Anyone British?

[Selena_Kitt]

Ok... research question... forgive my laziness.

when does school end in England? Isn't it like 16?

And do you have anything approximating school busses?

I need to make an English school girl "of age" for Lit *sigh* Maybe she's been held back? Or started school late? That's all I can think to do if it's true that school ends at age 16....

 

[English Lady]

School stops at 16 BUT sixth form college (basically an extension of school) continues for another 2 years after that.

School buses do exsist for those coming from an isolated rural place, I know my old sixth form college ran one.

 

[TxRad]

Og did a breakdown on English schools in a thread a while back but I don't remember which one...

 

[Selena_Kitt]

So tell me more about English schools... do you have "hours" like we do in the U.S.? Lunches? Cafeterias? What do you call English teachers... are they English teachers or Literature teachers? What happens after secondary school? Isn't there some sort of exams for "university?" And how old do you have to be before you go there?

And can anyone tell me anything about secondary schools in Cramlington, near Newcastle, or even anything about the town?

 

[English Lady]

Secondary school -up to 16 years old is an"all" day arrangement 9am -3.15pm (well, my school anyway) with about an hour for lunch at 12 noon. There's a cafeteria but you sign up for school dinners and pay a set price (or least thats how it worked for me) and an English teacher would be an English Teacher.

At 6th form (16-18 years) it's a case of having classes in 3 or 4 chosen subjects (usually 3) things like geography, business studies, media studies, communication studies,psychology, geology, social studies, drama, maths, physics, chemistry,biology, history, Art...etc etc. So you're likely not to be in all day every day. Some days you'll come in late or go home early or have a few free hours in the missle of the day.

Again theres a cafeteria but this you pay for on a daily basis, you don't have to sign up for meals, you just get them if you want, or not as the case may be. Lunch would be around 12pm ish again for an hour or so. Classes will finish around 3.30/4pm (I can't remember exactly for my college) and English teachers would probably still be English teachers though you do English literature OR English Language or a combined course (like I did)

A -levels are the exams for university, and you tend to need to have at least a C in 2 or three subjects to get in,but obviously this varies fromuniveristy to university and from course to course. Some harder uni's will expect 2 or mor A's for example.

A-levels are what you study in sixth form college, as I say normally 3 classes but some students do 4 (that's a push)


University is after A-levels -so 18, but you can go to university much later if you feel so inclined. I don't think many got to univeristy before they're 18 though i might be wrong on that.

I don't have any knowledge of the North east of england, I'm in the north west -but i do think these kind of things are pretty universal.

 

[TheEarl]

Just a note:

EL's got it mostly right, but there have been some changes to the system for sixth-formers. In my school, the two years were referred to as the "Lower Sixth" (16-17y/o) and "Upper Sixth" (17-18y/o). In the Lower Sixth, you now do AS-Levels, which are 4 or 5 subjects, progressing onto A2-Levels in the Upper Sixth, where you pick 3 of your AS subjects to carry on and get an overall grade. AS-Levels are half of an A2-Level and the scores in your AS count as half the scores for your A2.

Confused? It's a fucking stupid system, but it's what you government has seen fit to fiddle it into.

Every subject is now taught in modules - for example a Maths A-Level might have modules of Pure Maths, Mechanics, Statistics, etc. Each module has an individual exam.

Lessons are taught in hours, but in the Sixth form, they don't fill the day completely, giving you 'free periods'. Which, at my school were spent in the Sixth Form common room (big communal area with table-football and pool that's only for the sixth formers) or playing football on the playground.

If you need to understand playground football rules, then that's really a separate and long post....

The Earl

 

[Selena_Kitt]

*thoroughly confused*

lol

but thank you so much for the help!!!! just be patient with me...

alright, so

Secondary school -up to 16 years old is an"all" day arrangement 9am -3.15pm (well, my school anyway) with about an hour for lunch at 12 noon.

one teacher, all day?

 

[English Lady]

*thoroughly confused*

lol

but thank you so much for the help!!!! just be patient with me...

alright, so



one teacher, all day?

Sorry, no it's several teachers ,each specialising in one subject or another.

one teacher all day happens in infants (5-7 years) and Juniors (7-11 years)


And Earl -damn, that is a stupid way of doing things!!!! I'm glad i got out before all that malarky!

 

[TheEarl]

And Earl -damn, that is a stupid way of doing things!!!! I'm glad i got out before all that malarky!

My year were the first to do it. In fact, we were the first for all kinds of dumbarse government fiddlings.

The official guinea-pig year.

The Earl

 

[English Lady]

My year were the first to do it. In fact, we were the first for all kinds of dumbarse government fiddlings.

The official guinea-pig year.

The Earl

guinea pigs mark II


We we're the first to have SATs(actually, my school boycotted them at first) and record of acheivements and a really weird way of doing technology as big blocks of "modules" of all of them, you couldn't just do food you had to do CDT as well *blah* and Art and business studies -it was a very queer set up!

 

[TheEarl]

And do you have anything approximating school busses?

Oh, I missed this - I went on a school bus to my school. It was 18 miles away from the house and was pretty much a commercial venture by a local bus company. We paid them a subscription and organised a bus service along a particular route.

Also, sixth-formers, at least at my school, don't wear school uniforms. Sorry.

The Earl

 

[English Lady]

Oh, I missed this - I went on a school bus to my school. It was 18 miles away from the house and was pretty much a commercial venture by a local bus company. We paid them a subscription and organised a bus service along a particular route.

Also, sixth-formers, at least at my school, don't wear school uniforms. Sorry.

