mother's maiden name, find a sibling born after 1837 and look them up on the GRO index which most of the time gives the mother's maiden name. Blindingly obvious when you read it written down, but not if you don't think of it (like me).

PasturesNew

vivatifosi wrote: »

...

I always do that. There were two particular "bingo!" moments I've got from it:

vivatifosi

I love "bingo" moments. They are so few and far between these days. I can't see having lots more bingo moments until something big happens, like the release of the 1921 census.

I started my tree after my grandparents and great aunts and uncles died, so there's a huge patch between 1911 when they were either kids or not born, and the household survey, when I can't find some of them either.

Pyxis

Pastures......


German occupation?
:eek: :eek::eek:

? Channel Islands?

Wherever it was, it must have been grim.