British school system...

Since the British school system is different from the one we are accustomed to in United States, I thought I would try to explain how things work here. I did borrow the below graph from Wikipedia.com, where you will find a much more detailed explanation if you are interested. Just type in "Education in England".



This chart kind of shows the age of children based on the year. The middle section shows how Alyssa and Nathan's school district (catchment area) is set up. Children attend primary school until they reach 11 years and then they will transfer to secondary school which they will be required by law to attend until they are 16. Kids won't have any more changes until they graduate from this school. They go into secondary school as 11 year olds and have to live in peace with the 16 year olds! Yikes!

This is different than the US schools where law requires student to attend school until they are 18. However, England is currently passing a law to require students to stay until 17 years of age.

Currently, when students reach 16 years they have a choice of going on to "Sixth Form" College, where they prepare for GCE A-level examinations required for University, or they can stop their formal schooling and attend a trade school, get a job, or do what they like.

Unlike the US where about 75 percent of high school students move on to attend university, it does not seem to be as important to students here. I could not find any statistics to support this theory, but this is the impression I have. Parents here don't talk about their children going to university like they did when we were in the US. I remember parents talking about which university they wanted their child to attend as their child was crawling around the floor in front of them! Here parents complacently state that "you can't force kids to go". I suppose that seems strange to me because a 16 year in the US is still considered a minor and are still under the guidance of their parents.

I still feel like I don't quite understand the school system here, but I am trying. The fact that you have to spend two full years preparing for college entrance exams here seems a bit daunting to me. I am personally glad that I did not have to do that. From what I here about the exams, they sound extremely hard and stressful!!