It has been pointed out to me that the British Schools have now harmonised the courses which they expect the various year groups to run so that the Boys and Girls classes are now identical i.e Yellow is Year 7 & 8, Orange is 9 & 10, Light Green is Year 11 & 12.

We still use the previous arrangement whereby the Boys move up a course a year earlier after Year 7.

Should we move to follow the British Schools model and if so when
a) now or b) from next season onwards.

At the moment I've been giving half points to those children running down a course, which means recalculating some scores if we change.

Any comments? Deafening silence will be taken as approval to maintain things as they are.

I think we should fall in line and as from the beginning of the season.
Would you like to borrow a calculator (or possible a sleepy owl?)

However, Nigel Benham writes:-

HiDick,

I am worried that BSOA are moving too far away from the national standard in
an attempt to bring more people into the sport. The problem is the children
then potentially perform quite well at schools league events and then when
they move up to local or national events, they can't even find their way
round a course and then lose confidence and drop out. I am looking long term
in my training of Burgate, so I am not worried if they get half points now
because there are still five events left after the BSOC and it will
encourage them to run up later!!.

Rather than only getting half points for running down one course how about
having 10% deducted, but the opposite is if they run up a course (bringing
them nearer to national standard) they can achieve 10% more points. This
also have the effect of closing the points gap between competitors. I
realise this is more complicated but may be worth some thought.

The main thing is the kids are having fun