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Education in England is overseen by the Department for Education. Local government authorities are responsible for implementing policy for public education and state-funded schools at a local level. State-funded schools may be selective grammar schools or non-selective comprehensive schools. All state schools are subject to assessment and inspection by the government department Ofsted. England also has private schools and home education; legally, parents may choose to educate their children by any suitable means.
Education in Scotland is provided in state schools, private schools and by individuals through homeschooling. Mandatory education in Scotland begins for children in Primary 1 (P1) at primary school and ends in Fourth Year (S4) at secondary school. Overall accountability and control of state–education in Scotland rests with the Scottish Government, and is overseen by its executive agency, Education Scotland, with additional responsibility for nursery schools being the joint responsibility of both Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate. Scotland's private schools are overseen by the Scottish Council of Independent Schools. Children in Scotland sit mandatory National Standardised Assessments in Primary 1 (P1), Primary 4 (P4), Primary 7 (P7) at the end of primary school, and Third Year (S3) in secondary school, which assist in monitoring children's progress and providing diagnostic data information to support teachers' professional judgement.
The education system in Northern Ireland differs from elsewhere in the United Kingdom, but is similar to the Republic of Ireland in sharing in the development of the national school system and serving a similar society with a relatively rural population. A child's age on 1 July determines the point of entry into the relevant stage of education in the region, whereas the relevant date in England and Wales is 1 September.
A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis of selection criteria, usually academic performance. The term is commonly used in relation to England and Wales, where comprehensive schools were introduced as state schools on an experimental basis in the 1940s and became more widespread from 1965.
The National Curriculum for England was first introduced by the Education Reform Act 1988. At the time of its introduction the legislation applied to both England and Wales. However, education later became a devolved matter for the Welsh government. The National Curriculum is a set of subjects and standards used by primary and secondary schools so children learn the same things. It covers what subjects are taught and the standards children should reach in each subject.
The National Curriculum assessment usually refers to the statutory assessments carried out in primary schools in England, colloquially known as standard assessment tasks (SATs). The assessments are made up of a combination of testing and teacher assessment judgements and are used in all government-funded primary schools in England to assess the attainment of pupils against the programmes of study of the National Curriculum at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 where all pupils are aged 6, 7, 10 and 11 respectively. Until 2008, assessments were also required at the end of Key Stage 3 (14-year-olds) in secondary schools after which they were scrapped.
Key Stage 3 is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14. In Northern Ireland the term also refers to the first three years of secondary education.
Key Stage 4 (KS4) is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other examinations, in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 10 and Year 11, when pupils are aged between 14 and 16 by August 31.
Secondary education in Wales covers the period between the ages of 11 and 15 by 31 August. In this period a child's education is divided into two main stages of the National Curriculum: Key Stages 3 and 4.
Primary education in Wales has a similar structure to primary education in England, but teaching of the Welsh language is compulsory and it is used as the medium of instruction in many schools. The introduction of the Foundation Phase for 3- to 7-year-olds is also creating increasing divergence between Wales and England.
The National Numeracy Strategy arose out of the National Numeracy Project in 1996, led by a Numeracy Task Force in England. The strategy included an outline of expected teaching in mathematics for all pupils from Reception to Year 6.
Key Stage 1 is the legal term for the two years of schooling in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 1 and Year 2, when pupils are aged between 5 and 7. This Key Stage normally covers pupils during infant school, although in some cases this might form part of a first or primary school. It is also the label used for the third and fourth years of primary education in Northern Ireland. In Hong Kong, it is used to describe Primary One to Primary Three.
Year 7 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the seventh full year of compulsory education and is roughly equivalent to grade 6 in the United States and Canada. Children in this year are between 11 and 12.
Year 6 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. It is usually the sixth year of compulsory education and incorporates students aged between ten and eleven. It is generally the same as Fifth grade in the United States, although the birthday cutoff date varies for different countries and schools.
Fulston Manor School is a secondary School with academy status in Sittingbourne, Kent. The head teacher is Mrs Susie Burden. It teaches years 7–13.
The Charles Dickens School is a co-educational secondary modern school located in Broadstairs in the English county of Kent. The school is named after Charles Dickens, the 19th-century writer and social critic. It is one of six non-selective schools on the Isle of Thanet, physically isolated corner of Kent.
A comprehensive school, or simply a comprehensive, typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis of selection criteria, usually academic performance. In England and Wales comprehensive schools were introduced as state schools on an experimental basis in the 1940s and became more widespread from 1965. They may be part of a local education authority or be a self governing academy or part of a multi-academy trust.
The National Curriculum was first introduced in Wales as part of the Education Reform Act 1988, alongside the equivalent curriculum for England. Following devolution in 1999, education became a matter for the Welsh Government. Consequently, some elements of the system began to differ from England. This article covers the curriculum as it existed from 2008 until the formal introduction of a new Curriculum for Wales between 2022 and 2026.
The National Curriculum of Northern Ireland identifies the minimum requirements of skills for each subject and the activities to develop and applied the skills.
The Curriculum for Wales is the curriculum which is being introduced in state-funded education in Wales for pupils aged three to sixteen years. The curriculum's rollout began in 2022. As of September 2023, it is statutorily required for all pupils apart from those in school years 9, 10 and 11. The curriculum has been developed based on a report commissioned in 2014. Amongst other changes, it gives schools greater autonomy over what they teach children. Views on the curriculum have been varied.
References
- ↑ Defined in section 82 of the Education Act 2002
- 1 2 3 "The national curriculum". GOV.UK.
- ↑ Wickwright, Abbie (20 May 2018). "What are SATs, why don't we have them in Wales and what's different about our National Tests?". WalesOnline. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ↑ Defined in paragraph 3 of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 2006
- ↑ "Chapter 4: Contents of the Curriculum" (PDF). Education Bureau of Hong Kong. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-08-24. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
- ↑ Set out on the Northern Ireland National Curriculum website