People in UK saying "high school"

[Davros]

I've noticed this term being used more and more. To me it's "Senior" or "Secondary" school. Schools with the old fashioned divisions have "Lower, Middle and Upper". Even if you follow the American usage it isn't the same as our Senior, i believe it is years 10, 11, 12 and 13. Why are people calling Senior school High school? I know, each to their own blah blah

I didn't grow up in an area with middle schools but I have heard of them and way before Mumsnet. I think they had/ve them on the Isle of Wight? I actually think it sounds like a really good system, it's a pity it's been largely phased out.

@StairMonster it's the second phase of your education which you further college/6th form and pursue to higher university level if you choose/are able.

@Fluffyears no East coast oh well who knew those Academies were dotted about

It's high school here in NW. we have infant, junior, primary, high schools.

I grew up with a three tier system and went to:

First school (now would be reception to year 4)
Middle school (now y5-y8)
Comp/Secondary (y9-13)

Where I teach how we have a mix of straight through primaries and also some split primaries with infants (EYFS-y2) and juniors (y3-6) and then all feeding to secondary schools.

My school was (placename) High School I grew up in North Wales

I live in London and there's lots of private and state schools called PlaceName High School. My children go to PlaceName Academy and PlaceName School and I call them secondary schools.

I went to a High School in the 80's, I've just Googled and it is still XXX High School.

Yup, I went to XXX High School in the 80s too. It was a girls' grammar.

RiverTam I don’t have any views on the bullying thing really, I’d be surprised as I think bullying can happen as easily- perhaps more easily - within year rather than between children several years apart.

It was the Plowden Report that recommended it- I think the idea was more about children finding their feet in a smaller setting before moving up at a slightly older age, but it’s been a long time since I read about it.

Don't think the OP is coming back

Isn’t this a regional thing? I remember in the north west tthey had the boys’ grammar school and the girls’ high school.
Secondary heads are calling themselves principals and labelling the toilets ‘bathrooms’ which is creeping Americanisation.

Bathroom isn’t Americanising. They use Restroom.

Bathroom is just more polite than Toilet and more formal than Loo.

Actually it's bathroom in a private house usually, and restroom in a public place. But yes, we avoid the word "toilet" at all costs.

I went to high school in Norfolk in the 90s and my children now go to a high school.

I have never heard anyone IRL saying senior or secondary school.

My school was xxx High School. Left in 1968.

I live in an area which still has first, middle and high school.

I'm 55 and went to a high school.

Thinking further about it, in Scotland primary schools are called, well, primary schools (we even call the school years P1-P7 as in Primary 1 etc), because it is the primary stage of education.

The next stage is secondary education - and the school years are called S1 to S6. The name of the secondary school can be anything from a secondary, an academy, a grammar or a high school. They are all comprehensive state schools - and have been for at least 40 years. Some are even older than the UK (and pre-date the discovery of America! )

There are also independent schools in Scotland with the name academy, grammar or high school.

The tertiary stage of education is the Further/Higher education, with Universities and Colleges.

My school was called XYZ High School for Girls when it was founded in the 1870s.

My niece and nephews school is actually called "Placename High School" so of course they call it high school.
I went to the local comp which was just locally called "The comp"

I went to a high school in the Midlands. The town has, and still had last time I checked, though OFSTED were failing all the schools and pushing for change, First, Middle and High schools.

I say high school because my school was called [town name] High School. My nearest high school is called X High School as well.

And, thinking on Hull had high schools in the 70s and 80s, too, before it went 2 tier. That was the time that all the more notorious schools took on fancy names and tried to reinvent themselves!

I'm from Scotland, always been High School here as far as I know. My (now demolished) High School was built in the 50's and had High School in the title