Do you know that...

• • The school year in British schools starts early in September and continues into the following July. 
  • Classes are held from Mondays to Fridays from about 9 a.m. until 3 or 4 p.m. 
  • Around the end of compulsory education, at the age of 15-16, pupils take GCSEs (General Certificates of Secondary Education. 
  • A National Curriculum is taught in state schools. 
  • Over 85% of state secondary school pupils go to comprehensive schools. 
  • About 4% of pupils go to grammar schools.
  • All pupils in their last year of compulsory education have the opportunity to go on work experience. 
  • All children in Britain must by law receive education between the ages of five and 16 and more than 70% of 16-year-olds stay on in full-time education. Other young people leave school at 16 to take up training for work or a job with training. Young people do not have undertake training. The Govrnment does not directly provide training for people in work.
  • Over 90% of children in Britain go to publicly -financed schools known as state schools. Some eight million children attend schools in England alone.
  • About 7% of children attend fee-charging independent or private schools in England. These range from small kindergartens to large day and boarding schools, and from new experimental schools to schools famous throughout the world. Some independent schools are known for historical reasons as 'public' schools, although they receive no state funding.
  • Local authorities (LAs) take responsibility for implementing policy for public education and state schools at a local level.