Author: Tim Dracup
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. This week’s media debate about the value of grammar schools as instruments of social mobility has been profoundly depressing. For the record, all the research evidence shows that the historical impact of selective education on social mobility has been negligible. The proportion of disadvantaged learners currently admitted to grammar schools remains desperately low: As…
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. This post considers whether the forthcoming Higher Education Green Paper will propose radical reform to bring about fair access to universities. . The runes first written The Conservative Government aspires to widen participation and improve fair access. There was no explicit commitment in the Conservative election manifesto but, one week before the May 2015…
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. This post draws together what we know about Nathaniel Dracup (1728-1798), the most celebrated of the early Dracups in England. My previous genealogical post, ‘The Earliest Dracups’, discusses the children of George Dracoppe, our first known ancestor. His youngest son, John (1596-1673) also called his eldest son John (1627-74). The latter’s second wife, Sarah…
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I am increasingly concerned about NCETM’s notion that ‘stretch and challenge’ should always involve studying the same material in greater depth. This is becoming increasingly pervasive and resulting in widespread confusion, amongst teachers as well as parents. For example see this Mumsnet thread and this sample of recent Tweets . Has anyone got anything official…
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Note: This is an updated version of a post that first appeared on 7 September 2015. It includes data published by Exeter Mathematics School in response to the original version, as well as answers to some follow-up questions I posed on Twitter. . My attention was drawn to a recent Spectator article by Alison…
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We spent a fortnight in Austria in late July and early August 2015, dividing our stay between the predominantly rural Filzmoos and the more urban Zell am See, both located in the state of Salzburg. They were very different. In Filzmoos tourism was low key and visitors were almost exclusively European. Only on our…
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My attention was drawn to a recent Spectator article by Alison Wolf ‘What I’ve learned helping to found a specialist free school’ Kings specialist maths school sounds fantastic. Question arising is why has this model failed to take off? https://t.co/GsXxDkH1TV — Rachel Gooch (@SchoolDuggery) September 4, 2015 In answering that, twitter really misses…
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Exmouth is located in East Devon in the South West of England and easy to reach by rail from London. Change at either Exeter Central or Exeter St David’s for The Avocet Line which operates a service every half an hour or so. Stops include Topsham, Lympstone and the intriguing Lympstone Commando. This request…
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SFR30/2015 ‘National curriculum assessments at key stage 2 in England, 2015 (provisional)’ was published on 27 August 2015. This is the final year of operation for separate level 6 tests. From 2016 there will be single tests for all KS2 learners capable of taking them. Headline percentages were unchanged from 2014, with 9% of entries…
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I’ve always followed athletics closely, probably because it’s the only sport for which I’ve ever willingly trained, reaching the dizzy heights of second place in the under 15 400 metres at the 1974 St Albans and District School Sports. But, like many others, I’ve become increasingly cynical about the capacity of the sport to…
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My introductory post sets out what we know about the earliest Dracups in England. This companion piece provides some further detail about the places in which they lived. George Dracoppe was married in Ripley, North Yorkshire and at least four of his children were born there. It seems that part of the family remained in…
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This first genealogical post reviews the limited information available online about the earliest recorded Dracups in England. . Background Since 2010 I have built up a series of family trees using My Heritage Family Tree Builder. The most substantial covers both sides of my family in the UK. There are also far less developed…
Eponymous 