School systems

Children in Britain start school when they are five years old. They go to a primary school until they are eleven. Until 1965 children that reached the age of eleven had to pass an exam called Eleven Plus, which was actually an IQ test. After primary school at the age of eight children go to middle school and when they are nearly thirteen they start to attend com-prehensive secondary school. The pupils at secondary school usually have to wear school uni-form, which consist of trousers or skirt, white shirt, blazer and tie. In the morning they have registration in their classroom. They do not stay in their classroom for lessons/ they go to a different classroom for each subject. Until they are sixteen they must study some subjects, also those, which they do not like, and they have an exam every year in most of their subjects. And then school direction put them in different classes depending on their results.

When they are 16 they can choose three more subjects, and they do their GCSE exams {General Certifi-cate of Secondary Education}. It does everyone in the country, it is the same for everyone on the same days in May and June. Then the pupils have to wait until august to find out their results. They need to get A, B or C if they want to stay at school until they are eighteen. The sixteen to eighteen year old students are called "six-formers". They can study three subjects they like and they do not have to wear the school uniform. If they leave school, when they are sixteen, young people can get a job or they can go to a college. At a college students normally study practical subjects like typing, cooking, mechanics, hairdressing, etc. Six- formers are preparing for an examination A-levels. This examination is very important for those who want to continue their studies at the some of the British universities. If they want to go to univer-sity, they usually apply during their last year at school, when they are 17-18, around Novem-ber they receive an application form.

They choose up to five universities, they would like to go. As well as the normal questions {name, address, age, etc.} they must talk in detail about their hobbies and past achievements, anything that will show what an interesting person they are. The form is sent to those universities with information from their school about them and their academic record. From December to February the students receive letters from the uni-versities to which they applied. Some of these are rejections, others are inviting the student to come for an interview. An interview is quite nerve wrecking experience. If the direction of the university is interested after this interview, they offer them a place. The next thing to do is to start working to make sure that their results from A-level exams will be good enough. Some people do not want to go straight from school to university, so after they have taken their A-levels, they take a year out to work or travel. For the lucky people who make A-levels is the end of August very busy time sorting out accommodation, opening a bank account, applying for a grant from the government.