THIS WEEK 4-10 AUGUST 2012
SATURDAY
BOOST OUR TRACK RECORD
Kids, put down your beanbags and take out your javelins. Three Olympic athletics golds in a row for Team GB inspired a generation of young people, as the angst about the state of primary-school sport began.
SUNDAY
LIFTING THE VALE
Welsh-medium education was celebrated at the National Eisteddfod festival of culture in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. A choir of current and former pupils taught in the Welsh language provided uplifting music.
MONDAY
USING THE PLOT
National Allotments Week started, highlighting the importance of drinking tea in sheds as leaf miners decimate your rainbow chard. But how will the school vegetable garden look after the holidays?
TUESDAY
NOWHERE TO GO OUT AND PLAY
Grumbles about school sport peaked as it emerged that education secretary Michael Gove has given permission for the sell-off of 21 school playing fields since he started in the job. Anyone for a game of squash?
WEDNESDAY
A SPORT WE CAN ALL WIN
The Rock, Paper, Scissors Championships at the Knights Templar pub in Chancery Lane, London, provided a less taxing alternative to competing in, say, the Olympic triathlon.
THURSDAY
THIS ROUND’S ON YOU, SIR
The number of young people drinking in pubs has plummeted, the Campaign for Real Ale announced. It’s good news for teachers hoping to avoid meeting former pupils over a cider in the Dog and Duck.
FRIDAY
ON A TIGHT LEAD
Woof, woof! Canines of all shapes and sizes will descend on Rockingham Castle in Leicestershire for the annual Kennel Club International Agility Festival. Spectators’ dogs must be kept strictly under control.
NEXT WEEK 11-17 AUGUST 2012
SATURDAY
MOWING DOWN THE OPPOSITION
If anyone was going to be good at lawnmower racing, it would be the British. An annual all-night race takes place in West Sussex. But there are no gold medals for the winners, just ale and a bacon butty.
SUNDAY
AN ASTRONOMICAL SHOW
The Olympic closing ceremony at last, and it coincides with the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. But will the celestial phenomenon be able to compete with the fireworks in Stratford?
MONDAY
WHILE THE PM’S AWAY
As many heads of sixth forms prepare to interrupt their holidays for A-level results, Prime Minister David Cameron is set to jet off on for his annual summer sojourn in Italy, via Cornwall. Nice for some.
TUESDAY
SUMMER OF RED, WHITE AND BLUE
Today marks the anniversary of the Japanese request for a ceasefire in 1945, leading to the end of the Second World War. Street parties and Union Jacks were a feature of the summer. Oddly like this year.
WEDNESDAY
ASCENSION TO HEAVEN
The Catholic feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is today, celebrated with parties and fireworks in many European countries. Holidaying teachers should look out for icons of Mary carried through the streets.
THURSDAY
IN WITH A SHOT
The joy, the pain, the scramble for places: A-level results come out today and newspaper photographers will be lining up candidates for celebratory shots. Only those with blonde hair and tiny shorts need apply.
FRIDAY
YOU THOUGHT IT WAS ALL OVER
After a summer of track cycling and dressage, football fans can hail the return of a proper standing-up sport. Fingers on the remote for the new Premier League football season, which starts tomorrow.
