C l a u d i e (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} lipsofpoison) wrote,@ 2009-09-15 21:50:00 |
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British School System
The British School System.
A Guide.
A Guide.
| Disclaimer |
| Though schooling can change from district to district (even from school to school) but hopefully this will clear a few things up over the pond. |
| Preschool |
| Pretty much the equivilent of Kindergarten. You learn your alphabet, numbers, potato painting, etc. |
| Primary |
| Your basics of learning happens here. Learning to read, write, do basic math, etc. |
| Juniors |
| Your first structured environment, split into English, Mathematics and Science with other parts thrown in i.e. an english comprehension on Florence Nightingale or learning how magnets work in mathematics. |
| Secondary School |
| This is where things get more complex. You get your first taste of choice (usually a choice of language, which differs from school to school) and get a totally structured environment with a lot more lessons. When moving from Junior school to Secondary school, they often ask you to put down three friends you'd like to be in a class with so you know at least one person. Most schools also have uniforms, you can wear one ring on each hand and wear one necklace under your sweater. You don't wear sneakers. You stand up when a teacher comes into class and some sit them in alphabetical order. You attend Assembly most days, which is basically getting the whole school together and talking about Important Issues (like Fair Trade, Tolerance, etc) and occational singing. Secondary is usually split from Year 7 (on the form, it's First Form) to Year Eleven (on the form, it's Fifth Form). Sixth Form is Year Twelve (Lower Sixth) to Year Thirteen (Upper Sixth). This is where you can repeat a year if you fail completely.
Other Classes at Key Stage 3
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| College or Sixth Form You can go to college or go to sixth form to get the qualifications to go to university. Generally, you need a minimum of 5 GCSE's at C or above to go on to either of these. College is usually a course that is spread over five days. Four days are 9-4 learning and one day is at a work placement. Sixth form is where you can take three to five subjects at A Level and you'll have free periods for the first time. The lessons you can take at Sixth Form can depend on your GCSE results (for instance, you can't take a German A Level unless you got a C minimum in your GCSE) but with others, you can start from scratch. The availability of subjects differs greatly from school to school (for my experience, we almost didn't have a Law class because the minimum ten people sign up could not be reached) so there is a huge list here. |
| Apprenticeships |
| Instead of college or sixth form, you can also do an apprenticeship to earn money and build experience. You can find out more about that here. |
| University |
| With every A Level or equivilent you get, you get an amount of UCAS Points. You need a certain amount of points to get into a university, differing from university to university. For more information on UCAS, look here. |
| If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them here and hopefully, this has been helpful for you! |