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Education in England is overseen by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. At a local level the local
authorities take responsibility for implementing policy for public education and state schools.
Full-time education is compulsory for all children aged between 5 and 16 (inclusive).
Students may then continue their secondary studies for a further two years (sixth form), leading most typically to an A level qualification, although other qualifications and courses
exist, including the BTEC and the International Baccalaureate. The leaving age for compulsory education was raised to 18 by the Education and Skills Act 2008. The
change will take effect in 2013 for 17 year olds and 2015 for 18 year olds.State-provided schools are free of charge to students, and there is also a tradition of independent schooling, but parents may choose to
educate their children by any suitable means.
Higher education typically begins with a 3-year Bachelor's Degree. Postgraduate degrees include Master's Degrees, either taught or by research, and Doctor of Philosophy, a
research degree that usually takes at least 3 years. Universities require a Royal charter in order to issue degrees, and all but one are financed by the state with a low level of fees for students.
Primary and secondary education
The school year begins on the 1st of September. Education is compulsory for all children
from the term after their fifth birthday to the last Friday in June of the school year in which
they turn 16. This will be raised in 2013 to the year in which they turn 17 and in 2015 to the year in which they turn 18.
The state-funded school system
State-run schools and colleges are financed through national taxation, and take pupils free of charge between the ages of 3
and 18. The schools may levy charges for activities such as swimming, theatre visits and field trips, provided the charges are
voluntary, thus ensuring that those who cannot afford to pay are allowed to participate in such events. Approximately 93% of English schoolchildren attend such schools.
A significant minority of state-funded schools are faith schools, which are attached to religious groups, most often the Church
of England or the Roman Catholic Church. There are also a small number of state-funded boarding schools, which typically charge for board but not tuition.
Nearly 90% of state-funded secondary schools are specialist schools, receiving extra funding to develop one or more subjects in which the school specialises.
School years
The table below describes the most common patterns for schooling in the state sector in England:
In the vast majority of cases, pupils progress from primary to secondary levels at age 11; in some areas either or both of the
primary and secondary levels are further subdivided. A few areas have three-tier education systems with an intermediate middle level from age 9 to 13.
State-funded nursery education is available from the age of 3, and may be full-time or part-time. If registered with a state
school attendance is compulsory beginning with the term following the child's fifth birthday. Children can be enrolled in the
reception year in September of that school year thus beginning school at age 4 or 4.5. Unless the student chooses to stay
within the education system school attendance ends on the last Friday in June during the academic year in which a student attains the age of 16.
Under the National Curriculum system, all pupils undergo Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) towards the ends of Key
Stage 2 in core subjects, but not foundation subjects, where teacher assessment is used. They normally take GCSE exams in
the last two years of Key Stage 4, but may take other Level 2 qualifications, such as GNVQ. Former tests at the end of Key
Stage 3 were abandoned after the 2008 tests, when severe problems emerged concerning the marking procedures. Now at
Key Stages 1 and 3, assessment is by teacher assessment against the National Curriculum Attainment Targets for all subjects. Tests results for schools are published, and are an important measure of their performance.
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Shrewsbury Sixth Form College in Shropshire.
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Years 12 and 13 are often referred to as "lower sixth form" and "upper sixth form" respectively, reflecting their distinct, voluntary nature and situation as the A level
years. Some independent schools still refer to years 7 to 11 as "first form" to "fifth form", reflecting earlier usage. Even more historically, this arose from the system in
public schools, where all forms were divided into Lower, Upper, and sometimes Middle sections. Year 7 is equivalent to "Upper Third Form", Year 8 would have
been known as "Lower Fourth", and so on. Some independent schools still use this way of counting the years.
Curriculum
All maintained schools in England are required to follow the National Curriculum, which is made up of twelve subjects. The
core subjects—English, Mathematics and Science—are compulsory for all students aged 5 to 16. The other foundation subjects are compulsory at one or more Key Stages:
* Art & Design
* Citizenship
* Design & Technology
* Geography
* History
* Information & Communication Technology
* Modern Foreign Languages
* Music
* Physical Education
In addition, other statutory subjects are not covered by the National Curriculum, including Religious Education in all year groups, and Career education, Sex education and Work-related learning at secondary age.
School governance
Almost all state-funded schools in England are maintained schools, which receive their funding from LAs, and are required to
follow the national curriculum. In such schools, all teachers are employed under the nationally-agreed School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document.
Since 1998, there have been 4 main types of maintained school in England:
* community schools
(formerly county schools), in which the LA employs the schools' staff, owns the schools' lands and buildings and has primary responsibility for admissions.
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St Barnabas Church of England Primary School, Oxford
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* voluntary controlled schools, which are almost always church schools, with the lands and buildings often owned by a charitable foundation. However, the LA
employs the schools' staff and has primary responsibility for admissions.
* voluntary aided schools, linked to a variety of organisations. They can be
faith schools (often the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church), or non-denominational schools, such as those linked to London Livery Companies.
The charitable foundation contributes towards the capital costs of the school, and appoints a majority of the school governors. The governing body employs the staff and has primary responsibility for admissions.
* foundation schools, in which the governing body employs the staff and has primary responsibility for admissions. The school land and buildings are owned by
the governing body or by a charitable foundation. The Foundation appoints a minority of governors. Many of these schools were formerly grant maintained schools. In 2005 the Labour government
proposed allowing all schools to become Foundation schools if they wished.
There are also a smaller number of City Technology Colleges and academies, which are secondary schools funded and
monitored directly by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
All state-funded schools are regularly inspected by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), which publishes reports of
the quality of education at each school. Schools judged by Ofsted to be providing an inadequate standard of education may
be placed in special measures, which may include replacing the governing body and senior staff.
Secondary schools by intake
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Wetherby High School, a typical former secondary modern school in Wetherby, West Yorkshire
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English secondary schools are mostly comprehensive, except in a few areas that
retain a form of the previous selective system (the Tripartite System), with students selected for grammar school by the eleven plus exam. There are also a number of
isolated fully selective grammar schools, and a few dozen partially selective schools. Specialist schools may also select up to 10% of their intake for aptitude in
the specialism, though relatively few of them have taken up this option. Also, intakes of comprehensive schools can vary widely, especially in urban areas with several schools.
Sir Peter Newsam, Chief Schools Adjudicator 1999–2002, has argued that English schools can be divided into 8 types (with some overlap) based on the ability range of their intake:
1. "super-selective": almost all of the intake from the top 10%. These are the few highly selective grammar schools that dominate school performance tables.
2. "selective": almost all of the intake from the top 25%. These include grammar schools in areas where the Tripartite system survives.
3. "comprehensive (plus)": admit children of all abilities, but concentrated in the top 50%. These include partially selective
schools and a few high-status faith schools in areas without selection.
4. comprehensive: intake with an ability distribution matching the population. These schools are most common in rural areas
and small towns with no nearby selection, but a few occur in urban areas.
5. "comprehensive (minus)": admit children of all abilities, but with few in the top 25%. These include comprehensive schools with nearby selective schools "skimming" the intake.
6. secondary modern: hardly any of the intake in the top 25%, but an even distribution of the rest. These include non-selective schools in areas where the Tripartite system survives.
7. "secondary modern (minus)": no pupils in the top 25% and 10–15% in the next 25%. These schools are most common in urban areas where alternatives of types 1–5 are available.
8. "sub-secondary modern": intake heavily weighted toward the low end of the ability range.
This ranking is reflected in performance tables, and thus the schools' attractiveness to parents.
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