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As I've been asked more than once here is a brief breakdown of the U.K. Education system :) :
Early Years (Pre-School education)
Play-Group: The British equivalent to day care usually children start attending these a few months before they will begin Nursery to prepare them. Although there are specific ones aimed at babies and parents, (Mums & Tots) (Tumble Tots) (Breast is Best etc).
However Play-Group is NOT mandatory and they vary, some require parents to be present throughout the sessions others do not. They are usually found in Church Halls, Sports Halls etc (Sadly not as many as there used to be)
Nursery: All children in England (It differs in Scotland, Ireland & Wales slightly) are entitled to a FREE government funded Nursery place, starting the first new term after their 3rd birthday. This usually consists of 5, 3 Hour sessions a week. (We call Semesters, Terms)
Nursery schools are staffed by Nursery Managers, Nursery Nurses (Not REAL medical nurses, I think the term is related to nurse of the nanny variety) Nursery Assistants and Play Workers.
Private Nurseries will usually take children from 12 weeks old up to school age, this however is usually quite expensive and no funding is given for private nursery education.
Many Primary Schools (elementary) have nursery's attached to them.
Primary School:
Reception: The first year a child enters school. age 4/5, Not widely referred to as Kindergarten in the U.K.
- Highlights of reception include colouring in Alphabet sheets (I <3 colouring in), learning to tell the time, tying shoes (NO I couldn't *sob*) and Friday afternoon activities which usually consist of water & sand play, arts & crafts & story time ( you could cross stitch at my school! Rock & Roll)
After reception the primary school years are as follows:
Year 1. - 5/6 year olds
Year 2 - 6/7 year olds
Year 3 - 7/8 year olds
Year 4 -8/9 year olds
Year 5 - 9/10 year olds
Year 6- The Final year of primary school before leaving to go to high school. All Year 6 students sit exams in Maths, English and (I think) Science called Sat's to determine their level of academic ability before entering high school.
(Primary School students call their teachers, 'teachers' and address them as Miss/Mrs/Mr(Insert Surname here)
High School: The first year students enter high school is known as Year 7. Students will be 11/12.
They are often referred to as either Year 7's or First Years... (Or Gimps if you went to my high school *flashback*)
Then we have Year 8 (12/13 y.o) followed surprisingly enough by Year 9.
Year 9 - Education after Year 9 differs a bit from previous years as whilst in
Year 9 students get the choice to drop some subjects they have been studying and choose the subjects they wish to study for their GCSE's (General Certificates of Secondary Education).
The rules of what subjects you can choose/drop vary by school, the only subjects you CANNOT drop are English, Maths, Sciences and Foreign Languages.
Year 10- Nothing much happens here, you might get to go on work experience (If your school supports the scheme) where you do 2 weeks work for free!!!
If your careers advisor is as sexist as the one at my old school was ladies expect a childcare or a health & beauty placement, men expect manual labour (Hard Graft) or mechanics...
Year 11 - Final Year of High School (Currently, all children starting high school education after 2012 will have to remain in education in some form up until 18 according to our S****Y Government)
Year 11 consists of A LOT of exam preparation, rapidly declining class sizes as 16 year olds either bunk off (skip school) to work/sleep/raise their children.... Students will also be applying for colleges/Sixth Forms in Year 11 if they wish to continue into further education.
GCSE Mocks are sat December/January and some schools offer students study leave at this time so they are excused from school unless they have an exam.
GCSE Exams are sat between March &June.
The End of GCSE's is usually celebrated with a prom at a restaurant/Function Hall... Where style varies from classy to full blown gypsy wedding dress!!
(Readers not familiar with Gypsy Wedding dresses GOOGLE it!! It’s an eye-opener for sure)
Further Education (Post High School/ Pre University)- COLLEGE: There are numerous courses to be studied at college following high school education. Vocational courses such as NVQ’s, CACHE & B-TECH’s are preferred for those wishing to enter employment after achieving a skill based qualification rather than continuing on to university. You can generally get NVQ’s in everything from Healthcare to Domestic Services.....(That’s right you can get a qualification in cleaning people...).
Students wishing to go on to university will usually spend 2 years at college studying A-Levels.
Year 1 of A-Levels (or A.S.) is spent studying 4 subjects of your choosing, though usually working towards what one wishes to study at university. At the end of the year exams are taken and anybody who passes achieves an AS-Level and continues on to second year. Those who do not pass their exams either re-sit and continue to 2nd year after the re-sit or drop out.
Year 2 of A-LEVELS (or A2): Students will usually drop their fourth subject in A2 and continue studying the 3 they had previously studied in year 1.
Again A2 is dependant on exams & coursework and while students on A-Levels complete assignments and pass exams they will gain credits known as UCAS points. UCAS points enable students to continue on to university and study their chosen subject. Students doing Practical subjects such as Art, Drama, Music, Graphics or Design will usually be graded on a practical demonstration/assessment of their work and not via a written examination.
A-Levels are free to study and government funded as long as the individual applying is below the age of 19 and has achieved between 3 and 5 GCSE’s at Grade C and above.
For those wishing to embark on further study after the age of 19 you either pay for your A-Levels (NOT Cheap) or do an adult equivalent course such as ACCESS to Higher Education or a Foundation Degree.
(e.g. I personally didn’t do A-levels, I did an adult equivalent course but the UCAS points/ Equiv needed for my degree was at least 260-280 points)
After College A-Level students usually go on to Under Graduate study at university where a Bachelors Degree takes 3, 4 or 5 years full-time dependant on the subject and double if one chooses to attend university part-time.
Following Bachelors it’s the usual progression route, Masters, PhD, Doctorate, Professorships etc...
WELL DONE to anybody who hasn’t died of boredom whilst reading this!!!