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

Like the OP I grew up with senior/secondary (and junior/primary). That was in south east 45 years ago.

My DD was schooled in Yorkshire and at first I found 'high school' oddly American sounding, but got used to it!

It's interesting reading the comments, pity so many of them have to be snippy.

I went to a High School, early 1990s England, a very jolly hockey sticks place, and we called the years First Form, Second Form etc instead of Year 7, 8 etc but funnily enough we never used to say "I am at high school now", we would refer to being "at Secondary." Even though my school was never a secondary modern, even in the days when they had those (do they still have them, or was that a Post War thing?)

Did the OPbrver come back?

@cooroo I think many of the replies that you find snippy are just replies pointing out to the OP that it is not an Americanism but a total norm in Scotland. Which is part of the UK. But because it’s not the norm in the OPs life she felt the need to start a thread bemoaning the use of a perfectly normal wording for a secondary school

Sorry, been out all day so didn't see all the replies. I too went to "X High" (GDST) but it wasn't A high school iyswim

OP: Am I wrong
Everyone: Yes
OP: Sorry been out for the past 75 days, but I'm not wrong.

They are called ,,, c of e high school where I live so it's already in the title

I too went to "X High" (GDST) but it wasn't A high school iyswim

You went to a high school that wasn't a high school?

I went to primary, middle and high from 1976 to 1990. Definitely wasn't secondary school back then.

Margot, no, I'm from one of the pit villages.

SW London btw

I went to high school over 30 years ago. It was called 'XXXX High School'. I have always said high school.

I too went to "X High" (GDST) but it wasn't A high school iyswim
I’m afraid I really dont see what you mean OP

Do you mean that locally it wasn’t referred to a “high school” but rather secondary or senior school?

That’s fair enough but as the thread shows people refer to it as high school all over the country.

It’s decidedly not an Americanism.

The girls' secondary my grandmother started at in 1939 in NW England was the high school.

Sorry, been out all day so didn't see all the replies. I too went to "X High" (GDST) but it wasn't A high school iyswim

Well OP you have really confused me there.

I'm talking about the academic years or type of school, not the name. I've only seen it used widely on MN so, apart from Scotland, thought it was a mistake or a new term I hadn't heard or used

That’s not made it any clearer OP!

Where I grew up we had the tertiary system (they still do) so I went to first, middle and high school.

You saw it widely used on MN and thought it was “a mistake”?

You thought everyone else was wrong because they don’t do things the same way you do?

You might want to broaden your horizons a bit...

My kids attend our local High School, which is called Our Town High School. We use to call it big school, now we call it high school.

I do see what you mean actually, Davros. Many of my local friends went to a private school like you, called X High School. Hilariously they and their parents all referred to it as “The High School” as in their rather narrow view this distinguished it from the other private secondary schools in the county which didn’t have ‘High’ in the title, despite the fact that it did nothing to distinguish it from the tens of state secondaries which were all referred to as high schools.

I don’t know whether, if speaking generically, they would have said high school or secondary school. Quite l possibly ‘secondary’ since the usual local term didn’t seem to have registered.

@Davros

They have "high" in the name because that is the type of school.

"Oh, you have kids. Are they in primary or high school" or "oh, you have kids. Are they in primary or secondary".

The words are interchangeable because they mean the same thing. It's not American. It's not unusual. High school means secondary and secondary means high school.

Ah ok, so you knew Scotland generally called it a high school, but just wanted to discount the entire country when referring to "People in the UK" in your OP.

It fucks me off so much that there are still some utter twats on here that want to think nothing exists outside of their own little bubble of life experience. (Which seems particularly prevalent when it comes to knowledge of the wee country attached to your North that makes up a portion of the United Kingdom many of you are so desperate to hang on to.

If you all say so then. But I've never heard Senior/secondary school referred to as High school in RL, whatever the name of the school. It's nothing to do with being anti-American, I just wondered if people say it because it sounds posher!

I went to school in Liverpool and it was called St xyz high school but is now called St xyz arts college. I'm 40.

Lots of schools I know were called high school.