School System

[Duke Malcolm]

After reading through various threads, I started getting confused as to various school systems, so perhaps we could share our school system to simplify things...

We start at 4 or 5 in Primary 1 (P1), and stay for 7 years until about 11 through to Primary 7 (P7). doing the 5-14 curriculum.

Then we go to Secondary School and are sorted into four Houses, and start S1 (First Year), and finish the 5-14 curriculum after S2 (Second Year) and start eight Standard Grades in S3 and S4 (main exams in S4, about English GCSE). In S5, we start five Higher Grades or can do lesser certificates as well (between English AS and A levels), then in S6 we elect the Head Boy and Girl and the Vice Captains, and study for up to five Advanced Highers for but most do three, for one year(above English A levels, about 1st year of university).

[Reverend Joe]

The American Public School System:

(optional) pre-school: usually age 4.

Regular school:
Elementary School- starts with Kindergarden, usually age 5. From there, you go to grades 1-5, starting at age 6.
Junior High School- grades 6-8, starting at age 11.
High School- grades 9-12, ages 14-18.

There are variances among the states, but this is a general guideline.

I am not sure how the tests work; I went through public school while it was in a state of flux, so you were never sure when major tests would be given. The American public school system is a bit of a mess.

[miho]

I still don't understand the British school sistem, but American is very much like ours.

[Craterus]

Here is the English (they do it different in Scotland and Ireland AFAIK) school system explained:

Infant School

Reception: Basically just playing with toys and doing jigsaw puzzles. Equivalent to Kindergarten I think. Start at age 4, and will turn 5 sometime in the year.

Year 1: Start at age 5, turn 6 sometime in the academic year.
Year 2: Start at 6, turn 7 sometime in the year. Do SATS at the end of this year. They are extremely irrelevant tests.

Junior School

Year 3: Start at age 7, turn 8 in the year.
Year 4: 8-9
Year 5: 9-10
Year 6: 10-11. Do more SATS this year. SATS are irrelevant at this age.

Secondary School

Year 7: 11-12
Year 8: 12-13
Year 9: 13-14. Do another set of SATS test this year. Still pointless tests.
Year 10: 14-15. In this year, most schools start their GCSE courses. GCSE's are a stepping stone to college.
Year 11: 15-16. Take your GCSE's this year, unless you've done early entry.

[professorspatula]

Well for England, you could also add the optional Years 12 & 13 (for students 17 & 18 years of age usually). That's further education, typically the last step before embarking on several years of drinking and copulating and living on baked beans at Uni.

[miho]

Can you please clarify what SATS and GCSE means.
Thanks.
Does this mean you start college when 16 years old? We start at 18.

Our school system is:
Primary school from 6 (turn 7 in the academic year) to 14 years of age.
Highschool is from 14 to 18.
After that it's college.

[Craterus]

GCSE are qualifications we get at the end of secondary school.
SATS are pointless tests used to.... wait... i don't know their use..

I don't actually know what the acronyms stand for. Go to Google UK and search for them. You'll find better info there.

[King Henry V]

Ok so this is how my school works (bit strange as I changed from the French to the Swiss system without even changing schools):
Primary School starts at age 5 which is called the 12th year (Douzième)
The numbers then get lower, like a countdown (12th into 11th into 10th etc.)
Lower Secondary school starts at age 11 (though at this stage many have done the year again once so they are now 12), called the 6th year.
Upper Secondary school is when you choose between the Swiss Maturité (or Matura in German) or the French Baccalauréat (or if you're a real dunce you leave school to take an apprenticeship) starts at age 14.
One's History-Geography, Sciences and Arts exam is done at the beginning of the final year (Terminal). The Final exams are done exactly a year later at 18.

[ah_dut]

General Certificate of General Education
and Standard Assesment Test

Craterus basically explained how my school works though we're forms (year 7=form 1) work on up...

[Mikeus Caesar]

SATS are pointless tests used to.... wait... i don't know their use..

The Maths SATS aren't pointless in year 9, as they define which Maths group you get into. If you get into a higher maths group, then you get to do the higher GCSE paper, which means you've got a better chance of getting good grade when the time comes for GCSE. But apart from that, SATS are entirely useless.

[ah_dut]

Mikeus, I managed to do the Sats easy in year 8...yes, I'm in an accelerated group but nobody I know (without a learning difficulty) has had significant difficulty with the SATS as long as you get the right paper (read 6-8)

[Ianofsmeg16]

SATs are a breeze compare to GCSEs...

oh lord i have my mocks starting in a week, revise!!!!

anyone know a 'learn to speak french fluently in a week' course?

[King Henry V]

I could help.

[doc_bean]

Belgian school system:

"pre-school", not mandatory
3 years, starting from ~3.5-6 years
a lot of kids start in the second or third year
In my day they didn't teach much in those years, it was more about getting kids used to a school and allowing them to play with other kids

"elementary school"
6 years, age ~6-11
not much to say about this Ii guess

"high school" (actually translated literally it should be 'middle school')
6 years, age ~12-18
there are several 'systems' of high school in Belgium, this is often referred to as the waterfall system (negatively). It should be noted that you can't take individual courses in Belgium as you can in the US, instead you have to take a certain 'package' like math-science.

ASO: 'general education', considered the highest level, a broad education with a bigger focus on 'general subjects' such as history, geography, etc, a very stong focus on languages. Packages include are mostly referred to by their two main components, such as math-science. Components include economics, languages, math, science, classic languages (Greek and/or latin). it also includes the Humane science package.
People who graduate from ASO are expected to go to college or uni, since they aren't really trained to do anything useful.

TSO: 'technical education', the main fall back, includes packages such as electronics, electro-mechanics, construction, woodworking, acounting,,... It sin't really easier than ASO (well depends on the school) imo, but it keeps its focus on the main subjects, much less emphasis on languages, history etc.

BSO: 'profession education', you learn a trade, generally considered the garbage bag of education, lots of problem schools.

A lot of people in TSO and certainly in BSO are over 18 (due to the waterfall system) sometimes even over 20.

BUSO: education for kids with serious (mental) problems

After this you can try college or uni, or get a job, which I assume isn't all that different from other countries