A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school, differentiated in recent years from less academic secondary modern schools. The main difference is that a grammar school may select pupils based on academic achievement whereas a secondary modern may not.
In the United Kingdom, independent schools are fee-charging schools, some endowed and governed by a board of governors and some in private ownership. They are independent of many of the regulations and conditions that apply to state-funded schools. For example, pupils do not have to follow the National Curriculum. They are sometimes described as 'private schools' although historically the term referred to a school in private ownership, in contrast to an endowed school subject to a trust or of charitable status. Many of the older independent schools catering for the 13–18 age range in England and Wales are known as public schools, seven of which were the subject of the Public Schools Act 1868. The term 'public school' derived from the fact that they were then open to pupils regardless of where they lived or their religion,. Prep (preparatory) schools educate younger children up to the age of 13 to 'prepare' them for entry to the private schools and other independent schools.
The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academic selection. The name derives from the age group for secondary entry: 11–12 years.
The Tripartite System was the arrangement of state-funded secondary education between 1945 and the 1970s in England and Wales, and from 1947 to 2009 in Northern Ireland. It was an administrative implementation of the Education Act 1944 and the Education Act 1947.
A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 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. With the Blair educational reforms from 2003, they may be part of a local education authority or be a self governing academy or part of a multi-academy trust.
Newstead Wood School is a selective girls' grammar school in Avebury Road, Orpington, south east London, England.
The London Oratory School, also known as "The Oratory" or "The London Oratory" to distinguish it from other schools, is a Catholic secondary school for boys aged 7–18 and girls aged 16–18 in West Brompton. Founded in 1863 by The Fathers of The London Oratory in Chelsea, London, it is historically linked to two fellow Oratorian institutions: the nearby Brompton Oratory and The Oratory School in Berkshire. The school is renowned for the quality of its choral and instrumental music and is one of England's oldest and most renowned Catholic schools.
A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usually referred to as secondary schools, and in areas of England, such as Buckinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Wirral,.
The grammar schools debate is a debate about the merits and demerits of the existence of grammar schools in the United Kingdom. Grammar schools are state schools which select their pupils on the basis of academic ability, with pupils sitting an exam in the last year of primary school to determine whether or not they gain a place. The debate on selective education has been widened by measures which allow a proportion of students to be chosen based on their "aptitude" for a particular subject.
A selective school is a school that admits students on the basis of some sort of selection criteria, usually academic. The term may have different connotations in different systems and is the opposite of a comprehensive school, which accepts all students, regardless of aptitude.
Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School is a Roman Catholic day secondary school in Holland Park with approximately 950 students.
The John Fisher School is a Roman Catholic voluntary-aided boys' faith school based at Peaks Hill, Purley, Croydon, Surrey, England. Today the school operates as a local standard Roman Catholic Comprehensive School, educating boys mainly from around South and Central Croydon. However, the school has a history of selection, and in the past has drawn pupils from across London and South East England.
In England, a partially selective school is one of a few dozen state-funded secondary schools that select a proportion of their intake by ability or aptitude, permitted as a continuation of arrangements that existed prior to 1997. Though treated together by current legislation, they are of two types: bilateral schools in remnants of the Tripartite System, and former grant-maintained schools that introduced partial selection in the 1990s. While technically classified as comprehensive schools, they occupy a middle ground between grammar schools and true comprehensives, and many of the arguments for and against grammar schools also apply to these schools. Although there are relatively few schools of this type, several of them score very highly in national performance tables, and are among the most over-subscribed schools in the country.
A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted fees, some paid by the Local Education Authority and some by the parents of private pupils. On average, the schools received just over half of their income from the state.
Coloma Convent Girls' School is a Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form in a semi-rural location in Shirley, on the outskirts of Croydon, South London, England.
Catholic points-based admission schools are certain over-subscribed Roman Catholic comprehensive schools in London and the English home counties which have adopted admissions criteria based on adherence to the Catholic faith. In order to attend these schools candidates must come from practising Catholic families, or those which are active in the Catholic Church.
English state-funded schools, commonly known as state schools, provide education to pupils between the ages of 3 and 18 without charge. Approximately 93% of English schoolchildren attend 20,000 or so such schools. Since 2008 about 75% have attained "academy status", which essentially gives them a higher budget per pupil from the Department for Education.
In England and Wales, a comprehensive school is a type of secondary school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude or the wealth of the parents of the children it accepts.
Laleham Lea is a co-educational independent primary school in located Peaks Hill, Purley, Greater London.
