First day at the academy

Before we look at my journal page today, I want to take a few minutes to discuss different school systems.  Several of you have mentioned you are learning about our (U.S.) systems as I hand out tidbits along the way.  So let's look at two systems: U.S. and U.K.

In the U.S., children can begin with pre-school, which is not mandatory.  They go on to Kindergarten which we abbreviate "K."

Grade or grammar schools are either K-6 or K-5, depending on individual school systems.  Next is Junior High, which is either 6-8, 6-9, 7-9, or 7-8.  It again depends on individual school systems.  High School is either 9-12 or 10-12.

Discounting home schooling, which has become a big thing in the U.S., this is what we talk about when we mention K-12.

High school graduates can then opt to go on to college, or a vocational technical school.  College can be 4 year where students receive a bachelor's degree, or 2 year, where students receive an associate's degree.  From there, students can work toward a Master's degree which is normally 2 years, and a Ph.D., which is another 3-4 years.  MDs go an additional 3 years.

I wondered how we differed from students in other countries.  From the internet, I learned this is what occurs in the U.K..   Their grades are called levels or years.  Age has more to do with level than anything.  A child is placed in a certain grade or level depending on whether his/her birthday is before of after September 1.

Nursery school, which is not mandatory is from 2 to 4 years of age.  Reception is ages 4-5, then Year 1 is ages 5-6,  Year 2  is ages 6-7, Year 3 is ages 7-8, Year 4 is ages 8-9, Year 5 is ages 9-10, and Year 6 is ages 10-11.  So far that sounds much like the ages of children in the U.S.

Once a child reaches age 11, s/he moves on to High school.  Apparently Jr. High or Middle school was abandoned in the late 1980s.   Year 7 is ages 11-12, Year 8 is ages 12-13, Year 9 is ages 13-14, Year 10 is ages 14-15, and Year 11 is ages 15-16.  These are mandatory years of attendance. 

At the age of 16 the compulsory attendance period is over. Students can then go on to get a job, take a test to continue their schooling (used to be called "O" levels).  This becomes sixth form where they will complete their "A" Levels or go on to take vocational courses.  Year 12 includes ages 16-17, and Year 13 includes ages 17-18.

Providing students have good enough grades, they can go on to attend college, which is 3 years in the U.K..  To add a Master's degree, they go another year. 

Seems we in U.S. and U.K. are similar until we get to college, where U.S. students go nearly twice as long to receive their desired higher level degree.  I hope this helps my friends on both sides of the pond understand a bit more about these different systems.  I certainly learned a lot.

Now let's visit the academy. 


School is starting a bit late at the academy. 

At the academy, everyone wears the same uniforms, something "foreign" to many of us in the U.S., although it seems to be the norm in most other places in the world.

Materials used include computer generated text, a magazine image, a strip of hand painted paper, a colored doily, and a gifted strip from a cigar box.

Thank you for joining Bleubeard and me today as we learned about different school systems.  Please also join us at Art Journal Journey where the prompt this month is Back to School.