Hi everyone, in this podcast I want to talk to you about the school system in England, I have had a lot of requests for an article on this topic and I have also made a podcast with Helen about this topic which I will be uploading in the near future. Anyway, let's get down to it. Over the initial few years of a child's life in England they may stay at home or attend nursery or playgroup until they are four years old, then once they have turned four years old they may start school the following September. The first year of school is known as Reception and is the English version of Kindergarten in America. Then the “year's” start, after Reception you go into year 1 and your education begins, now there are two different paths that you take depending on what part of the country you are in. You stay in Primary school until year 5 (10 years old) and then you go up to middle school, you then stay at middle school until the end of year 8 (13 years old) and then you go up to high school. You stay in Primary school until the end of year 6 (11 years old) and then you go straight up to a large high school for the rest of your initial education.
I took the first path way and in my opinion it's a little easier, in the second path way you make a massive jump from a school with about 100 pupils to a school with about 1500 pupils so its very scary. However in the first pathway you go up from 100 to 600 to 1300 and this is a lot easier because you gradually ease yourself in to the bigger schools.
Upon starting high school in year 9 (13 years old) you begin a very important stage of your life, in a few years time you take exams which are very important in your future career. In year 10 you choose 4 options, these subjects are chosen out of a variety and they are subjects that you wish to do. You also have compulsory subjects which you must do like, Maths, English, Science, Ict, R.S (religious studies) and citizenship. These subjects and your options are the subjects that you sit an exam in at the end of year 11. This exam is called a G.C.S.E and it is very important as it can determine which college you get into. The grading system is as follows.
A* = highest grade (usually above 90%) A B C = what everyone looks for, C or above is a good grade D E = the lowest pass grade, although D and E are passes they are not looked at. F = Fail G U = usually below 5% Colleges look for how many G.C.S.E‘s you have got at A* - C standard and the number you achieve will help determine which colleges you can get in too. Then at the age of 16 you can finish school and start a job or you may go onto college for two years and start the A level process in which you choose 4 subjects in your first year and you keep those four for a year and then you sit an exam in them called AS (year 12) and then in the final year of college you can drop one of your four or you can keep it. In year 13 you do your final A level exams known as A2. The subjects that you do at A level are usually the options you choose at G.C.S.E because you chose them freely and weren't forced into doing them. From then you may go to university to get a degree or stop your education there, its up to you.
I hope you found this podcast informative and that it has helped you to gain a greater understanding of
