In 1938 my mother was a sixteen year old pupil of Methodist College, Belfast and these are the examination papers she took to obtain her School Certificate (Junior). Roughly equivalent to O Levels or today’s GCSEs the main difference was that all subjects had to be passed to get the certificate. One could simply pass a subject, get a credit or at best a distinction, but if a discipline was failed that was that.

Monday 20th June, 1938 was my mother’s sixteenth birthday. She had a three hour Latin exam in the morning followed by another three hours of History in the afternoon.