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The British Education System ?

Okay, well I have some questions about the English school system. I'm American and have little to no idea how things work outside of the US. I'd really like to go to university in England and I was talking it over with a teacher of mine and she suggested that I research the school system to get a better understanding of it.
okay, here are the questions.

In the US you start school at 5 or 6 and end it at 17 or 18. What age do you start and finish school?

Over here we have Elementary school for grades kindergarten through 5th (you start kindergarten at 5 or 6 six and end 5th grade at 10 or 11) and then we have Middle school which consists of grades 6th, 7th, and 8th (ages 12-14) and then we have high school which is grades 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th or freshman, sophmore, junior, and senior (ages 15-18) and finally college. What types of grades do you have and what ages are in each grade?

do you call them grades or something else?

do all of your schools have uniforms or does it just depend on the school? here in the US only Catholic schools and private schools have uniforms.

what are your univeristies like?

any answers i get will be a lot of help. thanks so much.

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Reply 1

Muse

http://www.britishcouncil.org/education/system/se/sestruc.htm

these questions can all be answered a la google.

Reply 2

Jaq

Very simple.

Primary School - (Age: 5-11): Form 1 to 6
Secondary School - (Age 11 - 16): Forms 7 to 11
College/6th form - (Age 16-18): Form 12 and 13

Then University; 18 onwards

Reply 3

dinkymints

Jaq

Very simple.

Primary School - (Age: 5-11): Form 1 to 6
Secondary School - (Age 11 - 16): Forms 7 to 11
College/6th form - (Age 16-18): Form 12 and 13

Then University; 18 onwards

I would say "year" rather than "form"...

Reply 4

mongoose

Jaq

Very simple.

Primary School - (Age: 5-11): Form 1 to 6
Secondary School - (Age 11 - 16): Forms 7 to 11
College/6th form - (Age 16-18): Form 12 and 13

Then University; 18 onwards

Yeah, i'd use 'year' rather than form. Or if i were to use form, i'd say fifth form (year 11), upper/lower sixth form (years 12/13). But that's just being pedantic.... :biggrin:

Reply 5

mobbdeeprob

dinkymints

I would say "year" rather than "form"...

I would avoid the use of "form" too, as it refers it refers to registration groups rather than years at my school.

Reply 6

Llamas

We don't have Primary/Secondary everywhere. Here in Bedfordshire we have lower/middle/upper

Lower School: Years 1-4
Middle School: Years 5-8
Upper School: Years 9-11, Sixth Form (12/13)

Reply 7

Hawk

Its slightly differnt in Northern Ireland,

Primary School - Years 1 - 7

Secondary School - Years 8 - 12

College/6th Form - Years 13 - 14

I never knew we did one more year at primary school than those people in England.

Reply 8

Llamas

Hawk

Is year 1 when you're 4? If so it's the equivilent of Reception class (which is optional as far as I know)

Otherwise, eh?

Reply 9

mobbdeeprob

Hawk

My Primary school had a 'Reception Class' to start with, and then ran from Years 1-6. So it was overall, the same duration as your Primary school - but with different nomenclature.

Reply 10

But compulsary education ends at 16, at the end of Year 11.

Reply 11

musicbloke

also on the subject of uni in US you get a more general education (with more taught time I hear) whereas here you specialise before you apply and that is all you do for the three years (none of thee majoring or minoring stuff). you can of course do "joint-honours" degrees (two subjects) but often they are looked down on in the employment world.

MB

Reply 12

Acaila

Scotland also has a slightly different system
Primary School from age 5 to 11 going from Primary 1 to 7
Secondary School/High School from age 12 to 16/17/18 going from Secondary 1 to Secondary 4/5/6

You can leave school at the end of Secondary 4 (S4), but can stay on to take more important exams in S5 and S6 (Highers and Advanced Highers).

Reply 13

andy_

Rogue

do all of your schools have uniforms or does it just depend on the school? here in the US only Catholic schools and private schools have uniforms.

what are your univeristies like?

yes, all schools wear uniform. Maybe a few exceptions. Most 6th forms and colleges dont have a uniform.

As for the unis, think someone else can help you on that.

Reply 14

Jaq

musicboy

All tru except for the joint-honours thing. that ihave no idea about.

Reply 15

sashh

There are variations between different areas.

School is compulsary from age 5 - 16 but many schools have nurseries and children start (often part time) as young as 2 1/2.

Primary schools have ages 5-11
Infant Schools age 5-7, Junior schools age 8-11

Some areas have a middle school system which is from 10/11 years to 13/14 and then high school from 14-16, but most areas have secondary schools which go from age 11-16. Some have an attached sixth form 16-18 but many people chose to go to college at 16.

Uni starts at age 18 (I believe 17 in scotland but only talking England here)

All state schools follow the National Curriculum - so all students study the same subjects for the first few years with some variation eg a catholic school will not teach the same RE as a Jewish school. RE is compulsary but parents may withdraw their children.

Exam system.
The national curriculum in England is divided into 4 key stages (KS)

There are 3 core subjects English, Maths and Science and 9 non core subjects (history, art etc)

KS1 is upto age 7, KS2 7-11, KS3 11-14, KS4 14-16

KS are monitored by SAT's - but don't worry about that.

Students usually have some choice in which subjects they study for GCSE. Eg they may study 'science' for one ot 2 GCSE's or they may study Physics, Chemistry and Bioligy for 3 seperate GCSE's.

