Today I've mostly bin...

[Bunnylump]

I'm not scared. I'm too old, fat and tough for people to bother putting me in a pot.

[Cenwulf]

Today's bit of useless trivia:
When the Phoenecians landed on Mediterranean coast of what is now Spain, they saw these creatures which they thought were the same as the hyrax, which is a common creature in the Middle East. So they named the land 'Span' which was their word for the hyrax. However, the animal was rather different - the rabbit. So Spain is named for rabbits!

One word of warning - it is a taboo to say 'rabbit' on the Isle of Slingers; 'bunny' or 'long-ears' is allowed. When the Wallace and Gromit film was being publicised they weren't allowed to use the full title because it had 'Were-Rabbit', but did manage to get a poster with the caption 'Something Bunny Is Going On'.

[Bunnylump]

...Talking on my first ever chat room!! (Bet you all wondered what we'd been up to, didn't you??)

Am now totally annihilated. It was "Super Monday" for the exam period today, total nightmare, 14 staff short, needed to draft in loads of teachers, yet another military operation. But it worked!! However, I am now KERKNACKERED. Where's a falling asleep smiley when you want one??

[giraffe]

Don't talk to me about exam nightmares. Poor F had one this morning. Having spent all of half term working really hard on his Latin for his literature exam they opened the paper to find the questions were not on the works they had studied. After a few frantic calls to the exam board it became apparent that they changed the syllabus last year and no one told the latin department at his school. They were told to just attempt the paper, but it was impossible for them to write essays about stories they hadn't even read. We are now waiting to hear whether the board will accept their plea for special consideration of their papers. He has another paper next week on poems he hasn't studied, and so has to try to learn them in a week, whilst also doing planned revision for his other subjects.

[Bunnylump]

I'm sorry, Giraffe, but that is TOTALLY the school's fault. There is NO excuse for not knowing what's on the syllabus unless you are a lazy sod who rests on your laurels and churn out the same rubbish year in year out. I think that's disgraceful. Poor F, after all that hard work!!

[LAT]

That's dreadful for poor F. What a nightmare for him!

[giraffe]

Yes the headmaster rang me this afternoon and admitted it was their fault, they had been sent the info, but hadn't passed it to the teachers. I don't understand why the teachers don't look at the syllabus online, as it is no doubt available there. The headmaster said he is pretty certain the exam board will do something for them, but he isn't sure what, it might just be offering partial retakes, which they won't want to do as they will be doing AS by then. They have laid on Latin lessons every day this week, but F will have two hours of travelling every time he goes in, and needs to study for Geography on Monday too. They have told them that they should only spend the time on Latin that they were planning to anyway, so as not to jeopardise the other subjects, but it is hard to see how they won't spend more time on Latin. I'm just so cross because he deserves a really good result from the effort put in, he has just worked SO hard.

[Bunnylump]

I honestly am shocked at their incompetence. It's outrageous. Any teacher worth their salt has regular meetings organised by the exam board to get the up to date thinking and tips on exam technique. They should also have a teacher account which each teacher can access to get all the resources and up to date syllabus. Coming to that, shouldn't they have had subject advisers in to check how they were doing??

The VERY LEAST the school should do is to apply for special consideration. But that is a very small percentage of the marks (usually less than 5%) AND they should offer to pay for any resits through the school. If they try to ask you for money, complain.

[LAT]

Yes, the whole thing is so unfair on the kids. They work really hard and then don't get the chance to show what they know.
Another thing the exam board might do is to extrapolate the marks they get on the language part of the paper which will be fine for those who are good at the language but not so good for those who are better at the literature. Do hope it all works out OK for him though.

[Bunnylump]

There is a VERY slim possibility that they could take into account the marks he got in his mocks, as long as the mocks were taken under proper exam conditions, rather than just in the classroom. We've had that before now when an exam paper went missing.

[giraffe]

On a more positive note, F heard that he and three of his friends have won a physics competition. He has been invited to a buffet lunch and tour of the particle physics department at Birmingham University, followed by presentation of the prizes. Seems they have won £400 ! They had to make a video about particle physics.

[Bunnylump]

That's great! Well done to him!

Who cares about Latin, anyway?

[giraffe]

As I said before "What have the Romans ever done for us?"

[chazzie]

Yes - well done to Fernando (and his friends) for winning the Physics competition, at least a happy note on a frustrating day. Feel so sorry for him re the Latin exam - puts him in a really difficult position wondering where to spend his efforts over the next days.....

[LAT]

That is a bit of good news! Hope it helps to cheer him up after yesterday's fiasco.

[clvrlad]

As I said before "What have the Romans ever done for us?"

as ive said before brought us bunnies



your right
Romanes eunt domus

[strep98]

my friend dragged me out for the first run I've done in over a year, feel great now, But tomorrow..............

[MBH]

Well done you I can't imagine running ever making me feel "great" so it's good that it works for you.

[Bunnylump]

I personally think that running might actually kill me...

[MBH]

Unless you're being shot at by poacher clvrlad when NOT running might kill you - LOL