Procedures

1. Punctuality. Pupils must be in form rooms by 8.45 a.m. and before 1.45 p.m.

2. bates. Pupils arriving late for registration will obtain a late form from their Form Tutor. Pupils arriving after 9.00 a.m. must report immediately to the Office in their building.

3. Notices. Notices may be displayed on school notice boards only with the permission of a member of Staff.

4. Classes left unsupervised. If a member of Staff does not arrive to take a lesson, the class will wait no longer than five minutes and then report the non-arrival to the Staff room.

5. Safe-keeping. Pupils should never bring valuable articles or large sums of money to school: money must be kept on one's person. In general, pupils are responsible for the safe-keeping of their own property.

6. Lost property. All personal property should be named. A pupil discovering the loss of any article of value will report the fact immediately and those finding property should hand it to a member of Staff.

7. Absences. If pupils are absent, their parents should inform the school by letter, otherwise a card will be sent to their home after two days. On returning to school after any absence, pupils must give to their Form Tutor a note from their parents explaining their absence. Leave of absence can only be granted under certain circumstances (e.g. careers interviews, non-school examinations, family holiday) and should be requested in advance by letter from the parents to the Head of House.

8. Breakages. Any pupil responsible for damage to school property (furniture, windows, etc.) will inform the Deputy Head or Head of House immediately.

These rules and procedures are very much like the rules of your school, aren't they?

Many children in Britain earn pocket money. But it is against the law for children in Britain to work more than two hours on a schoolday. Jobs such as delivering daily newspapers or working in shops and supermarkets on Saturdays (when they can work longer hours) are popular with children.

References

1. school premises здание школы с прилегающей тер­риторией

2. Office — офис, канцелярия

3. careers interviews — консультации по профес­сиональной ориентации

4. Head of House — старший воспитатель группы учащихся разных классов, на которые делятся все учащиеся дневной школы

 

Public Schools-for Whom?

About 5 per cent of children are educated privately in what is rather confusingly called public schools. These are the schools for the privileged. There are about 500 public schools in England and Wales, most of them single-sex. About half of them are for girls. These schools, such as Eton, Harrow, Rugby and Winches­ter, are famous for their ability to lay the foundation of a successful future by giving their pupils self-confidence, the right accent, a good academic background and, perhaps most important of all, the right friends and contacts. People who went to one of the public schools never call themselves school-leavers. They talk about 'the old school tie' and 'the old boy network'. They are just old boys or old girls. The fees are high and only very rich families can afford to pay so much. Public schools educate the ruling class of England. One such school is Gordonstoun, which the Prince of Wales, the elder son of the Queen, left in 1968. Harrow School is famous as the place where Winston Churchill was educated, as well as six other Prime Ministers of England, the poet Lord Byron, the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan and many other prominent people.

Public schools are free from state control. They are independent. Most of them are boarding schools". The education is of a high quality; the discipline is very strict. The system of education is the same: the most able go ahead.

These schools accept pupils from preparatory schools at about 11 or 13 years of age usually on the basis of an examination, known as Common Entrance. There are three sittings of Common Entrance every year in February, June and November. Scholar­ships are rarely awarded on the results of Common Entrance. The fundamental requirements are very high. At 18 most public school-leavers gain entry to universities.

old school tie — галстук старой школы выпускников приви­легированных частных средних школ (символ принадлежнос ти к правящему классу; перен. приятель <~ср. русск. «однокашник»)

Eton — Итон (одна из девяти старейших престижных мужских средних школ; находится в г. Итоне; основана в 1440 г.)

Harrow — Харроу (одна из девяти старейших престижных мужских средних школ в пригороде Лондона; осно­вана в 1571 г.)

Rugby— Рагби (одна из девяти старейших престижных мужских частных средних школ в г. Рагби; основана в 1567 г.)

Winchester— Уинчестерский колледж (одна из девяти старейших мужских привилегированных средних школ; находится в г. Уинчестере; основана в 1382 г.) old boy network — чувство дружбы, взаимопомощи (основано на принадлежности к одной и той же школе; культивируется у ее выпускников и сохраняется на всю жизнь)

Winston Churchill — Уинстон Черчилль (1874— 1965), премьер-министр Великобритании в 1940—1945, 1951—1955 гг.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan— Ричард Бринсли Шери­дан (1751—1816), английский драматург, автор пьесы «Школа злословия» и др.

boarding school — школа-интернат