Expat Community > England

buzzybee
Joined 2011
Posts: 1

About Schools in England

13 years ago

Im 15 I've lived in the uk since I was 5, and I just wanted to let people know what the school system is like in England:
Nursery - optional, normally available for children 6 months to 4 years although some take children from 2 years. Generally about 8.30am to 5pm as a childcare option. Mainly play with a small amount of reading in SOME nurseries for the 4 year olds.
Playgroup/Preschool - optional, normally 2-4 years but some regional variation. Normally mornings only. Basically all play

Foundation Stage - optional although would be unusual for child not to attend. 4 year olds. At a primary school. Not like kindergarten as basically all play. Some take children for half-days at first, others full days.

Primary school: normally around 9am to 3.30pm
Infants (or Key Stage 1)= years 1 & 2, ages 5-7. More "work" but still plenty of play.
Juniors (or Key Stage 2)= years 3-6, ages 7-11. Mainly work but around 1 1/2 hours of playtime per day would not be unusual. Often set up to 2 hours per week of homework but some schools set more.

Secondary school: normally same hours as primary but less play - perhaps 40 mins at lunchtime.
Key Stage 3: at some schools this is years 7&8, at others it includes year 9 as well. All work very minimal play. Often set 1-2 hours homework per night.
Key Stage 4: from end of ks3 to year 11 (age 16). You study for your GCSEs. Lots of homework!!!

NOTES
"state school" - free
"private school" / "independent school" - payed for
"public school" - very expensive private school, hard to get into. Complete opposite of US!

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