Becka Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Could anyone explain the English School System. Up here we have primary school until 10-11years old and then secondary school until you choose to leave up to 18 years old. I'm getting very confused with 11+ and also 13+ systems and the whole Grammar School option, if it can be called an option? My son is in his last year of primary school, aged 11, nearly 12 and my daughter is aged 5, if we were to relocate down to the Kent area, what sort of school would they go to? There also seems to be more single sex schools than co-ed or have I just picked this up incorrectly? Also i presume my son is too late to apply for a Grammar School? I'm nothing if not totally confuddled now as I had hoped that we would have a reasonably easy transfer, if we were to move. If someone could shed some light on this area or poke me in the direction of a suitable website, I would be very grateful. Becka Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cate in NZ Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 I'm in Kent and have been through the whole process of secondary school selection twice and I'm still not entirely sure that I understand it . Children in year 6 get the option to sit the 11+, generally in January of year 6. Sitting the exam is not compulsory, but if you don't sit the 11+ you don't get a grammar school place, so the majority of children do appear to sit it. Those who either don't sit the exam, or who fail it are offered a place at a wide ability school. There is some choice in school selection, but generally it's a bit of a minefield because some of the wide ability schools do better than others, so the competition for places is fierce and stressful, and inevitably some people are disappointed. For a child who passes the 11+ the grammar schools offer an excellent standard of academic education and the majority of their students do well at GCSE and A level, with the grammars featuring heavily at the top end of the school league tables. For children who mature academically later (or who move into the area) there is the opportunity to take the 12+ & 13+, giving the opportunity to transfer to a grammar school in year 8 or 9. In my area the grammar schools are all single sex, albeit with the girls/ boys schools being very close together, but I'm not sure if this is true of all of Kent, or just my neck of the woods . The wide ability schools are mixed more often than not, or so it appears, but again there are single sex alternatives. Unfortunately though in my (possibly controversial) opinion, passing the 11+ reflects far more which private tutor your parents paid out for in year 5/6, rather than ability............private tuition is flourishing and highly competitive round here as the schools are not allowed to tutor towards the 11+, and the exams feature verbal & non-verbal reasoning papers as well as maths, and time and again it's those that have been tutored that get through, rather than their equally able, but non tutored counterparts Once into a school generally children stay there until end of year 11, although I have heard unsubstantiated tales of boys from a highly achieving grammar school round here being threatened with their removal from that school if they don't achieve target grades. I don't know if that's true, but for sure I know of year 10 & 11 boys who have more private tuition to enable them to keep up with their year groups. Transfer to 6th form is dependent on grades, so no guarantee of remaining at the same school throughout and there can be a lot of shuffling around then. A local boys grammar will only accept students with 7 Bs at GCSE into their 6th form. Not sure if that helps at all, but in my experience it is a complicated and confusing system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Becka Posted February 7, 2008 Author Share Posted February 7, 2008 Thank you so much for your reply. My husband thinks I'm exaggerating the confusion surrounding the school system since I'm actually a teacher and he thinks I should have a far better idea than i actually have! I would be able to tutor my son myself as verbal and non-verbal reasoning is not taught as standard here but I used it as an extension activity with some of my more capable students! Unfortunately, i don't think we teach exactly the same curriculum here, so there would be some gaps and some overlaps I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 No you aren't exagerating it We moved from Scotland to England when I was 8 and I then came back at 28 having done my education down south and I can't get my head around the Scottish exam system now When I have to go through CV's it may as well be printed in a foreign language as it is so different all these different levels etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Pudding Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Definitely they are, Dan. How else could we teachers be expected to improve exam results every year, unless the children were getting cleverer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Licken Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 We are strongly encouraged (read between the lines here) to get every child 8 point earning qualifications at GCSE - totally barking expecially when some of them are independently operating at P levels. The system is morally bankrupt and I hate it!! Going to work next week to try and salvage some student portfolio's to see if I can get them to pass.. AAAaaaggh (screams and goes off in ahuff!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Licken Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Managed to post that twice - I must be getting cleverer too. The Scottish education system seems to have a lot of bonuses from where I'm sat - apparrently a joined up approach to literacy and levels of literacy that England can only aspire to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 I moved the other way - England to Scotland when I was 11. My parents at the time had to fight to get me into High School, as they considered me too young - even though I had done all of my primary education years. They then had another fight, to allow me to do as they call it now. triple science ( chemistry, physics and biology as seperate subjects ) at o'level - NOT because it was too hard, but as it did not suit the teachers timetable . Needless to say - I did pass 8 o levels 1st time, and all 3 sciences, which only 2 pupils in that year did . Not sure if I agree with Dans comments about kids getting cleverer - they certainly have far better resources, and more practical bits than I ever had. This all helps to get the messages of learning across, to those who just don't "get it". Anyway - yes it is confusing which ever way you diffuse across the border - but English system is generally age 4-7 infants, age 7-11 Junior school and 11-16 Senior to O'Level, then 16 plus/ 6th form A-level. I still cannot equivilate to Primary 1,2 ,3 etc in Scotland, but have a beeter idea of yrs 1-6 in high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 The school I'm in gets excellent results The kids are very lucky that the head is so driven towards these results. I am looking for a new job where the results are based more on the childrens actual ability to do the work. My professional integrity has been shredded and thrown in the bin by this lot and the moderation is a farce. Thats how some kids get so many GCSE's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shirl Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 I think children are definitely cleverer now than we were in the 80s. When I took O levels in 1986 only one girl in the year took 9 O levels, which she passed too (but she was gifted). These days mostly everyone has 9 GCSEs (or more), so I think the children are definitely getting cleverer... The 1st year that GCSE Maths took over from O'level the pass rate jumped by 29%. That's an amazing increase of IQ in one year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...