The soundtrack for this post is provided by Electric Six
I am beginning to form a suspicion.
No more than a suspicion at the moment, but I admit the feeling is growing that I was perhaps incorrect to state – in my Physics Practical exam – that we had been provided with an output voltage of 4000V.
Why, you may ask innocently? Well, when I stop and ponder my result, it does start to sound like an awfully large number of volts. Those signs, for example: “Warning! High Voltage! Danger of Death!”. They refer to figures like 4000V, don’t they? It seems a little… excessive… for Edexcel to insist we work with such a number. How about another number? Such as, oh I dunno, 4V?
There’s another piece of evidence with suggests to my mind that perhaps that is closer to the truth: the large 4 on the setting of the power supply.
Hmm… 4, and 4000. There’s a link there, isn’t there? Why yes, of course! The second is merely one thousand times larger than the first. Almost as if, if I may dare to be so bold, a unit may have gone awry. For the non-Physicists amongst you, consider than a metre is made out of one thousand millimetres. Aha!
Hopefully, some nice examiner will merely dock a point for a unit somewhere, rather than chuckle and then burn the paper 
Don’t worry, I don’t actually think it went too badly, folks 
just the usual twists and turns which accompany the now-slain beast of the Physics Practical. Fire in the disco!
(P.S. Physics teachers are not allowed to read this post without commenting. Sorry.)
My current background
I change my desktop background fairly often. (Known as a ‘wallpaper’ way back in Windows 95, it is irritatingly referred to as a ‘screensaver’ quite a bit these days.) It goes from Doctor Who wallpapers to scenic views and cool photography, until I get bored with it and change it again. I’ve gone back to this photo a few times though, taken from a nice collection at wstaylor.net and – I think – included in Windows Vista.
What’s yours?
[Have Your Say: pretentious post titles – yay or nay? Results may not be indicative of public opinion]
Tomorrow, I have my Physics Practical Exam. Readers with long memories may recall an occasional tendency to appear ever so slightly negative about this, and it remains true that in ordinary circumstances I’d be egesting clay blocks (sorry!), but I’m actually not. Perhaps because, as the shadow of the beast of the synoptic exam looms darkly, the practical no longer carries the mantle of world’s-scariest-exam.
This week in general is the last week of the half term. On Friday, I’m going off to Blackpool for a mini-holiday with Nic, Josie & Andy, Lucy and lots of other exciting people, which I’m really looking forward to 
Even if I’m leaving on my mum’s birthday hehe. Oh, and we’ve decided I’m going to hide behind all of those lovely Midlands accents, for Blackpool is up in the far North tundra, where other Southerners fear to tread
(Grammatical note – this has been bugging me for ages: an emoticon takes the place of a full stop, OK?!)
Once back at school after the week’s holiday, I’ll have a final week of lessons, revision and please-god-no-more-revision until my first ‘proper’ exams on June 11th. Then I’ll be gone! No more school, no more tramping in the Science corridor, no more silly assemblies, no more lesson timetables, no more bells, no more sneaking dominicself.co.uk onto the corners of various whiteboards, no more exercise books (yes, I still 
exercise books, whatever people say). Still got exams to pass first though of course, so I’ll save the retrospective for another day
And how could I forget? We had another Babble Radio Night last night, and congratulations to Nathan, Nic, GG and Pingu for everything they achieved. It got me addicted to Rhianna – Umbrella too. Ella, ella.
After Emily’s dad accidentally booked too many tickets, and then Emily passed the spare tickets along to me and Sanna, and then Sanna was sadly too ill to attend, it eventually transpired that Robert and I went to see Radio 4’s The News Quiz being recorded. Hosted by Sandi Toksvig (can you not love her?) with Mark Steel (weep with joy, Saoirse, weep with pure unadulated joy) Alan Coren, Phil Jupitus, some-new-and-quite-funny-woman and the sexy Radio 4 newsreader-voice guy.
Anyway, it was great fun, with most of Mark Steel’s contributions being utterly libellous and not able to be transmitted. Got slightly worried when I spotted a bloke reading the Morning Star in the audience though, and thought the Radio 4 listenership was about to get revolutionary. Oh and a mobile went off in the audience – to which the team responded by shining a spotlight on the guilty woman. Haha! Props to Emily for getting the tickets for us. 
They also teased vegetarians in a rather amusing fashion 
sorry, Emily \ Sanna \ Joshua \ everybody else.
In other news: I have now applied for my student loans! Which is exciting, especially if I end up dying very young and therefore not paying any of them back. (Accidents happen…)
The Tories are finally abandoning their symbolic commitment to grammar schools, of which there are only 164 left in England anyway, with a ban on any new ones. Sure, the change is designed to allow them to appear to be ‘Blairites’ in supporting city academies more forcefully than Gordon Brown, but it does lead to the semi-amusing and semi-frustrating situation of waking up to hear David Willetts on Radio 4 ‘explaining’ what we’ve known for decades.
So for hopefully the final time, why are grammar schools – and the associated academic selection at age 11 – such Bad Things again?
- One Size Fits All? – it’s somewhat strange that this charge is levelled at comprehensive schools by those who think you can judge a child through a single entrance test at eleven years old. Those who develop later don’t stand a chance.
- Tutoring – the richer parents simply pay their way into grammar schools, as well as strategic house-buying.
- Unnecessary – can’t bright kids do well in mixed ability education? Of course they can. If you have some kind of mental block at the idea of going to school alongside less academically able students, get a grip. If the teaching isn’t good enough, or the discipline isn’t strong enough, then challenge it.
- Divisive and Demoralising – who wants siblings to be divided into the haves and the have-nots on the basis of a test at age 11? Don’t bother claiming that they’ll get the education ‘best suited’ to them – you ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ an entrance exam for a reason. In the meantime, grammar schools drain the best teachers away from the others, leading to a worse education for those who need it most.
- Inflexible – schools can’t magically grow bigger and smaller each year. Select at age 11, and children who don’t quite pass the test but could have done equally as well as those who do are locked out.
- Unimaginative – don’t cream the most academically able kids away – allow them to contribute to a genuinely comprehensive school and see what exciting things can happen. It’s not very impressive that a pre-selected cohort of clever students get good exam results. Deliver value added and make a difference to children’s lives, rather than just taking them along a set path.
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