Letter: Extra term would pave the way to university
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir: With regard to your leading article ('A new way into universities', 4 July) and the suggested reorganisation of the school year, back in the Thirties the Cheshire town in which I taught had two grammar schools with four terms per year.
These led to summer holidays, known as Barnaby, starting early in June, to coincide as closely as possible with the saint's day, but after matriculation/school certificate exams.
These vacations lasted four to five weeks: there was 'teacher's rest, mother's pest' for two weeks in October, and fortnights at Christmas and Easter.
How educationally advanced the place seems now, given the debate on school exams and university admissions. The June and autumn holidays, then freer of crowds, were especially relished, and might be so again if a determined effort for change is to be made.
Yours sincerely,
RUTH GELBER
London, SE3
4 July
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