More Notes About School

Just a few random notes about school here:

At the secondary level, teachers are referred to as Sir or Miss, not their full name (Mr. Smith, Mrs. Jones, etc.). I thought Camille was being a bit slow about learning her teachers' names, until I realized this difference.

It is a new law here in the UK that parents are to be fined for their children's unexcused absences. The fine is 60 pounds per student, per day. So a news story noted that one family was fined over 1000 pounds for taking their three children out of school for a week's holiday trip. It has been a much talked about rule this past year among parents. My kids have actually had a day or two here and there of unexcused absences and have not been fined, so maybe in practice the schools can use their own discretion.

Impressions of Americans by UK students: The number one thing my kids were asked about when they first started school here was guns. Anya particularly got really tired of it. The UK kids' impression of America seemed to be that everyone in America has lots of guns and that America is a violent place, full of gun violence. It would be a huge discussion to go into how true that is, but it was hard for their peers to comprehend that my kids don't own guns, don't know anyone who owns guns and have never lived anywhere where gun violence has had any impact on their lives. On a lighter note, the other thing Anya was asked about a lot was her teeth. She was wearing a retainer when she started school here. Here in the UK orthodontics, if done at all, is done at a later age, so she was the first child most of the kids had seen with a retainer. The kids kept asking her why she needed to wear that when her teeth were so straight and white!

Just as America is implementing Core Curriculum, UK is busy reforming it's curriculum and assessment system also. I spent all year last year trying to figure out the grading system here (They did continuous levels across grades instead of number or letter grades. Like you might be level 4 reading for 2 years and then suddenly jump to level 6, instead of getting an A or B in reading), just in time to have a new system to learn this year. I probably won't take the time to figure it out as we're leaving so soon. I have noticed that they've started implementing the new requirement of every child learning computer programming and the requirement of every child studying at least two Shakespeare plays (Camille is on her second).

Both my girls had more challenging reading assignments here than in the US. Anya went from studying a Dr. Seuss poem in the US to "The Highwayman," Camille went from textbook excerpts to Macbeth.

Both of my girls' schools have much worse libraries here than they did in the US.

Both of my girls' schools have more specialist teachers and field trips. They have special teachers who come in for foreign language, drama, art, music and dance.

Both of my girls say the teachers yell more here. I'm not one hundred percent sure if the teachers really yell at their classes because my girls are very sensitive. What I might call angry, stern talking, they might call yelling.

Another big difference is there isn't a firm separation between church and state like in America. Anya goes to a publicly funded Church of England school. They have prayers, religious music, assemblies at local cathedrals and occasional visits from local pasters, which is all a bit strange to me. Technically, you could always choose a non-religious school. In Anya's case though, the only well-rated schools within a two-mile radius are religious schools. It wasn't really a choice.

In history and social studies my girls' classes in the US went for breadth, while in the UK they go for depth. For instance, Camille had a unit where they studied all of ancient Egyptian history over a couple of months. Here, they are studying the expansion of the British Empire, but actually only looking at two significant battles to do that.

Camille reports that if she could have her American friends here and not have to take dance, she would prefer school here. Anya says she likes school better in America. When I ask her why, she says it's sunnier and warmer there :)

School in the UK

 Anya on her way to school, back when she could be out without a coat.

I've been thinking for some time that I'd like to do a post comparing school in the UK with school in the US. To be accurate though, all I can really do is a post comparing the specific schools my girls have attended. I'm not sure that I have enough experience to give a comprehensive comparison. For example, one thing that struck me about the primary school is how few people drive their kids to school, like maybe less than 10. I think it is so quaint, and really a much more relaxing way to arrive to school than fighting traffic, long lines and car exhaust. But then I talked to a mom who has a child in a slightly more suburban school outside of Cambridge, and she says at her school there are long lines of cars and traffic. So the difference might be more suburban versus urban, than US versus UK.

It's taken me a while to collect enough information to do this post. I'd love to be able to follow my kids around school for a week, so I could really tell what's going on. All I get are little crumbs of information, gathered here and there, with the exception of a couple of areas of interest that I hear all about. But here's what I've managed to figure out so far.

* Elementary school = Primary school. Secondary school runs from age 11 to age 16. School is optional after age 16 (although this is will soon be changed to age 18). 16+ go to Sixth Form or trade school type programs, which are separate schools from the Secondary.

* School placement is done strictly by birthday. There's no deciding your child isn't ready and holding them back a year like in the U.S.

