Interview with John Franklin, from The Blue Dec 2006

Post by **jtaylor** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:05 pm

A couple of people have asked if we could publish the interview with the new Headmaster, John Franklin, from the recent issue of The Blue.

You'll find a printable simple version of the interview at the link below:-

Interview with John Franklin

Cheers,

J

Great Plum · Post by **Great Plum** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:35 pm

He remains a strong believer in the benefits of a multi-racial mix in schools and feels that Christâ€™s Hospital could benefit from the inclusion of a small group of students from an international background in order to provide a broader perspective for the current pupils.

OK, and there was me thinking that the school already had a relatively high number of international students; mostly from Eastern Europe. The school already has a large multi-racial mix.

Mr. Franklin admitted that he is willing to consider an increase in the number of full fee paying students in order to protect our ability to continue to offer the vast majority of our pupils a means tested place at CH.

Oh dear... this, surely is the dumming down of one of the most vital aspects of the school's ethos...

what do others think?

Katharine · Post by **Katharine** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:24 pm

Quite agree with Plum, on a first reading of the interview. Perhaps greater acquaintance with the Religious Royal and Ancient Foundation will lead him to change his ideas.

BTW how many non-foundationers are there nowadays? Are they limited to children of staff? We did not have any at Hertford, and in those days it was impossible to join the school after the age of 12.

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:29 pm

Interesting note about taking 3 years to GCSE.

Is it not true that if a student takes GCSE 'a year early' they are not counted for league tables?

i.e. only 16 year olds count towards the points.

Hannoir · Post by **Hannoir** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:56 am

Well....surely having international students just from Eastern Europe isn't very multiracial. I think it'd be great, and really important to the school.

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:15 am

Great Plum wrote: this, surely is the dumming down of one of the most vital aspects of the school's ethos...

what do others think?

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:27 am

englishangel wrote:Interesting note about taking 3 years to GCSE.

Is it not true that if a student takes GCSE 'a year early' they are not counted for league tables?

i.e. only 16 year olds count towards the points.

Did you have a 'fast' stream at Hertford?

At Horsham it was possible to go straight from L.E. to G.E. and take O Levels at 15 rather than 16.

I'm not sure whether this had any effect on league tables (assuming they even existed in the '70s).

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:56 am

We didn't have a 'fast' stream at Hertford, there were a few girls who were a year younger than the rewst of us, Penny Evans for one, and those of us who were good at Maths took Additional Maths at OLevel as well as regular maths.

There weren't League tables until about 15 years ago.

sejintenej · Post by **sejintenej** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 11:54 am

Richard Ruck wrote:At Horsham it was possible to go straight from L.E. to G.E. and take O Levels at 15 rather than 16.

I'm not sure whether this had any effect on league tables (assuming they even existed in the '70s).

Agreed -I took my first batch of O levels in the weeks before and after my 15th birthday. I took more when I was 15 and 5 mths; it was not a case of "just before the 16th birthday and therefore 15". There was no mucking about with forms - I can't remember what form I was in when I took the first ones but I didn't miss any level (UF for example). The timetable appeared in keeping with previous years though I seem to recall that they didn't want very young boys doing "too many" exams in one go. I was in the 5th form for the Xmas and following summer ones and then switched into Deputy Grecians for A levels.

League tables? AFAIR the only league table I ever heard of was Oxbridge scholarships; always won by Manchester Grammer School by a wide margin with CH usually between 2nd and 5th in the UK.

So far as exam pass numbers were concerned it was a total sham and nothing less. Amongst my dozen plus O level passes I have 3 different Mathematics paper passes, I have Physics and Chemistry as separate subjects as well as Physics with Chemistry. If one were honest (and nobody has so far accused me of that crime) I should deduct at least 3 from the total. However, those would favourably affect and published CH success rate.

Katharine · Post by **Katharine** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 2:53 pm

englishangel wrote:We didn't have a 'fast' stream at Hertford, there were a few girls who were a year younger than the rewst of us, Penny Evans for one, and those of us who were good at Maths took Additional Maths at OLevel as well as regular maths.There weren't League tables until about 15 years ago.

I wonder when the Additional Maths started, we didn't do it. Did you do Maths a year early then Add Maths with the rest of the exams - my sons both did that when their time came (not CH).

Mid A 15 · Post by **Mid A 15** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:21 pm

Katharine wrote:
englishangel wrote:We didn't have a 'fast' stream at Hertford, there were a few girls who were a year younger than the rewst of us, Penny Evans for one, and those of us who were good at Maths took Additional Maths at OLevel as well as regular maths.There weren't League tables until about 15 years ago.
I wonder when the Additional Maths started, we didn't do it. Did you do Maths a year early then Add Maths with the rest of the exams - my sons both did that when their time came (not CH).

I did Additional Maths in the deps (lower 6th equivalent) so it was going in the early seventies!

midget · Post by **midget** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:37 pm

In the GOOD OLD DAYS(?) you took School Certificate and liked it. You had to pass in certain specified subjects-maths,English language, and at least 3 others IN THE SAME TERM to get any sort of certificate at all. If you were aiming at higher things you needed credits (about equivalent to 60%) in maths or a science, English language, a modern foreign language,Latin for most universities and a couple of others to give exemption from matriculation,without which you couldn't get into Uni. The A stream at Hertford were all expected to get Matric, and the B stream at least school Cert. We had to drop one of the optional subjects in our school cert year, to give more time. There was no fast stream, but my entry year had a lot of very young girls, and DR decided it would be bad for us to take it when we were 14, so 6 of us (in the top half of the class league) stayed down in the LV

sejintenej · Post by **sejintenej** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:48 pm

Katharine wrote:I wonder when the Additional Maths started, we didn't do it. Did you do Maths a year early then Add Maths with the rest of the exams - my sons both did that when their time came (not CH).

I did Elementary Maths June/July 1958 (dates of exams, not results) and Additional Maths a year leter. I then got General Mathematics in June 1961.

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:09 am

I have a feeling we were the first year to do Additional Maths, about 8 or so of us did it. We did it the same time we did all the rest of our O levels.

I got 9 because of the Add Maths and in those days that was about the most you could do.

I have done NO Maths since (except a little my first year at Uni because I hadn't done Maths A level, but that was below Add Maths level.

My 21 year old son is doing Maths and English GCSE in a year because he was ill through his teens, and the Maths is a breeze. Don't tell me they are as difficult as the old O levels. He struggles a little at first, but once he gets the hang of each section he is getting 100%.

I know a Judy Furnival did Logic O level in Lower Sixth and some others probably did that and a couple of others but in the main we all did everything in Fifth Form.

Great Plum · Post by **Great Plum** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:34 am

Hannoir wrote:Well....surely having international students just from Eastern Europe isn't very multiracial. I think it'd be great, and really important to the school.

The school is extremely multi-racial as it stands.

I don't think more full fee paying students would help the school at all - regardless of where they come from.

And yes Richard, I can't spell!