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 find it a bit strange that sixth-form and sixth-formers are still called that, even though it's years 12 and 13 now. It made sense when I was at school and we were either in upper or lower sixth and now it doesn't. Mind you, I'm not completely sure why they changed the names of the years anyway.

All the schools round here are blimming Harris Academies so frankly I wouldn't care what they were called as long as they weren't part of that!

Yet another MNer who thinks everything is pivotal around their own experiences.

Two secondary schools here - (Placename) High School and (Placename) Academy - and not one of these new academy things you all moan about.

And we had

X Village First School (4-7)
Y Street Junior School (7-11)
Z Local Area High School (11-16)

High schools in Northumberland

ponthigh.org.uk/

dchs-alnwick.org/

Unless they have been turned into academies

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosforth_Academy

Not sure if that reply was aimed at me or not, Tam, but if so it wasn’t shamboloic. Why would it be? It’s not like bus loads of years eights suddenly turned up unexpectedly.

I suspect it was a case of the three tier system looking attractive pedagogically speaking, but then proving expensive to implement and impractical in very rural areas with low school rolls, so it ended up as a hybrid.

I'm 32 and always called it high school. Most of the schools in my county have high in the name. Including my daughters current school.

The (comprehensive) school I went to in the late seventies/early eighties was called ....... ..... High School. It has nothing to do with America. I've never heard of "senior school" except in private secondary schools that have their own prep schools.

I went to a High School with a saint's name in the 70s in Scotland.

Back in the 40s and 50s the local girls’ independent School was Durham Girls’ High School as opposed to Durham Girls’ Grammar or a number of Secondary Modern schools.

My local school was place name High School and my actual school was High School in Welsh!

I've heard High School used in Devon, Cheshire and Scotland.

What is now Teignmouth Community school used to be Teignmouth High School although I think it's now a 3-16 (18?) school rather than just 11-16 or 11-18.

I live in Scotland, it was primary school (p1 to p7) then high school (first year to sixth year but could leave in fourth or fifth depending on birthday)

I grew up in Ipswich and they were all called High School... I went to Thurleston High School, then Northgate High School. Completely the norm there.

Also just to add, in addition to getting "high school" from the Scots, education generally in the US has been influenced by Scottish practice. In the early years, this was due significantly to the presence of Scottish schoolmasters in colonial times. Significant similarities continue to the present day in addition to the term high school: the emphasis on breadth, going to the nearest school in your catchment, the ability to study more than one course in the first year or so of university, four-year university, etc.

My "secondary" was called High School in the 80s. My eldest goes to High School right now.
Neither in Scotland or NI either so it it's regional it covers an awful lot of regions...

It was secondary school in my area. Then I moved 15 miles away and it was high school and had been for as long as anyone could remember!

It does sound weird if you're not used to it.

We had middle schools, whenever I mention my middle school people look at me blankly!

I'm over 50 and went to an English high school.

I went to school in the North West and attended Selwyn Jones High School. It used to be a grammar school before I got there. We also had Lower and Upper School within the High School, but that was because we were in two locations. When I moved up to Upper School, everybody else did too, as the location was sold for housing. Then it was just Selwyn Jones High School, later renamed to Newton-le-Willows High School. It also has a sixth form but that was just part of the High School.

Grew up with First, Middle, & High School. Still living in East Anglia, now schools are Infants, Juniors, & High School. Sixth Form known as Upper School.

Have enough of us convinced you yet OP?

Use high school as that is the school name other wise secondary achool

And here I was thinking that when Harry Potter was told he would be going to 'Stonewall High' it was because I was reading the US version and they'd Americanized it. But it still puzzled me that he was starting high school at 11. Kids here start high school around 14.

It’s high school here (south wales) from age 11.

witch no, of course not, but it sounds a bit shambolic to have your new starters coming in, in bulk, in 2 different years - glad to hear that it isn't!

All down to cost, eh? I do think it's a shame. Do you think it reduces the incidence of bullying?

We have First (YR-Y5), Middle (Y6-Y8) and High (Y9-Y11) School. I’m in Kirklees, West Yorkshire.

It’s always been high school where I live. Never heard anyone using an alternative term