THE PETERITE Va. XLI
FEBRUARY, 1949
No. 320
EDITORIAL Only the broadcast from the School Chapel on Tuesday, the 26th October, broke into the normal activities of the Christmas Term as they are reviewed in the following pages. The broadcast—a "live" one—was one of the B.B.C. series "Where they Sing" in the North of England Programme, and consisted of choir and congregational singing, prefaced by a brief introduction of the School by the Headmaster. We do not propose to venture here any comments on a performance which had so vast an audience, and will content ourselves with the hope that we did justice to an important occasion. Otherwise the term was, we believe, productive of much solid work in preparation for those two institutions upon which sentence of extinction has been passed—the School and Higher Certificate Examinations. It is a chastening thought that the Midsummer Examination of 1949 will be the last conducted entirely on the traditional lines. In the following year changes, notably the muchdisputed age-limit of 16, will have been introduced, and the process of bridging the transition will have begun; and by 1951 the change will have been effected. "School Cert." and "Higher", whose bleak shadows have darkened the path of otherwise carefree schoolboys for more than forty years, will be no more. In their place we shall have 'A General Certificate of Education', with papers at 'Ordinary', `Advanced', and 'Scholarship' levels and a latitude in the choice of the subjects (or subject) in which we wish to be examined which will seem unbelievable to those accustomed to the rigid regulations of the old dispensation. How far this liberty will prove illusory and be circumscribed by the requirements of universities and professional bodies remains to be seen. At present we only see through a glass, darkly, and we must await events. But the schools, as so many other institutions in this age of rapid change, are quickly nearing an important turning point on the road. In what direction and to what goal it will lead us is a matter for speculation. What is certain is that for many of us a profound readjustment of our ideas will be necessary. However, we are becoming inured to the process. The revival of a London Old Peterite dinner, the first since 1938, is recorded elsewhere in this issue. Its success is another indication that the O.P. Club, whose activities were necessarily dormant during the war, has renewed its old vigour. In London and its environs are many of our most prominent O.P.'s, and it is good news that a 1
