How does secondary school work in England?

I'm doing Nat 5's but I'm just curious how it works in England- how long do GCSE's take for example? And do you guys have a year before you do A-levels? Because here, you do Nat 5's for 2 years and then you can go on to highers which are a year long, and after that Advanced highers which are also a year long. Anyway, yeah just curious.

gcse's last for 2 years but some schools start preparation early in year 9 and then you have Alevels straight after for another 2 years.

You spend two years on GCSEs, and then two years on A-levels.

ah ok. do you just leave school after A-levels then?

ah ok. do you just leave school after A-levels then?

Roughly,

GCSE = Nat 5
AS level = Highers
A2/A-level = Advanced Highers

However, in England you can't generally leave school with just AS level, and you can't attend university in England with just AS levels.

Until about 2-3 years ago, you took AS exams in year 12 and A2 exams in year 13 and your combined score from AS and A2 gave you your overall A-level grade. Or you could stop a subject after your AS exams, and just have an AS in that subject.

Now, AS and A-level are separate qualifications. You take your A-level exams at the end of year 13, and your whole grade comes from those year 13 exams. You no longer need to take AS exams.

Yep, generally you take GCSE exams at 16 and A-level exams at 18.

Yes. You do 7 years at secondary school, starting at the age of 11. The first three years you just do general Key Stage 3 curriculum stuff. The next two years you do GCSEs. The last two years you do A-levels (some people do these in a separate sixth form college rather than at their secondary school). Then you leave.