Exams and study leave

[butagirl at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 29669

<<What exactly do the students do the last week of term? They've already had 
final exams, yet they attend classes. Is this normal in Briton? >>

I don't know about other schools, but in ours the exams for the first few 
years were "in-house" exams and were handled by the school alone. We did not 
leave school at all during this period (i.e., no "study leave") and lessons 
continued after the exams. Not only does it make sense not to waste this 
time, but it's fairer since some students' exams would have finished earlier 
and they would therefore have had more holiday!

For the public exams, such as 'O' Grades ('O' Levels in England), we had a 
period of several weeks study leave before and during the exams, and we 
returned to school afterwards if we intended to stay on for the subsequent 
year. We would then start next year's courses. Two exceptions were 1) the 
final year (obviously!) and 2) where students had completed their 'O's and 
did not intend to return, but were not yet sixteen years of age. They had to 
stay until the following Christmas by which time they would be old enough to 
leave. This was usually a waste of time since they were there under duress 
and were given "vocational" courses in which they usually had little or no 
interest.

The situation in England is probably completely different since nearly all 
students would have been sixteen years old by the time they took their 'O' 
levels (or G.C.S.E.s).

Sharon Brindle
"Though I am butagirl at aol.com"