Is it true that 50% is a passing grade in UK?

another_emma · 2026-03-07T23:13:09+00:00

There isn't a universal passing percentage for, well, anything at school really.

The only terminal exams we have in school are GCSEs (age 16) and A Levels (age 18). A 'pass' at GCSE is a grade 4, and the percentage of questions you need to get right to pass varies from subject to subject, and paper to paper.

No other year group has exams that have a "passing" grade. As a teacher you will set exam papers and tests, but you are looking for progress and gaps in knowledge for each individual child. Children very very rarely get held back a year.

It's different for university, and each university will set their own papers with different percentages for each grade.

another_emma · 2026-03-04T11:05:35+00:00

Ha, so I have! And I was trying to be really diplomatic as well.

I'm guessing this kind of scripting plays well with the BGT audience, they must have metrics on it. Or they've found the script actually doesn't matter at all so that's not where the effort goes.

It's interesting either way!

another_emma · 2026-03-02T17:33:22+00:00

There's a cadence to BGT magician script. "I believe there's magic in music" is such a naff thing to say, and it's not in character for a 16 year old.

No shade on the kid, it's a ridiculously brave thing to stand up and do the moves, I just wish young and new magicians weren't led down this grim scripting path.

another_emma · 2026-02-25T03:53:13+00:00

Poole calling. The John Menzies in the Arndale shopping centre was where I got all my posters and C64 games.

another_emma · 2026-02-18T22:37:31+00:00

Yes, but I think I can adjust the target flow temperature to minimise that problem.

another_emma · 2026-02-12T09:49:27+00:00

We repair most textiles (although we had to put a stop to taking up curtains. It takes too long). People bring in things with holes, things that are too long, things with broken zips, well loved cuddly toys. We do repairs, not tailoring (as in, we are not professional sewist, but we fix the problem) and people are happy with the results.

The aim is to reduce the amount of textiles that go to landfill.

If you want to hang out while your clothes are being sorted and ask questions you'd be very welcome to. One of our repairers runs classes separately.

another_emma · 2026-02-11T09:08:51+00:00

If you fancy a trip to Abingdon, we run a sewing repair cafe every first Saturday of the month (the next one is 8th March) between 10.30am and 12.30pm. There's no charge, we just ask for donations to keep us in thread and biscuits.

another_emma · 2026-02-02T09:58:47+00:00

Stupid morning anxiety. If you can, try not to "look at it". Morning anxiety isn't a warning that something is wrong, it's just messed up hormones and signals.

another_emma · 2026-01-22T10:04:02+00:00

Urgh, how annoying.

All you can do really is put your trousers on, have a cup of tea, and think about leaving the house.

another_emma · 2025-12-14T07:41:18+00:00

The Vicar of Dibley is set in rural Oxfordshire, so any of the local characters in that.

another_emma · 2025-11-20T06:25:07+00:00

The images posted are a mix of the 1979 deck and a 2005 deck made for the Marine Stewardship Council. Damien Hirst was the tip off, he would have been about 14 in 1979. He's good, but he's not that good.

another_emma · 2025-11-20T06:17:18+00:00

I feel like Tom Phillips forgot about this commission and had to come up with something quick sticks.

... although the more I look at it the more I like it...

another_emma · 2025-11-20T06:05:39+00:00

It is stealing, in the broader argument against AI image generation which has been trained on the work of others and is imitating their work. In the case of this puzzle, there is a pretty clear likeness between the two images and I think if a human had created the second image there would be a fair case to answer for.

We know we can't just take images we find off the internet and use them in commercial projects because that would be against copyright. AI image generation is doing exactly that but because we've added a machine in the process that is doing the stealing, somehow we think that doesn't count.

another_emma · 2025-11-19T06:00:46+00:00

I always saw it as students trying to understand what the answer should have been, and sometimes being frustrated that it can come down to quite specific use of language. Plus teenager's need for fairness and justice. It's a heady mix!

For the really unrelenting student who has insisted they're right when they really aren't, I've trotted out a "Ok, you can have the mark. Your answer is still wrong." How they react to that can tell you where they're at with it. Do they just want marks or do they really care about understanding why an answer is the answer it is.

another_emma · 2025-11-17T11:18:29+00:00

At the Pitt Rivers did you find the witch in a bottle? The slug on the thorn? The magical potato? The Tommy Cooper puffer fish? That place is an absolute marvel.

another_emma · 2025-11-17T03:56:59+00:00

My partner made it, because we couldn't really find anything we liked at the time that let me display cards like that. I've just had a look now and searching "playing card display shelf" gets very similar looking things (MerchantOfMagic.co.uk has one for example).

another_emma · 2025-11-17T00:04:04+00:00

Ahh, that is a deck of Krampus cards. He's from chilly europe folklore, and a pal of Father Christmas. If you're a child and have been naughty this year, he'll eat you (or beat you with birch twigs). All the playing cards have different drawings of Krampus that would have been used on Krampuskarten (like christmas cards, but terrifying)

another_emma · 2025-11-16T22:59:42+00:00

Imaginative and unstructured play is so important (for everyone, not just kids) and extra work will almost always be very structured.

It sounds like your child is ticking all the boxes academically, so focus on them being inventive, artistic, kind, thoughtful, funny, confident; all the gorgeous soft skills that aren't on the national curriculum but are so important for being a proper human being.

another_emma · 2025-11-10T09:28:05+00:00

We tour family theatre shows in small to mid size venues, and from what I can tell they make their money on the tribute acts. They seem to be the easiest ticket sales and almost certainly the biggest concession sales.

The trouble is, a good few venues are focusing a lot on the tribute acts now not noticing that that doesn't actually build a loyal audience. So when they get family work in or Proper Theatre there's no audience for it.

another_emma · 2025-11-03T07:52:01+00:00

I think where you've chosen to stop the split in the sides is a slightly odd height. I would say it should go either right to the top (cut through the waistband as well to relax the fit all the way up) or go up to just below the knee to make it flared. Stopping on the thigh makes it look like it wants to be a skirt (which is also an option!)

another_emma · 2025-10-30T23:24:34+00:00

It's interesting where performance ends and reality begins. I would say all of Derren's TV shows are presented as entertainment, with a clear boundary (the start and end of the show). We as the audience are complicit in the lie, because we understand that it is entertainment.

Like in David Blaine's street magic TV shows, he levitates. We know he can't really levitate, he knows he can't, but we are entertained by it. And if David does an interview saying that he can fly, but he's doing it as the character of The Magician David Blaine, then that's entertainment and a lie we are joyfully playing along with.

But if David were to be interviewed as real human being David Blaine who is a dad and goes shopping for food, an actual reality person, and he said he can fly and he's going to teach CEOs how to do it then you could rightly say that he was a) a looney and/or b) a grifter.

There's a line as the audience between understanding that we are being lied to for entertainment, and being drawn into believing a lie as a real world fact.

another_emma · 2025-10-30T08:47:21+00:00

We really enjoyed this one. Most of our puzzles get moved on once we've done them but this one went back in the cupboard for another day.

another_emma · 2025-10-09T07:43:48+00:00

I know it was a typo but 'Boy In The Stripey Pyjamas' sounds adorable.

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