Overseas Trips, 1965

Easter trips, 1965

Two school journeys were successfully accomplished: the first, led by Mr Joe Deegan, visited Interlaken in Switzerland; the second, led by Mr Gerry Quinn, travelled to Spittal an der Drau in Austria.

Careers Convention, May 1965

This was arranged by Mr Bernard Caulfield, careers master, and held in the school one evening in which 37 advisors were available for consultation. It took place under the auspices of the Manchester Education Committee’s Youth Employment Service. This event became an annual feature and enabled boys and their parents to seek information and advice on prospects in various careers.

Ostend trip, June 1965

A party of 26 boys accompanied by Mr J. Deegan and Mr J.M. Woods visited Ostend for the Whitsuntide holiday.

Public speaking success

Throughout the Sixties the school had a number of successes in public speaking competitions. In 1965, sixth formers Peter Lloyd, Alan Sutton and Stephen Hume repeated their winning performance in front of a school assembly, their topic being the case for “Proportional Representation” which was highly topical in political circles at that time.

Magna Carta celebration

The school was closed on 7th July 1965 to celebrate the 750th anniversary of the Magna Carta.

Film show

In July 1965, a party of 80 boys accompanied by three teachers attended a French film show at the Regal cinema.

Retirement of Mr F. Andrew, July 1965

After a long association with the school, Mr Fred Andrew, 60, retired from teaching.  Mr Tony Smith, head of mathematics, was appointed deputy headmaster in his place. Mr R. Dearman also finally retired after many years’ service at the school, the last few having been in a part-time capacity.

Service

Both Mr Andrew and Mr Avery had the distinction of having served in each of the first five decades of the school’s existence.

Express class

In June 1965 31 boys from Form 4G were awarded a total of 75 passes in the O-level examinations, which were taken a year early. The subjects in which they were successful included English language, English literature, mathematics, French and Spanish. Four boys achieved five passes; three achieved four passes; four achieved three passes, and the rest each achieved one or two passes.

Certificate of Secondary Education, 1965

The CSE was a school-leaving qualification awarded from 1965. It was introduced to provide a qualification available to all schoolchildren distinct from the GCE (O-levels) that were aimed at the more able pupils.

There were five pass grades in the grading system ranging from 1 to 5, with grade 1 being regarded as equivalent to achieving an O-level in the subject where the pupil may have reasonably gained a high-grade pass if they had taken an O-level course of study in that subject. Although the examination was designed for secondary modern children, some pupils at St Gregory’s sat the CSE exam even though they might have followed a GCE course. There was a mixture of both. The idea of taking the CSE was that it was like an “insurance” or “safety net” in the event of failing or not being entered for O-level. It meant that pupils were less likely to leave the school empty handed, as it were, after years of academic study. In some classes there may have been a situation where most pupils prepared solely for O-level, some prepared for both O-level and CSE, whilst a small number just did CSE. Flexibility of both teaching and learning was called for. For CSE, some subjects required a coursework component and exam questions often required shorter responses. 

Some teachers may have taken the view that if the boys “were good enough to pass the Eleven Plus, they were good enough to pass O-levels”. A contrary view, however, was that the boys displayed a wide range of ability, with some lacking the skills to succeed at O-level in some subjects.

O-levels and CSEs continued until 1988, when the General Certificate of Secondary Education, which was designed to cater for virtually all levels of ability, replaced them. 

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