How the English Education System Works (at the moment!)

I've had many a discussion with Americans over the internet as to how our education system works, and as I've seen from the stats that many of you are, in fact, American, I thought I'd make a post about it.

A normal school year is from September to July, with a week's holiday in October and February, two weeks' holiday at Christmas and Easter, and six weeks' holiday in the summer.

Usually, children start infant school the September before they turn five. For instance, I was born in 1996, so I started school in September 2001, four months before I turned five. This 'level' of schooling is called Reception. The next year is called Year One (Y1) and this system tends to carry on all the way through to Year Thirteen (Y13), with only a couple of exceptions, which I'll get to later.

Reception, Year One and Year Two are collectively known as Key Stage One (KS1), and at the end of it, aged 7, children (used to) sit a series of tests in English and Maths known as SATs, and I'm still not really sure what that stands for.

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After Year Two comes Year Three, which is the first year of both Junior School and Key Stage Two (KS2). After four years at Junior School, culminating in Year Six, pupils (used to) sit another series of SATs. These tests help to determine target grades for later exams. This marks the end of Primary School, which is a collective name for Infant and Junior Schools.

After Year Six, students progress to Year Seven, the first of five years at Secondary/Senior School. Students move through, taking all subjects until the age of fourteen (the end of Key Stage Three), when they can make choices about which subjects they want to continue through their exams. At my school, English Language and Literature, Maths, Science (Single, Double, or Triple), French or German and Religious Studies were all compulsory exam subjects, and we had to carry on with core, unexamined PE. We then chose three additional subjects ('Option' subjects), and I took History, Dance and Spanish.

The exams I've been talking about are GCSEs, are generally taken at the age of sixteen, at the end of Year Eleven, although I took exams all the way through from the end of Year Nine (I was fourteen). However, this is no longer the case due to educational reforms by Secretary of State for Education, the almost universally hated Michael Gove. Starting from 2015, all GCSE exams will be taken at the end of Year Eleven. (By the way, Years Ten and Eleven make up Key Stage Four.)

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GCSEs are graded from A*-G, which are all passes, and then Fail. A GCSE at A*-C is a Level Two Qualification, and is considered a 'good pass'. Generally, most advanced courses require 5 A*-C grades for entry. A D-G grade is a Level One Qualification.

After GCSEs, students have a great deal of choices. Since recently, all students have to stay in some form of 'education or training' until the age of 18. This can include Level Three courses at further education colleges, and Apprenticeship or job-based training, but most students, like myself and Jenni, stay in formal education and take A-levels.

A-levels are taken at a Sixth Form centre or further education college, and consist of two parts: AS and A2. In Year Twelve (or Lower Sixth - there's the exception I told you about earlier!), most students select four subjects from all 10/11/12+ of their GCSE subjects to take a year's worth of lessons and then exams in in the summer. This is the year that Jenni and I are finishing now. After AS exams in May, students return to sixth form in early June to begin their A2 lessons, as the courses are longer that AS, so require more teaching time.

After results come out in August (which is the same for GCSEs as well, although A-Level results come out a week earlier), students must decide which, if any, subject they will drop. This is because a usual Year Thirteen student takes only three subjects to convert into a full A-level, and is possible because an AS qualification can stand alone. These three subjects are examined in June, and any university offers are based on the grades gained in these final exams. A-levels are graded from A*-E, and anything lower is a fail.

I hope that this was educational and interesting:- I get that it's maybe a little bit dry, but I found it interesting, especially in light of the new changes which are gradually being brought in.

~ Tess