This English lass needs help! - School Grades?

[~*Belle 2003*~]

When looking at some threads on the DIS that relate to children, very often "grades" are referred to as an indication of a childs age.

As I live in England and we have a different system, it's difficult to relate a grade to a childs age and I was wondering whether the US grade system could be explained please, i.e. which grade relates to childrens ages.

Thank you.

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

our kids generally start kindergarten at age 5. first grade is age 6, 2nd grade is age 7, etc. "middle school" is usually grades 6-8. my younger daughter is 11 (she'll be 12 in July) and she's in 6th grade. my older daughter, who turned 13 in november, is in 8th grade. high school, grades 9-12. 9th grade is "freshman", 12th is "senior". most seniors are 17 or 18 years old.

 

[olena]

Kindergarten- 5 yo
1st Grade- 6 yo
2nd Grade- 7 yo
3rd Grade- 8 yo
4th Grade- 9 yo
5th Grade- 10 yo
6th Grade- 11 yo
7th Grade- 12 yo
8th Grade- 13 yo
9th Grade- 14 yo
10th Grade- 15 yo
11th Grade- 16 yo
12th Grade- 17 yo

That's what age a typical student is at the beginning of each of these grades.

 

[msdznyduck]

It all depends.........
Kindergarten can be 5 or 6, depending on child's birthday (they have to be 5 by a certain date, and some states/towns have different dates) Some will allow a child almost 5 to be in kindergarten, which makes him 4.
1st grade is probably 6 or 7
2nd grade is prob 7 or 8
3rd is 8 or 9
4th is 9 or 10
5th 10 or 11
6th 11 or 12
7th 12 or 13
8th 13 or 14
9th 14 or 15
10th 15 or 16
11th 16 or 17
12th 17 or 18
That is taking into account that the child has not skipped grades or stayed back.

 

[DukeStreetKing]

Well, this is pretty generic, but here's how I went through school:

Age 5 - Kindergarten
6 - 1st Grade
7 - 2nd Grade
8 - 3rd Grade
9 - 4th Grade
10 - 5th Grade
11 - 6th Grade (Middle School or Junior High School)
12 - 7th Grade
13 - 8th Grade
14 - 9th Grade (High School)
15 - 10th Grade
16 - 11th Grade
17 - 12th Grade

The ages might flucuate a bit depending on a child's birthday, but this should be average for most kids.

 

[Microcell]

Age at time you start varies some but usually here in the middle of the country you have to be five years old by July 31st the school year you are going. If you choose you can wait a year if you think your kid needs to wait for maturity reasons so they could be a solid six on their way to seven in Kindergarten.

Kids typically are the latter age in this chart for at least some of the school year, but for example my daughter is on the young side- she has been five most of kindergarten and will be 6 at the end of this month. I could have had her wait a year, but she is smart and would not have been challanged if she was the oldest kid in the class. I was the oldest in school so for most of the year I was the latter age in the chart here. Clear as mud?


Kindergarten- 5-6
1st grade 6-7
2nd 7-8
3rd 8-9
4th 9-10
5th 10-11
6th 11-12
7th 12-13
8th 13-14
9th 14-15
10th 15-16
11th 16-17
12th 17- 18

 

[Danauk]

From what I believe our English year 3 is the American 2nd grade. My year 6 children were pen pals with some America 5th grade children last year and they were the same age, some had the same birthdate.

 

[~*Belle 2003*~]

Thanks everyone!

 

[snoopy]

Our school grades are rather borning compared to yours, Belle. We don't get cool "houses" with head boys and girls, prefects, etc. After reading the Harry Potter books of course both of my sons wish they went to school in England.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Interesting point snoopy! Does the English school system really include those things or is it all "fiction"?

 

[snoopy]

From what I understand from a friend who is British, that the "houses" do exist in at least some schools in England. Not sure if that would only be private schools or not. Belle, can you elaborate?

 

[~*Belle 2003*~]

When I went to school in the 60s and 70s we had prefects, houses and head girls and boys. As I went to an all girl's school we only had head girls!

As far as the house system was concerned it was probably more prevalent in private schools, and probably still is today.

Unfortunately I am not familiar with the way schools operate today, not having children of my own. Perhaps Danauk could elaborate on the current system?

 

[Tartan Tigger]

Most of the schools in my area have "houses". In my primary school (age 4 1/2 -11) we had four houses and these were named after Scottish castles, Holyrood, Scoen, Glamis and Balmoral. I was in Holyrood and had a nice red badge, when you look back its scary just how much that badge meant to you.

In high school (age 11 - 16) our houses were named after Scottish places, Atholl, Huntly, Locheil and Seaforth. We were placed in these houses in alphabetical order. I was in Seaforth.

We were all very proud of the house we were in especially at the end of the school year when sporting competitions would take place and house cups (trophys) were being awarded.

 

[snoopy]

I love the idea of the house system. I think it really fosters an attitude of teamwork, not to mention the older students mentoring the younger students. Wish we had it here in American schools.

 

[Danauk]

My DH is a secondary school teacher (children aged 11-18 go to the same school here). In his previous school they had houses, prefects and head boy and girl. It was a church of England school so the houses were named after Cathedral cities. You could tell the house a child was in as the school tie was the same basic design but each house had a different colour stripe on it. His current school does not have houses but does have prefects and head boy/girl. Neither schools were private and in both schools the head boy/girl were chosen by the staff and the sixth form students (in England school leaving age can be 16 after taking GCSE exams, children can stay on to the 6th form, years 12 and 13 to take advanced level exams and leave at 18). My own secondary school also had prefects and head boy/girl. My junior school (ages 7 - 11) also had prefects and I was one of them. The whole house system is not as exciting as it sounds it is just used mainly for sporting events where houses gain points so there is usually a house winner at the end of each year.
The whole Harry Potter style of schools do exist however they are boarding schools and are private so the majority of English school children do not experience this. Just out of interest I will explain the ages that children go to different schools. The ages are the age the children are at the start of the year in September.
Nursery - aged 3/4 - though children do not have to attend this.
Reception year - 4 (start of formal schooling)
Year 1 - 5
Year 2 - 6
Year 3 - 7 (the year group I teach)
year 4 - 8
year 5 - 9
year 6 - 10
year 7 - 11
year 8 - 12
year 9 - 13
year 10 -14
year 11 - 15 (children can leave at the end of this year)
year 12 - 16
year 13 - 17
After this students can then do to college or to university to do graduate degrees.
The year groups are split into key stages, at the end of which they are tested and these results put schools into league tables.
Nursery and reception are called foundation stage
year 1-2 - Key stage 1
year 3 - 6 Key stage 2
year 7 - 9 Key stage 3
year 10 - 11 Key stage 4
year 12 - 13 Key stage 5

Sometimes foundation stage, key stage 1 and 2 are in the same school (they are where I work) but sometimes are split into different schools although this is becomming less common. Key stages 3 - 5 are in another school, although there can be colleges just for key stage 5 students.

I hope this helps and isn't too confusing!! It is quite easy really!!

 

[pouncingpluto]

The whole house things reminds me of color wars at summer camp. My favorite camp had tribes, and boy did I love competing and cheering for my tribemates. I was a Shawnee almost every summer, though I had to be a Cherokee once. When I grew up and was a counselor at the same camp, I was so excited to get to be a Shawnee again!