4. 01. Introduction
✓ Education is an important part of British life. There are
hundreds of schools, colleges and universities, including
some of the most famous.
✓ Education is free and compulsory for all children between the
ages of 5-16. Some children are educated at home rather
than in school.
5. The education system in the UK is divided into four main parts:
PRIMARY EDUCATION SECONDARY EDUCATION
FURTHER EDUCATION
HIGHER EDUCATION
6. The education system in the UK is also split into "key stages" which break
down as follows:
8. ❑ School subjects in the UK
Chemistry Maths IT(Information Technology)
Biology French
Physics
Geography
Art
History
DT(Design Technology)
Physics
PSHE
Personal Social
Health Economic
Lessons last for
approximately no
more than an hour
9. ❑ A typical school year in Britain
✓Starts at the beginning of September.
✓School year is divided into three terms: Autumn term, Spring term, and Summer term.
✓School holidays:
Christmas Holidays – 2 weeks
The Summer holidays – 6 weeks
The Easter holidays – 2 weeks
Short holidays – last for 1 week
10. ✓ The school day usually starts at 8.45 am and finishes at around 3.30 pm
✓ There is one small break in the morning about 20 mins and a longer lunch break
about 1 hour.
❑ A typical school day in Britain
11. Most schools in England require children to wear a school uniform.
❑ School uniforms
Boys wear:
▪ Long grey or black trousers (shorts may be
worn in the summer).
▪ Blazer, white shirt, school tie (optional in
most primary schools).
▪ Jumper or sweater with the school logo on.
▪ The color is the choice of the school.
▪ Black shoes.
Girls wear:
▪ Girls may wear skirts
▪ During the summer term girls often wear
summer school dresses.
12. 03. Public exams in Britain
SATs Key Stage 2 GCSEs
AS Levels A Levels
Scottish Highers
13. SATs Key Stage 2
✓ This is taken in Year 6 when children are ages 10/11.
✓ SATs cover Maths, Science, and English.
✓ Purpose: to help identify each child’s strengths and
weaknesses when it comes to their education.
✓ The data is used to compare with other students
locally and nationally and are marked externally.
14. GCSEs
✓ GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education) are taken when
students are 15/16 years of age (School Years 10/11) and mark the end
of compulsory education in the UK. They are taken in England, Wales,
and Northern Ireland.
✓ All students must study Maths, Science and English, but also a number
of other subjects of the student’s choice.
✓ This covers creative subjects such as drama and art, social sciences,
technology, languages, humanities, natural sciences and others.
✓ Most schools require at least 5 to be at least a grade of C before1
moving on to A-levels if they so choose.
15. AS Levels
✓ AS levels are taken in optional sixth form as a stand-alone
qualification or as the very first level of an A-level course taken
the following year, however as of 2017 it will not count towards
the A level.
✓ Most students take three or four AS levels to prepare for A-levels
with around 80 subjects to choose from.
16. ✓ A levels are used as entrance grades for Universities and are the final school
exams students aged 18 in Year 12 will take.
✓ They are more advanced than AS levels.
✓ It’s the chance to start specializing in a certain subject area if a student knows
what it is they want to study at University.
✓ It is much more in-depth than GCSEs, so subjects should be chosen by where
passions lie.
A Levels
17. ✓ Scotland has a slightly different testing system than the rest of the UK.
Scottish Highers is the equivalent to A levels and are used for University
entry.
✓ Highers is considered the same as AS levels while Advanced Highers are
the same as A levels.
✓ Scottish universities generally require Highers but many English
universities prefer an Advance Highers qualification.
