Pupils are often required to choose between history and geography at GCSE level, it was disclosed.

In a speech to a conference staged by Cambridge Assessment, the exam board, he called for history to remain as a compulsory subject throughout secondary school.

A broad baccalaureate of important disciplines, including history, should be taken by all students to the age of 16, he said.

“I argue for history but I don’t argue against other subjects,” he said. “Why should they be in competition with each other? How crazy is that?

“Pupils choose for trivial reasons; they like the teacher this year, they don’t want to get that teacher next year and they hear from their elder siblings that it was too hard and another subject was easier. All sorts of trivial reasons – nothing whatever to do with the intrinsic worth of the subject.

“They are too young to make those decisions and, above all, the consequences of those decisions last for years.”

Dr Lang, who leads the Better History campaign group, added: “Why does this system not get challenged? Well, we are challe

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Conservative ministers want to lift the cap on fees and charge high-earning graduates a higher rate of interest on student loans.

The plan could see graduates leaving university with debts of up to £80,000 and Lib Dem MPs are under huge pressure because they fought the general election on a promise to vote against increases in tuition fees.

Several Lib Dem backbenchers have publicly vowed to vote against the Coalition if ministers propose any rise in fees.

Senior Lib Dems believe that the party’s ministers will have no choice but to abstain on the issue in Commons votes.

That will leave the Conservatives trying to win a Commons majority for the policy in the face of opposition from Labour, Lib Dem rebels and the smaller parties.

Lord Browne will report on Tuesday, and the Government will formally respond next week.

But Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Business Secretary in charge of higher education, has emailed Lib Dem supporters to tell them a graduate tax “is not the way forward.”

Phillip Hammond, the Conservative Transport Secretary, yesterday signalled the Coalition is likely to lift fees and charge a “variable interest rate” on student loans.

T

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Mr Hartley admitted there was a problem with ‘Pompey’ slang at his school after it was served with a ‘notice to improve’. The Ofsted report highlighted that “adults do not always demonstrate grammatical accuracy in speaking and writing. This sets a bad example and limits pupils’ progress”.

Mr Harvey said: “The inspectors said it was the heavy accent, but it was the grammar as well. I don’t think they would have picked up on it if it was just a matter of the accent.

“This is not denigrating the Pompey accent or dialect – we are all proud of where we come from.

“I accept however that bad grammar is not acceptable in the classroom which is why we have taken the inspectors’ criticisms constructively.

“We will be bringing in a consultant to work with two of our learning assistants to enable them to use the Queen’s English in the classroom.”

Mr Hartley, who declined to name the assistants in order to protect their identity, said the problem was on a par with other mistakes like bad spelling “that you would expect teachers to correct.”

He said: “A lot of our children come from Portsmouth and have a Portsmouth accent.

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Occasionally, when parents are describing their offspring they might say: ‘He’s a typical first child’ or, of another, ‘He’s a typical second child’.

What do they mean? The ‘typical first child’ seems to be regarded as more competitive and ambitious: studies have apparently shown that more positions of seniority are held by firstborns.

Perhaps it is his sense of specialness accrued in those early years of being the unique focus of his parents’ love that provides the first child with this confidence in his distinguished destiny.

Then, when other siblings follow, that first child builds on his original specialness by being the brave trailblazer: the first to ride a bike; to go to school; the first to sit exams; the first to leave home.

Is the ‘typical second child’ the one who is more easygoing and gregarious, perhaps because the parents are more relaxed the second time around? Or is he the one competing for attention, keen to impress and assert his own identity?

Generalisati

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David Hanson, chief executive of the Independent Association of Prep Schools, said boys in mixed classrooms often struggled after becoming distracted by girls and playing up to the stereotype that “it’s cool to be a fool”.

The comments came as figures from IAPS, which represents 600 private preparatory schools, suggested that growing numbers of young boys were being placed in single-sex education.

A survey carried out just days into the new academic year found that 61 per cent of boys’ school members of IAPS had seen a rise in pupil numbers this year, compared with just 39 per cent of girls’ schools and 42 per cent of mixed schools.

Girls’ schools and co-educational schools were also around three times as likely to witness a decline in admissions this term compared with boys’ schools, it was disclosed.

Mr Hanson said: “In the past, the received wisdom was that parents wanted the boys to be in co-ed schools because it was civilising and parents wanted the girls to be in single-sex girls’ schools because then girls can achieve without the boys slowing them down or being disruptive.

“What we

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The Union, founded in 1823, is one of the university’s most high-profile societies and has produced 12 British prime ministers.

Listed on the Union’s website under the title “Treasurer’s Treats”, members are told they just “flash” their membership card to receive the discount.

“Your Union card just got a whole lot more valuable, with treats now available at 63 different businesses all over town,” it read.

“From MooMoos Milkshakes to Milano Bar, Al-Andalus Tapas to Angels Cocktails, just flash your card to get your discount. Enjoy!”

It is understood the scheme came about after union officials and the local business in the town’s Cowley area negotiated the discount.

“It’s incongruous with the image of the Union, its prestigious history and the list of great and good who have spoken there,” one source said.

“It is a sign of the times. Even a few years ago this wou

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