I went to a very Anglophilic prep school in western Pennsylvania that used forms in lieu of grades. I started in the ninth grade, which was called Third Form (more typically spelled “III Form”). I graduated at the end of four years as a member of the VI Form.
At my very liberal college, the term “freshman” has now been dropped in favor of “first year” (when I was there, it was informally replaced by the slangy but gender-neutral “frosh”). The terms sophomore, junior and senior are still used, though.
Just to give an example of this, in my borough the primary/high school cutoff point is between years 7 and 8, rather than 6 and 7. And high schools didn’t have integrated sixth forms, though since I left a couple have added them.
Is, or was? This seems like a particularly strange anomaly to have, given it so directly conflicts with the structure of the National Curriculum (one of the reasons the council here is currently phasing out its remaining three-tier areas, FWIW).
One school I teach at likes to cling to old-fashioned ways a bit, and internal documents refer to years 12 and 13 as LVI and UVI, despite using the normal numbering for years 7-11
I have never come across lower/upper third/fourth/fifth before in the UK. In my experience it was always first, second, third, fourth, fifth, lower sixth and finally upper sixth.
For the record I went to a private Catholic school, leaving (we don’t “graduate” from school in England and Wales) in 1992.
I’ve heard English people use the term “leave school.” Somehow I can’t get my mind around it, though. It sounds like one day, you’re sitting in class and suddenly you decide you’ve had enough, and you just up and walk away – “left school” – no diploma, no certificate, no recognition, no qualifications. At least “completed” or “finished” conveys that you’ve earned the status of someone who has met the requirements of secondary education.
There is, of course, the choice to leave school at 16 or at 18, with a majority taking the latter option. Usage such as “What are you doing after your GCSEs” or “When I’ve done my A Levels…” are synonymous with ‘leave school’ (at 16/18 respectively), and given the various qualifications involved are the closest we can get to referring to ‘graduating’.
It is quite common to leave school before you have taken exams. You are given a few weeks study time for which you can study from home. The exam results then come out at some time in the summer. At my school you returned for “speech day” early in the following school year to pick up your certificates. This meant, for example, that I took a day off from University to go back to school to pick up my certificates for my A Levels.
Some schools still maintain this structural nomenclature, either as stated or with slight variations.
Magdalen College School, for example, splits its fourth form into Lower and Upper Fourth. So does Warwick School, which also has a Lower Fifth, Middle Fifth and Upper Fifth.
I even almost went to Warwick (I grew up in nearby Kenilworth and even went to a middle school in Warwick). Passed the entrance exam and everything but my parents gave me the final say and I chose somewhere else. My reasoning was that it felt like a “Young Businessman’s School” which just didn’t sit right with me.
Same here, Chicago, early 90s. While “9th grade, 10th grade, etc.” were understood, I can’t recall anyone ever using those terms. It was freshman (frosh)/sophomore/junior/senior.
But why not “completed school” or “finished school”? “Left school” (in my American mind) carries all sorts of odd implications like “He’s left school for an appointment, but he’ll be back after lunch.”
Just a couple of extra bits of info there - some schools have staged intak for reception, but not all do. My daughter’s been to three primary schools which all had a universal September intake (her birthday’s at the end of July).
Compulsory education for students who started secondary school (year 7, the year in which you turn 12), now extends to 17 rather than the previous 16.
Many (nearly all?) primary schools now also have a ‘nursery’ year, in the year that you turn 4. It’s not compulsory, but everyone seems to go for it. The confusing thing about this is that we also call a certain type of baby and toddler daycare ‘nursery.’
As others have said, the school year runs from the first week of September to roughly the last week of July, so the Summer holidays are much shorter than those I’ve heard about in the US. That’s for State schools - public schools and private schools seem to have longer holidays.
Just FTR, this is no longer the case for 16 year-olds studying for their GCSEs. They stay in school taking regular classes all through the preperation and exam period. Schools are even under pressure to try to keep kids coming to school after their exams have ended, even if they’re not intending to continue studying at that school (or at all).
We don’t say we’ve ‘graduated school’ because you don’t get a high school diploma (in England and Wales) - you sit exams that, in some ways, are nothing to do with the school - they’re administered by external exam boards. You sit individual exams (and/or submit coursework) in individual subjects and get seperate certificates for each subject. The certificates are usually sent to you personally - I’d never before heard of them being sent to the school instead of the student.
The other reason is that ‘leaving school’ is staggered. Some leave at 16 to go and study at a sixth-form college or other college - college for us is not university. If the school has a sixth-form, then some will stay on, but not all will. Many will leave to start work or vocational training. It’s not a simple system. There’s no one obvious graduation, finishing or completion point.
Because of this, I’d actually say that GCSEs are a bigger part of the school experience than A levels, because not everyone sits A levels (they can take vocational courses or one of a dozen other course types instead), but everyone who goes to mainstream school will sit at least a few GCSEs.
Some schools do have graduation ceremonies and even proms now, but that used to be rare.
Is this for a story you’re writing? If so, probably best to just go with what you know now and then have someone Brit-proof it.
Really? Are you sure you’re not confusing it with the schools opting to post them on to pupils? I can’t see how exam boards would actually have access to children’s addresses.
Your home address is on their records. They send your results slips to that address before sending the certificates out. Not all GCSEs are undertaken through a school - the exams will be taken at a registered examination centre, which will be a school or college, but you could have studied via a tuition agency or entered yourself for the exam directly.
In Scotland (1988 and 1989) we had to complete an addressed envelope with our candidate number several weeks before our O grades, Highers or CSYS exams. That got sent to the exam board and was used to return our certificates once the results were released.
Our teachers were sent our results independently, but I’m not sure how that worked.
Forms are also used for intramural activities in England (i.e. sporting events). Some schools also organize collections of forms into houses, again mostly for intramural competitions.
The situation is made more complex by the fact that not every secondary school had a sixth form attached. My high school didn’t, so I left secondary in Year 12 and went into Lower Sixth at a local college.