* Children in England start "Reception Year" at age 4, so if they're 4 by September 1st, that's when they start. I hear conflicting stories about whether this is the equivalent to Kindergarten in the US, just started younger, or if it is more like a government-paid year of preschool. Depending on the answer to that question, my children have either skipped a grade, or just have their grade labeled differently (Year 5, instead of Grade 4; Year 8, instead of Grade 7).

* Most public schools (called state schools here) require uniforms. Anya's school does not, but they still change into a uniform for p.e.

* It is very cheap outfitting your child for school when they require a uniform. Camille's school doen't allow scarves, jewelry, or anything but school shirt, school sweatshirt (optional). black pants, black socks and shoes.  You could spend money on brand-name black pants and shoes, but there really isn't any room for any further personalization.

* I didn't have to buy any school supplies for Anya, except her p.e. uniform. The secondary school had a few required supplies, but less than what was required in the US.

* Both my girls report that the science here is harder, and also more interesting. Apparently, they spend more time on experiments and labs, and less on book work.

* Both my girls also find the math here easier (and I didn't find their programs in the U.S. particularly challenging).

* The primary school has much less testing. In fact, besides weekly spelling tests, Anya hasn't had a single test so far. In the US, it seemed like there was an assessment of some sort almost every week. On one hand, she enjoys school so much more with less tests. On the other hand, I don't really know how she's doing in school, or know how her teacher knows if she's learning the material or not.

* They only do a big standardized, year-end testing once every two years. Anya's so excited that her year isn't required to do testing this year. Unless she wants to! Which she doesn't. I don't think any testing is scheduled for Camille's year either.

* On a similar note, Anya rarely brings home any sort of school work. They do their work in notebooks at school, so I don't see anything that she's doing.

* There is much less of a reliance on textbooks and workbooks in the UK. At Anya's school they've studied language arts by working on a longer project, like writing a story or script. Anya says the teacher will talk about grammar as part of the project. Science is based on labs and experiments. Math is done from problems the teacher gives them. History/Social Studies has been done with plays, music, and projects. Anya enjoys all these lessons much more than in the US. At Camille's secondary school she has a textbook in her science class, and that's all.

* The primary school has much less homework. Anya has spelling homework, which is a more challenging list than in the US, but that's all. No worksheets.

* Neither of my girls' primary or secondary schools have any fundraisers scheduled that involve selling anything. Hallelujah!

* Both of my girls have less p.e. time here than their schools in the US. Anya only has p.e. once a week. Camille has a double period of p.e. once a week, and also a dance class once a week. They both had p.e. every day in the US.

* Both girls are required to take French here (much to their chagrin). (Interesting side note: Camille has been struggling with her French class, which I didn't find remarkable considering she's in 2nd year French but has never studied a foreign language before. When my husband started helping her with her homework he thought the work was ridiculously hard and decided to go talk to the teacher. I thought he was maybe overreacting. Well, it turns out Camille had been placed in ADVANCED 2nd year French. She's now been switched to just regular 2nd year French and is already much happier!).

* Class sizes are about the same at Camille's secondary school here as in the US. At Anya's primary school she has a split class of 30 students - half Year 5, and half Year 6. But they also have two full-time teacher's assistants in their class. Right now they also have two full-time student teachers until the mid-term. So at least temporarily, a ratio of 6 students to 1 teacher! In the US she would be in a class of 34 with one teacher.

* I may just not know the system here yet, but home-school communication was much easier for me in California. There's a Back-to-School night early in the year, teachers give out their email addresses, and so many graded assignments and tests are brought home that I've never been surprised by any of their grades on their report cards. Here, mid-term is in a week and I'm in such suspense of what their report cards will look like. I have no idea how they're doing. Nothing comes home and Anya's school explained to me that their policy is to not share teacher email addresses. Camille's school uses a computer system for giving out and turning in assignments. As a parent, I have my own log-in, but it only tells me what her upcoming assignments are. I don't have any access to how she was graded. Either the schools think that students are coming home and sharing everything with their parents (wrong!), or they feel it's between the students and the school. It's not what I'm used to.

* Anya misses her school playground in the US, which had playground equipment, wall ball, volleyball, basketball, kickball, tetherball and soccer. Here they have a cement courtyard and a grass field, along with some balls. They are allowed to run at recess and play tag here (one of their stranger rules back home forbids running at recess).

* And to end on a frivolous note, Anya reports that when you bring a lunch it's referred to as "lunch". When you buy a hot lunch from school it's referred to as "dinner".

My title here in the UK

At a welcome-new-parents-tea, we got a chance to sneak into Anya's class and get some photographic proof that she's doing some work in class. For part of their history unit on the Tudors they wrote these letters in early modern English/Tudor English.