Has an extra year been inserted into pre university schooling?

Cornucopia

westernpromise wrote: »

It's odd because back then (1982)...

I was in school a few years earlier than that (I went to University in 1983).

I'm pretty sure that I had the normal structured education, and that it remains the same to this day (except they now number the years differently).

Primary School was 2 years from Age 5 to 7. (Now called Years 1 & 2)

Junior School was 4 years from Age 7 to 11. (Now called Years 3-6)

Secondary School was 5 years from Age 11 to 16. (Now called Years 7-11)

And 6th form was 2 years from Age 16 to 18.


Each school year will include children whose birthdays run from some arbitrary date (maybe 1st September?) until a year later, so a person's perception of the age range for their year will differ depending on where in that cycle their birthday falls.

System

westernpromise wrote: »

The exception was the Oxbridge set, who sat an exam and had an interview in either the 4th term or the 7th term. Those who applied in the 4th term got a conditional A-Level offer (or not) based on that performance, and if successful, started the following October like those who'd gone the A-Level route. Those who went the 7th term route came back and did another term post-A-Levels, and did the exam and interview then. A higher standard was expected of 7th term candidates to reflect their additional year of study. 7th term candidates then left at Christmas and had 9 months to fill.

That's as I recall it. In the one term of the 3rd year sixth we took Oxford or Cambridge entrance exams, and I went up in the following September. I was 19, but 20 a month later.
If I hadn't gone to Cambridge I'd have started university a year earlier, aged nearly 19.

But brighter boys had already jumped a year at some stage in the previous six years, and really bright ones were put in for Oxford or Cambridge interviews in their lower sixth. One I remember, who had already jumped a year, got an unconditional offer.

Unconditional in those years really did mean without any conditions whatsoever. He could have left school and not bothered with A levels at all if he'd wanted, and gone up to Oxford whenever he felt like it. But people like that were very rare.

GunJack

Cornucopia wrote: »

I was in school a few years earlier than that (I went to University in 1983).

I'm pretty sure that I had the normal structured education, and that it remains the same to this day (except they now number the years differently).

Primary School was 2 years from Age 5 to 7. (Now called Years 1 & 2)

Junior School was 4 years from Age 7 to 11. (Now called Years 3-6)

Secondary School was 5 years from Age 11 to 16. (Now called Years 7-11)

And 6th form was 2 years from Age 16 to 18.


Each school year will include children whose birthdays run from some arbitrary date (maybe 1st September?) until a year later, so a person's perception of the age range for their year will differ depending on where in that cycle their birthday falls.

In the early 70s, Primary (or Infants as it was known) for us was 3 years (now called Reception, Y1 and Y2.

It doesn't help that equating a single age per school year, it's always been a spread, e.g top Infants is age 6-7, bottom Juniors is 7-8 due to brth dates taken from Sep-Aug for each year.

westernpromise

GunJack wrote: »

In the early 70s, Primary (or Infants as it was known) for us was 3 years (now called Reception, Y1 and Y2.

It doesn't help that equating a single age per school year, it's always been a spread, e.g top Infants is age 6-7, bottom Juniors is 7-8 due to brth dates taken from Sep-Aug for each year.

That doesn't seem to explain it fully though. My children will be 18 in respectively the December and January before their A Levels. I wasn't 18 until the November after A Levels so I was exactly a year younger. Many in my year were younger still, i.e. they hit 18 up to a year after doing their A Levels. So even having done the Oxbridge 7th term as well, they left school at 17.

That would be impossible today - essentially you add 5 to the year name and that's the birthday they will have during that academic year. So in Year 13, their A Level year, they'll all be 18 during that year and if evenly distributed most will be 18 before their A Levels. When I did this stuff a large number had their 17th birthday during their A-Level year, which means we would today be in year 12, not year 13.

Cornucopia

I think it would help if you told us the names that were applied to these school years at the time.

I did a number of O Level exams dotted around from the end of my 4th year (when I had just turned 15) to the winter term of my Lower 6th. It was just an easier way of picking up a large batch of O Levels without stressing too much.

westernpromise

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

That's as I recall it. In the one term of the 3rd year sixth we took Oxford or Cambridge entrance exams, and I went up in the following September. I was 19, but 20 a month later.
If I hadn't gone to Cambridge I'd have started university a year earlier, aged nearly 19.

But brighter boys had already jumped a year at some stage in the previous six years, and really bright ones were put in for Oxford or Cambridge interviews in their lower sixth. One I remember, who had already jumped a year, got an unconditional offer.

Unconditional in those years really did mean without any conditions whatsoever. He could have left school and not bothered with A levels at all if he'd wanted, and gone up to Oxford whenever he felt like it. But people like that were very rare.

Same here, although in my case subtract a year - I did As in 1981 aged 17, 7th term in November a week or so after my 18th, then went up in October 1982 and was 19 near the end of the first term.

I don't recall any Lower Sixth offers or indeed any unconditional ones, but what did happen was that they offered you two Es. This was then the minimum legal requirement for admission to any university; the thinking was that if they offered you this, it took the stress off, and you could focus on A Levels without worrying about your place. In the 7th term route, of course, you already knew your A Level results so it was down to the CCE.

Voyager2002

westernpromise wrote: »

It's odd because back then (1982) almost nobody took a "gap year". What happened was that you got a conditional offer from up to five places, and you went to whichever your A Levels got you into once the result was known.

Well, I left school and started university in 1976. The option of a gap year certainly existed: my room-mate had done one (as an army officer!). The university application form that I completed in Term 4 had a box that you could tick to indicate that you planned to take a gap year and so were applying to start your course in almost TWO year's time.

elverson

The current secondary school system is:

Year 7 (pupils turn 12 between 1 September and 31 August)
Year 8
Year 9
Year 10
Year 11 (GCSE year)
Year 12 (Lower Sixth)
Year 13 (Upper Sixth - pupils turn 18 during the year and most pupils complete UCAS applications during this year)

A pupil going straight from school to university will turn 19 during their first year of uni. The above assumes pupils haven't been moved ahead or held back a year.

elverson

Also, some schools get their pupils to spread their GCSE exams over Years 10 and 11 and consequently some pupils will start A-Level work in Year 11 (if the school has a sixth form).

Voyager2002

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

That's as I recall it. In the one term of the 3rd year sixth we took Oxford or Cambridge entrance exams, and I went up in the following September. I was 19, but 20 a month later.
If I hadn't gone to Cambridge I'd have started university a year earlier, aged nearly 19.

But brighter boys had already jumped a year at some stage in the previous six years, and really bright ones were put in for Oxford or Cambridge interviews in their lower sixth. One I remember, who had already jumped a year, got an unconditional offer.

Unconditional in those years really did mean without any conditions whatsoever. He could have left school and not bothered with A levels at all if he'd wanted, and gone up to Oxford whenever he felt like it. But people like that were very rare.

I seem to recall (mid-1970s) that the unconditional offers were made to those who had won a university scholarship or exhibition. Those who took the university entrance exams and "merely" got a place were required to get at least two grade E passes at 'A' level. Those who did not wish to be assessed by the university entrance exams would, if successful, be offered places conditional on obtaining high grades at 'A' level.

My sister was particularly annoyed by their behaviour. She applied to Oxford on the basis of 'A' level rather than the university entrance exam, but when she went there for her interview she was required to take it anyway. She was successful and was offered a place, but the offer was conditional on 'A' level grades that she did not get! So she went to University College London instead, and eventually was made a Professor at another leading London college.