Little Erasmus - Good or Bad?

[sport!]

An attempt to be serious for once........hope my facts are right......

My understanding of entering the Little Erasmus (fast stream) as opposed to the Lower Fourth was in order to gain a year which could later be utilised for the Oxbridge examinations in the Michaelmas Term after A Levels.

In my time I think there were 30-35 in the L.E. and I scraped in at around no. 34 or 35. In hindsight, I believe this was "a bad thing" and an average set of O Level (GCSE) results ultimately followed. Now, I'm sure if you are clever enough and work hard enough, it doesn't matter how old you are, but what it would have given me was added maturity and, just possibly, the realisation that these exams were important and worth working hard for.

Lastly, did the school really think it was going to have 30-35 Oxbridge candidates? I can't recall more than 10 or so ever getting in each year. So, were they hedging their bets at the expense of pupils who should really have gone at the normal pace?

So, L.E. - good or bad?

Not that I'm bitter you understand....

[Great Plum]

These days of course, everyone is in the L.E....

[sport!]

maybe my memory is fading and I've got the terminology wrong.......

are you saying everyone is "fast stream" now?

[Great Plum]

Essentially yes, the years are now:

2nd form
3rd form
LE
UF
GE
Deps
Grecians

[sport!]

ah, what I'm talking about is skipping UF; the LE used to go straight to GE (thus - fast stream), the alternative route was LF, UF, GE.......

Essentially yes, the years are now:

2nd form
3rd form
LE
UF
GE
Deps
Grecians

[Great Plum]

Nope, there is no fast stream anymore - just the 'route' that I showed you...

[sport!]

Nope, there is no fast stream anymore - just the 'route' that I showed you...

not the best title for this Topic then.......should have been Fast Track - Good or Bad (Oldies only!).........apologies

[DavebytheSea]

As I've said elsewhere on this forum, in the 50s there was a small 3rd form for those aged 11 who did not make it immediately into the LF. Everyone then passed into the LE and only after that did one get one's Broadie in the UF. We all then passed into the GE for O levels. Those who messed up these and had to repeat went into the fifth form while the rest of us became Deps. So:

Prep (structure still unclear - but see my posting elsewhere), then:

3rd Form
Lower Fourth - LF
Little Erasmus - LE
Upper Fourth - UF (Broadie - hooray!)
Greater Erasmus - GE
Fifth Form
Deputy Grecians
Grecians
3rd Parting Grecians

There was a strange system where some of us were encouraged to do our A levels just one year after O levels. This meant studying a two year A level course co-terminously with O levels. It was risky, the more especially as on never took O levels in our A level subject. It also meant that in my case (and presumably many others) that I went to University at far too young an age. Consequently it was a disaster and I had to have a restart a few years later.

A propos of something else altogether, when and why did pupils start wearing their girdles back to front?

[Mid A 15]

An attempt to be serious for once........hope my facts are right......

My understanding of entering the Little Erasmus (fast stream) as opposed to the Lower Fourth was in order to gain a year which could later be utilised for the Oxbridge examinations in the Michaelmas Term after A Levels.

In my time I think there were 30-35 in the L.E. and I scraped in at around no. 34 or 35. In hindsight, I believe this was "a bad thing" and an average set of O Level (GCSE) results ultimately followed. Now, I'm sure if you are clever enough and work hard enough, it doesn't matter how old you are, but what it would have given me was added maturity and, just possibly, the realisation that these exams were important and worth working hard for.

Lastly, did the school really think it was going to have 30-35 Oxbridge candidates? I can't recall more than 10 or so ever getting in each year. So, were they hedging their bets at the expense of pupils who should really have gone at the normal pace?

So, L.E. - good or bad?

Not that I'm bitter you understand....

I know where you're coming from Sport!

I scraped into LEC and struggled near the bottom, midtable at best. I have often wondered whether I would have more self confidence had I (theoretically) been nearer the top of the old LF. However it might have equally gone the other way and I would have worked less hard as I would have (perhaps) been better placed relative to the others with less effort.

I found that "O" levels (as it was then) were reasonable but my first shot at "A" levels was pretty dire.

