Texts for sight translation Text 1 Murphy’s law

Not long after Simon Murphy started work as head of the North school in Ashford, Kent, one of his students came up to him and said “Why have you come here, sir? It’s crap.” This was the summer term of 2001 and that summer only 9 % of the students got at least five good GCSEs and, once again, it was in the list of England’s bottom 100 schools. It had been named and shamed for its high levels of truancy and was on special watch because it had only just lost the tag as a school with serious weaknesses. The school had developed a bad reputation for behaviour, and numbers were spiralling down. The buildings were mostly old and pretty decrepit with plenty of teaching still going on in temporary huts built in the second world war, which were well past their sell-by date. There was a £250,000 budget deficit. To top it all, as Murphy joined it was named in Hansard39 as a school that had gone on to a four-day week because it couldn’t recruit enough teachers; it was more than 25 % understaffed. Without improvement it was a prime candidate for closure.

Contrast then with now. This year 60 % of the students at this secon­dary modem school, which is bled of higher levels of ability by the gram­mar school across the road and the popular comprehensive nearby, got at least five good GCSEs, making it the most improved school in the secon­dary school league tables. Attendance has improved dramatically and is now around the national average. It is part of an £80m private finance ini­tiative in Kent, which will see it substantially rebuilt and refurbished with work starting this April. And, if it can find the sponsors, has high hopes of being a technology and sports college from this September. (The Guard­ian, By Wendy Berliner)

Text 2 British Students Protest Tuition Hikes

VOA News

Thousands of students angered by government plans to triple university fees are marching in London and other British cities in protests targeting the Liberal Democrat party, which shares power with conservatives in the coalition government.

Students on Wednesday packed Whitehall, the street that runs from London's Trafalgar Square past the prime minister's residence, as a phalanx of riot police blocked protesters from reaching parliament.

Students are venting anger at Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, accusing both him and his party of reneging on promises during this year's election campaign to oppose any fee hikes.  A small group of students hanged an effigy of Mr. Clegg in north London late Tuesday. Protests were also under way Wednesday in Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester.  At least one officer sustained injuries, and police reported several dozen arrests.

A demonstration two weeks ago against the fee hikes turned violent as protesters stormed the London headquarters of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party. The planned increase will bring annual tuition costs to about $14,000 annually. The tuition hikes are part of a program of sweeping austerity measures taken by the coalition government to help tackle Britain's soaring budget deficit.