Most children in Britain start primary school at the age of five and spend the next eleven years studying.
Their school subjects are English, arithmetic, history, geography, nature study, swimming, music, art, religious instruction and organized games. Towards the end of their fourth year in primary school English schoolchildren have to write their Eleven Plus Examinations. The purpose is to find out what kind of secondary school they should go to.
However, in most parts of the country, this examination does not exist, and all the local students go to comprehensive schools, regardless of class, colour or sex.
Comprehensive schools combine in one school the courses of all types of secondary schools. The secondary technical school, in spite of its name, is not a specialized school. It teaches many general subjects. The grammar school is a secondary school which offers a full theoretical secondary education including foreign languages, and students can choose which subjects and languages they wish to study. They leave the school after taking a five-year course. Then they may take the General Certificate of Education at the ordinary level.
The others continue their studies for another two or three year to obtain the General Certificate of Education at the advanced level (A-level), which allows them to enter university.
There are many schools in Britain which are not controlled financially by the state. They are private schools, separate for boys and girls, and the biggest and the most important of them are public or independent schools. They charge high fees and train young people for political, diplomatic, military and religious service. Other non-state schools which charge fees are independent and preparatory schools. Many in dependent schools belong to the churches. Schools of this type prepare their pupils for public schools.
When students leave school, they can go on to a college or university. There has been a growth in enrolment at such institutions since the 1980s and Britain is now producing more graduates from its universities and colleges than in the past. Universities and colleges produce their own prospectuses describing the courses they offer, which gives British students information about places of study outside their home town.