To attempt a direct answer to your question the LE was good for the real high flyers but the LF would probably have been better for the rest of us.

Maybe that is why the LF has been abolished and the LE rebranded as the School has realised this.

[Mid A 15]

As I've said elsewhere on this forum, in the 50s there was a small 3rd form for those aged 11 who did not make it immediately into the LF. Everyone then passed into the LE and only after that did one get one's Broadie in the UF. We all then passed into the GE for O levels. Those who messed up these and had to repeat went into the fifth form while the rest of us became Deps. So:

Prep (structure still unclear - but see my posting elsewhere), then:

3rd Form
Lower Fourth - LF
Little Erasmus - LE
Upper Fourth - UF (Broadie - hooray!)
Greater Erasmus - GE
Fifth Form
Deputy Grecians
Grecians
3rd Parting Grecians

There was a strange system where some of us were encouraged to do our A levels just one year after O levels. This meant studying a two year A level course co-terminously with O levels. It was risky, the more especially as on never took O levels in our A level subject. It also meant that in my case (and presumably many others) that I went to University at far too young an age. Consequently it was a disaster and I had to have a restart a few years later.

A propos of something else altogether, when and why did pupils start wearing their girdles back to front?

In the sixties you got your broadie on going into the LE and we certainly wore our girdles back to front and as low as possible too.

In my time (65) if you entered at 11 you went into the 2nd form then 3rd form, LE/(LF), (UF), GE, Deps, Grecians.

I started in 65 which was the last year of the Prep. It became Leigh Hunt in 66 and fully integrated with the rest of the school.

The boys who had just left the Prep and come into Maine A in 65 were all 12 and thus 3rd formers.

[sport!]

I know where you're coming from Sport!

I scraped into LEC and struggled near the bottom, midtable at best. I have often wondered whether I would have more self confidence had I (theoretically) been nearer the top of the old LF. However it might have equally gone the other way and I would have worked less hard as I would have (perhaps) been better placed relative to the others with less effort.

I found that "O" levels (as it was then) were reasonable but my first shot at "A" levels was pretty dire.

To attempt a direct answer to your question the LE was good for the real high flyers but the LF would probably have been better for the rest of us.

Maybe that is why the LF has been abolished and the LE rebranded as the School has realised this.

sounds as though our experience was much the same....good point about it possibly going the other way, it may well have been an opportunity to put even less effort in.

[Great Plum]

These days squits wear their girdle with the buckle at the front...

3rd formers wear their buckle to the back...

And then the broadie is given on the LE...

[englishangel]

maybe my memory is fading and I've got the terminology wrong.......

are you saying everyone is "fast stream" now?

Just caught up with this thread.

No-one fast stream I think you will find.

The reason for this is that unless you take GCSEs in the year of your 16th birthday you are not counted as having taken them in the school league tables, 'ditto' with A levels, and of course there are also AS levels at 17 now.

The upshot of this is that there is no speedy route for more academically able students so they do more exams. Hence the students getting 11/12/13 A* GCSEs.

I got 9 (not all As) in 1972 and there were very few of my contemporaries at Uni had as many, or more.

[Jude]

maybe my memory is fading and I've got the terminology wrong.......

are you saying everyone is "fast stream" now?

Just caught up with this thread.

No-one fast stream I think you will find.

The reason for this is that unless you take GCSEs in the year of your 16th birthday you are not counted as having taken them in the school league tables, 'ditto' with A levels, and of course there are also AS levels at 17 now.

The upshot of this is that there is no speedy route for more academically able students so they do more exams. Hence the students getting 11/12/13 A* GCSEs.

I got 9 (not all As) in 1972 and there were very few of my contemporaries at Uni had as many, or more.

Blimey - I knew that Horsham had a weird system - thank goodness Herts was easier -
1st form ( 1x if you were intelligent, 1y if you weren't!)
2nd form (2a and 2b - that was the streaming)
3rd form (last year of Juniors) still a and b
4th form a and b (entry into seniors)
5th form - did O levels
Lower 6th
upper 6th - did A levels
Post - students who came back for 1 extra term after U6th