The American
Making Sense of The UK School system An overview for those coming from the States to live and study in the UK, by educationalist Matthew Cook. Here he looks at State Education. England and Wales
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n England and Wales, children are required by law to start school in the term after their fifth birthday but most children join the Reception class at age four. In England young people must be in full time education until they are 18 years of age. (In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland the age is 16).
Primary Education
Primary education covers the period from age 4/5 through to age 11 – (Reception/Years 1-6 or KG-Grade 5). Generally, children will attend their local Community Primary School. Sometimes these are subdivided into an infant school for ages 4/5-7 years of age and then a junior school from 7 to 11 years of age. Children at primary school will be taught according to the relevant National Curriculum. Even though these schools are for local children and are non-selective, you still have to apply for a place through your Local Authority and there are admissions criteria. Each school has its own ‘catchment area’ – the geographical area from which it draws the majority of its children but
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this is by no means the only criteria governing admissions. More recently some Community Primary Schools have converted to Academies (see later in the article).
Secondary Education
Secondary education covers the age range from 11 to 18 years of age (Years 7 – 13 or Grade 6-12). It is not unusual for students to stay at the same school for the full 7 years of secondary education, so this is quite a departure from the Middle School or Junior High, and High School model in the States. There are many examinations that students can sit and academic and vocational courses that they can follow during secondary education, but the two best known are GCSE’s (General Certificate of Secondary Education – taken at the end of Year 11/age 16 yrs) and A-Levels (Advanced Levels taken at age 18).
Community Secondary Schools
These are the secondary schools in England and Wales that provide a comprehensive, non-selective, education to students aged 11-18 years. Children will move from their local community primary schools to the local secondary school for the start of Year 7 (Grade 6). Several primary schools will be feeder schools for the larger, second-
ary schools. Increasingly these types of school are converting to academy status (see below).
Grammar Schools
In some areas/local authorities such as Buckinghamshire the Grammar school model still persists. Entry to grammar schools is selective (applicants have to take the 11+ examination) and many of them compete with private schools in terms of performance in exams, university destinations of their leavers and other activities such as sports. Unsurprisingly grammar school places are often highly sought after, as they fall within the state system and therefore are free to attend. Some grammar schools are also single sex schools, for example the Royal Grammar School High Wycombe is an all-boys school.
Academies
Originally the setting up of academies was a policy under which underperforming community secondary schools, often in economically deprived areas, were re-branded, with a change of school leadership, a refurbishment or rebuilding of the school campus and sponsorship by a third party such as a commercial business, a religious group, a charity or an education group. The aim of the process was