School

School is a place where children must go until they turn 16.

Types of schools

 * Nursery/pre-school - usually ages 2-3
 * Toddlers and children learn the basics of life, they can spend their time drawing, writing, computer games or playing outside etc, basically an educational daycare.

Primary school

 * Infant school - usually Reception to Year 2 (ages 4-7)
 * School life begins. Children learn to read and write, do maths as well as humanities and arts. Children will spend science lessons in the playground drawing leaves, and are blissfully unaware of the pain that is to come.
 * Junior school - usually Year 3 to Year 6 (ages 7-11)
 * Children will start thinking about getting into a bit of friendship drama to prepare themselves for secondary school. They will be learning more complicated things but there is no preparation for the kids on top of the class who will discover there are other kids cleverer than them in secondary school.
 * JMI school (junior mixed infant school) - a school with both infant and junior schools.
 * Preparatory school - a private school for children up to 13 years old, where they will join secondary school at an awkward year when everyone has already made friends.

Secondary school

 * Secondary school - usually Year 7 to Year 11 (ages 11-16)
 * Where everything changes. Academically, the teachers prepare the students to take their GCSEs in Year 11, which will allow them to carry on to sixth form, college or get a job in the real world.
 * Sixth form college - Year 12 to Year 13 (ages 16-18)
 * Sometimes a school will have its own sixth form. Sixth form is where students who bothered to carry on education can study A Levels or BTECs or similar qualifications to progress to university. Get ready to lose all your friends when you go into sixth form.

Terminology

 * Academy - secondary schools that are state-funded. Most secondary schools are academies.
 * Grammar school - a state-funded school that can select students through entrance exams. Schools that have 'grammar school' in their name may not actually be a grammar school, rather they used to be but kept the name to sound better.
 * Key stage - another way of separating infant/junior/lower/upper secondary school but only teachers really care about using this term. KS1 is Year 1 and 2. KS2 is Year 3, 4, 5 and 6. KS3 is Year 7, 8, 9. KS4 is Year 10, 11. KS5 is Year 12, 13.
 * Independent/Private/public school - fee-charging school that will give students supposedly better education due to the lower teacher:student ratio. The schools do not have to follow the national curriculum.
 * State school - schools that are funded by the government and are available for any children without having to pay.