Education in the UK is different depending on which part of the country you happen to be living in. England, Wales and Northern Ireland study according to the National Curriculum which is a system devised to ensure that all children study the same thing.

Curriculum

The National Curriculum is defined in 4 ‘Key Stages’ as follows:

•    Key Stage 1: Up to age 7 (years 1 & 2)
•    Key Stage 2: Age 7 to 11 (years 3, 4, 5 and 6)
•    Key Stage 3: Age 11 to 14 (years 7, 8 and 9)
•    Key Stage 4: Age 14 to 16 (years 10 and 11) – at which point students will sit their main early exams known as G.C.S.Es

Core subjects are English, Maths and Science and Welsh is a core subject in all Welsh speaking schools.

Other subjects, known as foundation subjects, are History, Geography, Foreign Languages, Music, I.T., Design and Technology, Art, Religious Education, Citizenship and Physical Education.

Northern Ireland is a little different in that Irish speaking schools will teach Irish and others may have a slightly different curriculum which reflects the community in which they are based.

In Scotland however the education system is not governed by the national curriculum but by local authorities and schools, which decide what to study separately but according to some national guidelines. They also attain different qualifications, known as NQs.

School starts at 08.45 a.m. and finishes at 3.30 p.m. During the day students will normally have a short 15 minute break in the morning, a 1 hour lunch break, and another 15 minute break in the afternoon.

School Dinners

Lunch is always eaten at the school, unlike some countries where you go home for lunch instead. All schools have a canteen were you can either have a hot school meal or you can bring your own food from home, this is known as a packed lunch.

School meals are quite varied but have recently become quite infamous for giving students too much junk food such as burgers, fried chicken and chips and pizzas, followed by cake, jelly and ice cream. But the British Government decided to change this back in 2006 after a famous TV chef called Jamie Oliver launched a national campaign to get schools to offer healthier food. It seems to have worked quite well, and now you will find a much better choice and healthier range of things to choose from at lunchtime.

Sports

If you are a sports fan then you might want to know which ones you can expect to play in the UK and here is where you might need to brush up on some rules if you want to get off to a head start. Football and tennis are both played widely in schools across the UK, however if you don’t come from a Commonwealth country then you might discover some games that you’ve never played before, such as Rugby, Cricket, Rounders and Netball. You will also be taken for swimming lessons and taken to the school gym where you will do activities such as gymnastics and aerobics.

Uniform

Many schools in the UK have a school uniform, this is decided by the individual school so there is no guarantee that you will definitely have to wear one, but most UK schools do ask their students to come to school dressed in a designated way.

A school uniform usually consists of a shirt, tie and jacket with a school badge on the pocket; girls are allowed to wear either skirts or trousers but boys are only allowed to wear trousers (sorry boys!)

Extra-Curricular Activities

There are usually lots of different after school activities for you to get involved in, from dance and theatre to science or chess clubs, and if you happen to have a real passion for something specific, such as the arts, then you can usually find a school that specialises in most subjects these days. Ask your parents to look into it and I’m sure you will find something right for you.

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USEFUL WORDS

National Curriculum = a programme of study in all the main subjects that children aged 5 to 16 in state schools must follow

core subjects = English, Maths, Science

foundation subjects = History, Geography, Languages, Music, IT, Art, Religious Education, Citizenship, Physical Education

GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education, a British exam taken in a range of subjects around the age of 16

school dinners = meals provided at school in the middle of the day

canteen = the place where food and drink are served in a school

dinner lady = a woman whose job is to serve meals to children in schools

packed lunch = a meal of sandwiches, fruit etc. which is prepared at home and eaten at school

uniform = a special set of clothes worn by children at school

extra-curricular activities = activities which are not part of studies at school e.g. dance, theatre, clubs

ENGLISH GRAMMAR

By, Before, Until

by is a preposition:

By 9 o’clock all the children were in the classroom

Use by the time to introduce a clause:

By the time the teacher arrived, all the children were in the classroom

Use by the time or before to express the idea of something happening later than expected:

She was 17 by the time she took her GCSE exams

She was 17 before she took her GCSE exams

Patterns with not … till/until and not … before express the same idea:

He didn’t get to school until midday / until it was almost midday

He didn’t get to school before midday / before it was almost midday

Also use before after a phrase expressing length of time:

It was months before the new school uniform arrived (= it was months later that the new school uniform arrived)