krasy

well he was most obliging and was sat in the restaurant at the table next to us lovely guy, wish i could say the same for carroll, unfortunately I cant

jimf

Emmanuel college was set up primarily as a vehicle to spread peter vardy's personal beliefs. They get decent enough results but do interview students for admission so I doubt very much the intake truly reflects the catchment. See the intake policy:

http://www.emmanuelctc.org.uk/emmanuelcollege/policies/

julius smith

hi enlandia!
i have sent you a PM!

Jingsamichty

I think this thread proves that one of the best things about the UK is the regionalism of it. The local differences that don't really exist in North America (places like Newfoundland excepted, probably)

The pride, the accents, the food, the customs, the humour...for large parts of Canada that just doesn't exist. Life is pretty homogenous from coast to coast. Canada really seems to celebrate it's sameness.

I prefer the variety and richness of Europe.

Wearsider

If you are thinking about coming back and getting your kids in to Durham Johnston you will need to take a careful at the catchment area as they are heavily over subscribed, St Leonards is still a good option too if a RC school is an option.

Ive been spending a lot of time in Durham recently, primarily because my daughter rows for Durham Amateur Rowing Club, and it is a great city, but do not think Durham has has less crime than Newcastle, Sunderland or Middlesbrough. Having said that I do not think crime is a particularly big issue in the North East in the good areas, although I am sure the stats will say otherwise. There are certainly pockets of scum all over the North East, but there are all over the UK, and dare I say it even parts of Canada too.

HGerchikov

I haven't been back to Newcastle since I left Uni in the mid 80s. I thought maybe it had changed - but apparently not!

JonboyE

I went to Durham Johnston. The first year I went there was the first year the school admitted girls, and the first year the school was renamed Durham Johnston Grammar and Technical School rather than just Grammar School. The head and senior teaching staff, who all seemed to carry a chip on their shoulder that they were not teaching at the nearby (private) Durham School, acted as though their careers had be thrown on the scrap heap.

The teaching had three objectives:

1 Get as many people into Oxbridge as possible.

2 Get those who couldn't quite make the Oxbridge entrance exams into a "decent" red brick.

3 For the others, well who cares about the others?

If you were in 3 the only teachers who showed you any attention were from the unusual proportion of unmarried male teachers whose interest in boys went well beyond the purely academic.

I hated the place. However, I left over three decades ago so things might have changed a bit.

Novocastrian

That all sounds very familiar.

dave2003

Can't get a decent education in England?

Nearly all Nobel Laureates owe their attainments to a university education.

U.S. Nobel Laureates-326 #1
U.K. Nobel Laureates-116 #2
Canada Nobel Laureates-19

cxx

Not sure if it's changed but Durham Uni used to be reluctant to take local students, however Newcastle Uni is excellent (didn't go but know a lot of people who did and they have nothing but good things to say about it).
Durham itself is a wonderful place to live - hope to be heading that way ourselves in the next few years.

lmartin999

Really?

I am very surprised if this is true. I've been involved in admissions at three major UK universities over nearly twenty years and the geographical location of applicants never played a part in our considerations.

Do you have evidence?

Dave+Jules

New Brunswick definitely has the regional accents (and languages), after living here for 5+ years I can tell a Harvey accent from a Fredericton one

cxx

A number of friends at various schools in the Durham area wanted to apply and were advised not to do so by their teachers.

Oink

Maybe they were just thickos.

cxx

Depends if you think just thickos end up at Oxbridge, Imperial, etc. - this was before the days of trying to get everyone into University instead of on the Dole.