The Earl

Same here on the uniforms BUT the private, paid for School had a 6th form and they wore uniforms right through till they were 18.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

BUT the private, paid for School had a 6th form and they wore uniforms right through till they were 18.

oh, good...

Cuz this is a private, Catholic school... I hate having to deal with "real" stuff and not exclusively fiction *sigh* can't it just be the way I SAY it is, damnit?!?

 

[gauchecritic]

Selena, depending on when the setting is there are likely to be vast differences between schools and year groups.

My older brother, my younger brother, two of my sons and most of my nephews and neices went to the same 'high school', but I don't think any of us experienced the same school to any great degree.

My older brother attended til he was sixteen and had to wear a cap with the uniform, had Friday afternoons off and went in on Saturday mornings.

I only attended that school for the sixth form because it was the only sixth form in the district and I was there for 3 years (retaking English Lit. for the third year at 19) I spent maybe 6 hours a week at school in the upper sixth. Uniform with tie (no cap) and afternoons in the pub in full uniform. (My older brother would have been expelled for that infarction)

My sons experienced computer science, cookery and co-eds. But they never got to play in one of only three (I think) Eton ~Fives courts in the country. Squash (racket ball?) but played with leather gloves instead of racquets, they pulled the court down for 'improvements'. Bastards.

It has the distinction of being named 'King's High School' (something to do with James I being kidnaped as a child on his way to France for education etc)

So yes, people can be eighteen and still at school.

PS. This is in Yorkshire which abuts Northumberland near the top end.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Selena, depending on when the setting is there are likely to be vast differences between schools and year groups.

Oh I should have said... 1975

 

[gauchecritic]

Oh I should have said... 1975

Amazingly enough, the very year that I began in the sixth form.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

My sons experienced computer science, cookery and co-eds. But they never got to play in one of only three (I think) Eton ~Fives courts in the country. Squash (racket ball?) but played with leather gloves instead of racquets, they pulled the court down for 'improvements'. Bastards.

Oh and that reminds me... does England have "football fields" at their schools? soccer, for us... and rugby, right? And which is "bigger"? Like, our football (rugby lite) is the "major" high school sport... do you guys have one, in secondary school?

 

[gauchecritic]

At the time of which you speak, traditionally the grammar schools (where they have sixth forms) played cricket and rugby. The secondary schools (no sixth form) played soccer and occasionally cricket.

Just so that you know, these references are all English, Scottish schooling is quite different, so your thread title should be Anyone English?

 

[gauchecritic]

Just to add. The is the guy to ask about Union, which is posh rugby, given the name because it originated (so legend has it) at Rugby school.

And while you're at it ask him about schoolyard cricket which is an entirely different kettle of fish from proper cricket. No Sloggers. Peg leg chance for iffy decisions etc etc.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Yes, I've already been reprimanded via PM about my thread title...

I apologize for my ignorance... I didn't realize the term wasn't interchangeable... but remember, I'm a small town girl in the midwest and I ain't never been nowheres...

 

[TheEarl]

Just to add. The is the guy to ask about Union, which is posh rugby, given the name because it originated (so legend has it) at Rugby school.

And while you're at it ask him about schoolyard cricket which is an entirely different kettle of fish from proper cricket. No Sloggers. Peg leg chance for iffy decisions etc etc.

Sport's a big thing in English schools. I don't know about 1975 (as I wasn't born then by a good 9 years), but everyone had to do sport when I was in school and, as Gauche says, there were versions of football and cricket played on the playground with interesting rules such as 'rush goalies,' 'over the post' and 'one hand, one bounce'.

Official school sports differ between schools. There are rugby schools and there are football schools. In the north of England, most schools would play rugby league (the inferior version) and football for the boys. However, private schools such as you're talking about often preferred to play the more 'gentlemanly' sports of rugby (union) and cricket.

The Earl

 

[English Lady]

And Girls play netball, least we did in our school, and hockey. I think these are fairly staple as i seem to remember reading about them in some of the Enid Blyton books I read.

(Netball is like basketball without the dribbling.)

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I don't know about 1975 (as I wasn't born then by a good 9 years)

ooooohhhh goood.... now I don' t just feel stupid, I also feel old...

Thanks Earl...

so what does a typical English school look like inside? Classrooms? Usually just one building? (probably varied answers, I know...)

 

[TheEarl]

ooooohhhh goood.... now I don' t just feel stupid, I also feel old...

Thanks Earl...

so what does a typical English school look like inside? Classrooms? Usually just one building? (probably varied answers, I know...)

Mine was a mixture between crumbling brick buildings from the late eighteen hundreds and prefabricated classrooms. There was one big building that contained most of the classroom, with lots of small satellites scattered around the site. In the middle of it all was a concrete playground, which had invisible lines marking out territories. There were three football 'pitches', the width of which depended on how wide the players were willing to go. The older kids got the best pitch and the younger ones got the duff one that ran the risk of losing the ball onto the Tech block roof every time someone skied a shot. Each territory was generally 'owned' by a grouping of players.

Anyhow. Inside was mostly dull carpets or hard floors. The classrooms were full of rows of desks, each of which fit two people sitting together. The desks were usually pressed together into rows of two, so you had four people sitting together in a line. The teacher would have a wooden desk at the front and there'd be a blackboard and maybe an OHP for writing things down on. Generally speaking, pupils were allergic to the front rows. Sitting right at the back was a mark of disrespect to the lesson and basically a place to goof off and pretend like you didn't care (very much in vogue when I was at school). Sitting at the front was a sign of enthusiasm and interest in the lesson, which my peer group didn't encourage. Me, I sat medium distance back.

The Earl

 

[gauchecritic]

cold, with gigantic noisy radiators that heated to a radius of 6 inches.