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

Skipton Girls’ High School has been going since the 1800s.

From Newcastle; we went to first school. middle school then high school.

Mine was Xxx High School for Girls (in London, 20 years ago)

Here you go OP. The structure of the education system varies from one LEA to another.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-tier_education

My school was a comp but called Townname School. No one refered to it as 'The Comp' which is what schools in books and comics always seemed to be called.
I frequently say 'Senior School' for Secondary School. I was at a parent group at my daughters primary school and we were talking about schools and I must have kept saying 'Senior School' because another parent (not from the UK) asked me what I was on about. I asked some of the parents (from various parts of the UK) if they use the phrase. Seems I am the only one. My secondary years were mid 80s/early 90s. It is quite an old fashioned phrase dating from when children attended one 5-14 elementary school (pre 1944) and it was divided in 5-7 Infants, 7-11 Juniors and 11-14 Seniors. So I have no idea why a kid in the 80s (me) used that phrase.

So, in summary, not each to their own, OP; you're incorrect. HTH.

High schools where I went to school as well - some places still have three tier systems in England (first, middle, high) and ones that used to be don’t anymore have often kept the old [place name] High School format for the now 11-18 schools.

My DS goes to a High School in the south east, TownName High School. I tend to use primary and secondary as words to dintinguish the stage of education. When DS was at junior school, he was in primary (education).

Using the term high school in the UK is not an Americanism.

I went to (person's name) High School. It's been called that for several centuries, and still is. It's a state school in England. It was/is part of a three tier education system (first, middle and high schools).

However - looking at a list of secondary schools in my home county, I can see that around half of them are called (something) High School, though the vast majority of them are and always were comprehensives in a two tier system. I'm pretty sure that a lot more were too, back in the mists of time when I was at school - lots are now Academies that wouldn't have been back then. I wonder if it is regional, even outside Scotland?

My school was called Placename high .

The area I lived in operated a first school ( reception to yr 4 ), middle school (yr5 to yr 8) then off to high school from year 9 onwards .

I'm 37 now so it's not a new thing to be calling it high school .

High school in't a new thing or (just) an American thing.

I'm English in my mid thirties and I attended first, middle and high school (years 8-13). Parts of the county had a different system made up of primary and secondary schools (years 7-13).

In the 90's both of the schools in my home town in Norfolk were high schools.

I went to a school in the north west of England called [name] High School. To be more precise it was D High School with another school in the same town called M High School.

I went to "senior school" OP and also find it odd when people say high school!

Our local school is called (town name) high school.

However it is unusual round here. All other schools in the area are called (name) school or the (name) school. Maybe because they’re not named after a town?

witch that Wikepdia article simply supports the assertion that, in England and Wales, at any rate, it's simply not a thing anymore:

In 2006, it was reported that Central Bedfordshire, Northumberland and the Isle of Wight were the only LEAs still exclusively using the three-tier system.'

so those with schools named High School, it's simply the name of the school. The school itself is almost certainly a secondary school, not a high school in the strict meaning of the word.

I've always called it Senior or Secondary school. High School seems very American to me. I've noticed it used more and more recently. However, I suspect that is likely to be because I'm a mum of secondary-aged children in the age of social media. until a few years ago I had no need to talk about secondary school and when I was at secondary school (which did not and does not have the word 'High' in its name), I rarely spoke to people who went elsewhere, iyswim.

I went to a high school in the 90’s and it’s still a high school now. It has it written on the side of the building. We also have a three tier system so if you were using primary secondary etc it’d technically be a thirdry anyway 🤷🏼‍♀️

The term "high school" originated in Scotland in the 16th century. The first school to be named "high school" was the Royal High School in Edinburgh. The Royal High School was used as a model for the first public high school in the US founded in Boston in 1821. That model was replicated in other parts of the country along with the name, which is why the term high school came to be used in the US. It's a direct borrowing from Scottish practice.

River Tam my DD attends a high school that is not in one of those LEAs - although close by. Still has a three tier system though.

And just to clarify, in the US, high school is generally grades 9 - 12 by the end of which most pupils are 18 and after which many go on to do an undergraduate degree (BA/BS). The place where they do this is often called XX College or College of XX, indicating that unlike a full university it offers no graduate or post-graduate qualifications [MSc/MA, PhD/MD/JD (law)].

We had "big school"

I went to a high school, my older dc go to a high school. Live in England, your op is very confused.

My school was called ----- high school, this was in Kent in the 90s.

All the schools round here are called Academies mainly, there are a couple called high school. This is in Staffordshire.

I actually like the three-tier system, I think it's a shame that more places don't have it - there's a big difference between 11yos and 15yos.

But in England and Wales, if your school starts at 11 and goes through to GCSE or A level year, then it's a secondary school, regardless of its name.