The UK is very proud of its school system and rightly so. There are four different levels within the school system.
Parents who have children that are just about to enter into the school system need to begin by looking at the primary level as this is the starting point for young children in the UK.
Parents raising their children in the UK do not have a choice about whether their children have to attend school or not. It is mandatory but they do have choices as to the types of school system they would like their children to be involved in. For example, for primary school as well as other levels there are options for children to attend state-run schools or private schools.
At the primary level, it deals with the schooling of children for the ages through five to eleven. This is a critically important age span as all of the decisions when it comes to the children’s schooling is being made by their parents or legal guardian. This puts a lot of responsibility of these adults to stay informed as to what the primary school system is offering in the UK.
Within this age group of five to eleven the children are assessed at two levels as they advance through the system. In order to ensure that the children in the primary schools are on par with what other leading countries in education has to offer the government has teamed up with the USA school sectors. Even though this becomes more important when the students are in the upper levels the primary schools lay the groundwork for this.
The UK primary school system has the responsibility of seeing that the young children develop throughout the primary years to prepare them for the secondary level. It involves many different levels of education that includes the development of their cognitive skills as well as their emotional and physical skills. As such this takes a well planned out curriculum. It also means constant monitoring of the results of the curriculum so weaknesses can be identified quickly.
Primary school levels face unique challenges in that some of the children entering the system have been exposed to a daycare setting and are somewhat more adapted to the school type setting than children who have not. It means that teachers must create a level playing field that fits all of the children’s needs and their levels of school acceptance. Beyond the kindergarten years, this is not as much of an issue, as the majority of the children soon conform to the routine that is being set by the primary system.
More parents are now becoming more actively involved with the school system at the primary level