Education in England

The school year runs from September to July and is 39 weeks long.
The school year runs from September to July and is 39 weeks long.
School holidays
The main school holidays are:
Christmas- 2 weeks
Spring - 2 weeks
Summer - 6 weeks
There are also one week holidays:
end of October
mid February
end of May

Children in England begin to go to school when they are five or four.

From five to seven children are in infant schools. An infant school is like a kindergarten.
Children draw, sing and begin to learn to read and write.

From seven to eleven children in England go to a junior school. In this school they learn to read, write and to do sums.

From eleven to sixteen boys and girls in England go to a secondary school. They begin to study in form one.
They have many subject in their timetable: English, English literature, Foreign language, Mathematics, History, Geography, Physics, Biology, Woodwork, Music. In England schoolchildren don’t go to school on Saturdays and Sundays.

At the age of 16, students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland take an examination called the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education).

The sixth form is the last form a secondary school. More ambitious pupils continue to study in the 6th form. They stay on at school for one or two years to prepare themselves for university. They have only three or four main subjects which are necessary to pass to advanced level exams at the age of 18.

Pupils who continue to study at high school take a further set of standardized exams, known as a levels, in three or four subjects. These exams determine whether a student is eligible for university.

Students normally enter university from age 18 onwards, and study for an academic degree. Historically, all undergraduate education outside the private University of Buckingham was largely state-financed, with a small contribution from top-up fees. The typical first degree offered at English universities is the bachelor's degree , and usually lasts for three years. Many institutions now offer an undergraduate master's degree as a first degree, which typically lasts for four years.

Postgraduate education
Students who have completed a first degree are eligible to undertake a postgraduate degree, which might be a:
Master's degree (typically taken in one year, though research-based master's degrees may last for two)
Doctorate (typically taken in three years).