[Fic Notes] TMoL: British Education System/School Timetabling
Since I’m most familiar with the education system there, The Movement of Language is set (loosely) in Britain - and England specifically. Many things, however, vary wildly from school to school within the country, so what I write about is just one part of a complicated jumble and can’t really be taken as a basis for the whole system so…please bear that in mind?
The High School in this is a specialist school, not a comprehensive. What this means, technically, is that the school excels in at least one particular area and has been designated for it (schools that do well in the sciences and technologies get designated ‘Technology Colleges,’ for example). It’s free to attend and technically open to all students, and receives extra funding from the government for work in their particular specialist area. (Or areas - they can excel in more than one department.) Specialist schools can, however, personally select up to 10% of their intake students in a given year.
Secondary/High Schools teach from years seven through to eleven - ages eleven/twelve to sixteen. Most students are generally referred to by their year - year sevens, year eights, etc., though year sevens also get the dubious pleasure of being ‘first years.’ (Poor teeny things.)
Schooling after age sixteen is not compulsory, though quite a few students will either go on to some kind of training, a Sixth Form College or college. Since I’ll here be covering a school with an attached Sixth Form:
Sixth Form is, generally, years twelve and thirteen - students from ages sixteen/seventeen to eighteen/nineteen.
Year Twelve can also be referred to as Lower Sixth
Year Thirteen can also be referred to as Upper Sixth, or last years, though the latter isn’t so common.
Collectively, years twelve and thirteen are ‘sixth formers.’
Important exams are in years ten and eleven - GSCEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education), which are often spread out over the two years - and years twelve and thirteen - AS Level, and A Level. An AS Level is ‘half’ an A Level, so to speak. Some universities ask for aptitude tests to be completed as part of their application process - some of the departments in Cambridge and Oxford, and people generally applying for Law and Medicine (since places are limited, and in high demand). These places are generally the only ones that ask for interviews/portfolios as part of the application process (not including applicants for musical, artistic or dramatic courses of study, which is a whole new kettle of fish).
In this school, there are five periods in the day, each (roughly) an hour long.
The school day starts with Registration, in form classes, at 8.45.
Period one is from 9 - 10
Period two is from 10.05 - 11.05
Break is from 11.05 - 11.30
Period three is from 11.30 - 12.30
Lunch is from 12.30 - 13.35
Period four is from 13.35 - 14.35
Period five is from 14.40 - 15.45
Years seven through eleven will have classes for all five periods. Sixth formers, taking fewer subjects usually (but more intensely) will not. Both work on a biweekly timetable in this fic.