At 16 students sit GCSE examinations (General certificate of Secondary Education) Students sit one GCSE for each subject, occasionally 2 eg there is GCSE maths and GCSE further maths but only a few students take further.

The exams are set by external examining boards so although a school can choose a particular board, all students sitting a GCSE for one board will sit the same paper whether they are in London, Manchester or Birmingham. GCSE's are graded A*, A, B, C, D, E with A*-C being considered a pass. If you are looking at university you will probably pass 8-10 GCSE's, some students leave school with none some leave with about 16 - but this is very rare.

The next step, if you don't go into work is 6th form or college. For university entry you really need to study A Levels, but there are other 16-18 qualification eg National Certificate, Vocational A Levels, NVQ. These offer wider oportunities for work at 18 but are not always accepted by universities.

A Levels - General Certificate of Education Advanced Level are split into two parts usually studies over 2 years. In the first year students take AS Levels and in the second year A2. The AS+A2= A Level. These are graded from A-E in a similar way to GCSE but an E at A Level is considered a pass. The minimum entry for university is theoretically 2 A Levels, most uni's ask for at least 3 and will stipulate the grades so if you see on here someone says they have an AABb offer it means they need 3 A levels, 2 at grade A and one at grade B abd a grade B AS level.

Students apply to (normally) 6 universities via UCAS before taking the final A level exam but after taking AS - they will recieve offers or rejections from the universities and then pick one 'firm' and one 'insurance' offer. If they get their offer grades they will definitly have a place at their 'firm' uni. If not that uni may accept them or they can go to their insurance.

universities vary in both what they teach and the quality of teaching. you will see universities refered to as 'traditional', 'red brick' and 'new'.

Broadly traditional uni's are those such as Oxford and Cambridge which have existed for hundreds of years, red bricks were built in the 1960's and at the time were looked down on. In the 1960's the government also built polytechnics which offered higher education but did not award it's own degrees - the subjects taught were more practical such as business studies. In the 1990's thes were allowed to become universities and award their own degrees. You will still find more practical / vocational subjects taught at new universities eg Nursing.

some links you may find useful

http://www.nc.uk.net/home.html

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/

Reply 16

Acaila

sashh

Uni starts at age 18 (I believe 17 in scotland but only talking England here)

Can be 17 or 18 (or older) in both Scotland and England. Most Scots also start aged 18.

Reply 17

rockindemon

We usually have a school that deals with ages 5-8 or in some cases a bit longer.

The next school, known as primary has 9-11. And then secondary has 12-16.

Some schools have middle schools etc, but that is the most common system.

GCSES are done for an average of 10 subjects in the final 2 years of secondary school, although some people obviously do a lot more and sometimes earlier if they want to, but usually its in the final year. Results are called grades like in the USA, with A* being the top grade, going through A, B, C, D, E, F, G. But to pass you need a C. So essentially if you get below a C it isnt regarded to highly. Some people get a "top 5" result which is 1 of the top 5 marks in the country, although if some people get the same mark then you could have 20 top 5 marks in a subject. Just for the record, Maths, English Lang, Eng Lit, and Science are compulsory, most schools require a language to be taken, and a technology, then the remaining options are up to the pupil.

After secondary school, people either, get a job, do some work based training, go to college, or go to 6th form, (a lot of 6th forms are actually built into secondary schools). The purpose of college and 6th form is to gain qulaifications such as A-Levels and NVQs but for your purposes I think its easier to say ages 16-18 are for A-Levels.

Students study usually 4 subjects the 1st year, then drop 1 and do 3 the 2nd year. The 1st year exams are AS level , the 2nd year is A2. Collectively they make up A-Level. The governments idea was to spread the work evenly over the 2 years as pre-2000 (or 2001?) students did no work in the 1st year because all the exams were in the 2nd year. Grades range from A (the best) through B, C, D, E, Fail. These grades are what universities look at when offering places.

All universitys have rating systems produced by inspectors, showing some universities are, on the whole better than others, but then again, some departments (for like law) bay be better than another uni, even tho their overall prestige is lower. if that makes sense. When student apply to uni's through UCAS (a company that deals with the applications), universities give offers of 3grades at A-Level, so an offer from Cambridge might be AAA. It is also worth mentioning that all applicant applying to university have to write a personal statement, and possible attend interview/entry exams.

From your position as an American, it is worth talking to the universities themselves, as your qualifications over there would be compared to ours, and an apppropraite offer given. Many Americans study over here, so it wouldn't be a problem in that sense. What subject would you be interested in?

In response to school uniform, all students wear one up to 16, then for 6th form onwards its your own clothes.

Hope that helps, anyone who sees a mistake then please rectify

Reply 18

EconLou

If you wish to come to uni in England and are aiming at an academic university I would recomend you taking 3 or 4 AP exams as these are considered to be similar to A Levels, although in practice I think they are harder.
It is worthwile doing the AP exams as they are widly accepted by UK universtites and carry more weight that a high school diploma.

Reply 19

mongoose

Louise_1988

Hmm..Where did you get that idea from? Have you actually seen an AP paper? The German AP to me seems like an extension of German GCSE Higher Tier. The Chemistry AP exam is focused heavily on the quantative side of things, bta that suits the multiple-choice format better. There is only one essay question too; for A-level with six papers, you'd need to answer several extended answer and essay questions. Also there is NO organic chemistry, and the descriptive aspects of physical and inorganic chemistry are to a minimum.